Once, about a quarter of the people in the American colonies were Presbyterian. Then Daniel Boone found a way through the Pennsylvania mountains and enterprising people went West, but not enough Presbyterians.

Have you ever been a Temporary Presbyterian?

It’s when the local independent church brings you in for an ‘ordination council’ to help them check out their new preacher. Then about four o’clock you all enjoy the aromas coming from the church kitchen, signaling that the Welcoming Congregational Dinner is near at hand. So as temp, you’re not there to vote ‘no.’ Instead you ask, when can we talk again, maybe next week?

I like being a temp. That’s what I’ve done most of my life, teaching in an independent seminary (Irregular!) to train leaders for many denominations (More Irregular!!) and women to work in para-church organizations (Most Irregular!!!). Or is it the other way around, and the denominations are the Irregular part? I forget.

Once, about a quarter of the people in the American colonies were Presbyterian. Then Daniel Boone found a way through the Pennsylvania mountains and enterprising people went West, but not enough Presbyterians. Why should they, since they were smart enough to make it in Philadelphia?

When they did go, there were still problems. There was that presbytery in Indiana, which wrote a stiff note to Princeton Seminary when all the boys it sent there never came back. “We sent our men to Princeton to become ministers, but you made Gentlemen out of them.”

You know the rest. The circuit-riding Baptists and Methodists took over the West. They weren’t burdened with being Gentlemen and fit right in with the people and talked their language, and their churches grew like anything.

So where does that leave us? We’re the ‘learned ministers,’ aren’t we? Naturally we keep up our Hebrew every day. Don’t we? So what are we and our churches there for?

When I taught at Wheaton College, we went to the OPC church, where Frank Breisch was pastor. We started renting the college chapel for worship. Suddenly half the students on campus on weekends were there with us! Why was that? Well, that made us the closest church to the college dining hall, so they could beat everyone else to the food. That was part of it.

But I think it was mostly Frank Breisch. Frank really knew his Bible, the Old Testament, too. That was rare. Even rarer, Frank read books. He knew what was happening, and the students were really excited about that. They did make life harder for the Wheaton faculty, asking them questions they weren’t always ready for, so some of them started coming, too, to be fortified for class on Monday.

I think of Tim Keller’s bunch and the Metro Presbytery the same way. There they are, amazing the Big City with the Big Gospel.

I think of my Redeemer Seminary in Dallas the same way too. I can hardly wait till next week when classes start. Just look at those new guys, with three solid and blessed months of Greek behind them, so eager to get into the Bible now. Just look at that startup seminary, committed to all the Bible has to tell us together, and committed to making a difference in the church of Jesus Christ.

Are we Presbyterians still Gentlemen? We’ve learned to stay away from sermon illustrations from Greek mythology, and instead to use the Texas Longhorns. But we still care deeply about common grace, the Kingdom, contextualization, speaking Christ into the culture. That’s not always productive, at least immediately, but someone’s got to do it, and that’s part of our calling.

I guess we’re not going to get back to being a quarter of the American population. But we can be good Temporary Presbyterians, can’t we? We can bring those big issues into our believers’ community, and what we know of the answers. That’s what Frank did. That’s what Metro NY is doing.
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D. Clair Davis is a Teaching Elder in the PCA. He was Professor of Church History at Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia and now teaches at Redeemer Seminary in Dallas, Texas.