Imagine Christ stepping onto the floor of the assembly. Would we yield him 90 seconds at the microphone (the normal time allotted to commissioners on the assembly floor)? That was all it took at key moments in his ministry for him to spell out his first priorities for the church: the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Yet, as the week wore on, we addressed approximately 800 items of business, nearly all of which skirted the priority list given to us by God.

As I rode the airport shuttle to the General Assembly, the woman seated next to me filled my ear with her perspectives. She was one of a hundred volunteers who had paid their own way to advocate for divestment of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) funds from multinational corporations operating in Israel. When the bus finally pulled into the site of our national convention, I thought that I had heard it all. Hardly. Volunteers wearing divestment pins, carrying divestment banners, and distributing divestment fliers were commonplace, energizing the halls in the convention center and spilling out to the sidewalks. Their lobbying became fuel on the fire of an eventual debate about divestment that continued for hours and split the assembly down the middle. I wondered:

“If Presbyterians can generate so much heat around causes that divide their ranks, causing dissonance even within both liberal and conservative factions, where is the passion for clear mandates in Scripture around which we should all agree?”

Imagine Christ stepping onto the floor of the assembly. Would we yield him 90 seconds at the microphone (the normal time allotted to commissioners on the assembly floor)? That was all it took at key moments in his ministry for him to spell out his first priorities for the church: the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Yet, as the week wore on, we addressed approximately 800 items of business, nearly all of which skirted the priority list given to us by God.

This dichotomy between God’s priorities and ours became most apparent to me when, a few days into the assembly, I stood in line to speak against the redefinition of marriage. Deliberation around this issue was intense, and many felt an affirmative vote would divide our denomination. Next to me was the primary crafter of the overture up for debate, speaking to me with confidence about his proposed redirection for the church’s stance on matrimony. When he and I finally made it to the front of the line, the question was called and by a slim margin traditional marriage held its own. “I’ll see you in two years,” the gentleman said, and slipped away. Surprised by the “victory,” deep in my gut I knew we were all living in defeat.

Does not the very concept that we can change God’s standards for our lives if we just get enough votes demonstrate how far we have drifted from God’s purpose for the church? We are in desperate need of spiritual leadership.

As I see it, most of the energy, time, and money spent in a well-organized assembly of a thousand commissioners and delegates became a colossal missed opportunity. It was evidence that we Presbyterians have become strong in programming and weak in priorities. We failed to implement ministries of discipleship, yet we chose to condemn the spanking of children in homes and schools. We failed to proclaim a vision for spiritual revival and instead encouraged spiritual syncretism, allowing a Hindu priest to offer prayer chants in a plenary session. We might have humbled ourselves and asked God to heal our wounds, but chose instead to maintain a façade of unity through process and polity. What kind of example was set for the 160 young adult advisory delegates who were part of the convention and who may one day become leaders in our denomination?

I don’t believe there is a simple solution for our deep-rooted predicament. I offer four suggestions, however, that may correct our current trajectory:

1. We can begin by acknowledging that our priorities are not in sync with those of Christ, whom we call “head of the church.”
2. We must rediscover our Lord’s priorities by making Scripture central to our General Assembly’s mandated study of marriage in the coming two years.
3. We should humble ourselves and make prayer central to all of our activities until Christ and the Gospel find their rightful place in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)—no longer a sideshow, but once again the main thing.
4. We should put more of our time, money, and effort into the raising up of godly leaders for the coming generations, men and women who are willing to submit themselves to the Lordship of Christ, the authority of Scripture, and guidance of the Holy Spirit to bring revival to the church.

I fear that, short of such correction, our denomination will continue to decline into irrelevance regarding things that matters most to God.

W.P. Campbell, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Hendersonville, was a commissioner for the 220th General Assembly.

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