The conservative element in the local PCUS presbyteries had become generically evangelical, or in some cases fundamentalist. Most ruling elders in the majority of conservative churches had never read the Westminster Confession of Faith.  Actually, I don’t think many of them even knew it existed.  It’s an embarrassing fact, but it is true!  

I appreciate the recent articles on The Aquila Report (here and here) about the theological direction of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), and the pros and cons of leaving the PCA.  I highly commend William Smith for his insightful analysis of the views of our founding fathers in I Don’t Have a Dog in the PCA Fight: But That Doesn’t Keep Me from Having an Opinion. As an original signer of the charter of the PCA in Birmingham in 1973, I too will take the liberty of ruminating about the past.  That’s what old men like to do.  Also, I still have a dog in this fight.

My experience is limited by my geography.  I have spent most of my life in the confines of Appalachia, being raised in Presbyterianism in West Virginia, being ordained in Southwest Virginia in the old PCUS (Southern Presbyterian Church), and pastoring churches in Northeast Tennessee in the PCA.  I was a charter member of Westminster Presbytery in its beginning, and was its Stated Clerk for twenty-three years.  My experience in the broader PCA was not in a leadership position, but my contribution was in the hinterland pastoring small churches in Appalachia.  I know what American Presbyterianism was like in the 60s and 70s in this part of the country, and I would not hesitate to guess that it was similar in many other places.

For the record, except for a few geographical pockets, it is my opinion that Reformed theology had been lost in the South before the PCA was founded.  It was a little like the lost Book of the Law at the beginning of Josiah’s reign (II Kings 22).  When America was settled, Appalachia was originally a magnet for Scots-Irish Presbyterianism.  John Witherspoon’s disciples at the College of New Jersey (later Princeton) had a large influence on the early churches in this area.  However, after the influence of many years of theological liberalism in the PCUS, Appalachian Presbyterianism was also infected.

The conservative element in the local PCUS presbyteries had become generically evangelical, or in some cases fundamentalist. Most ruling elders in the majority of conservative churches had never read the Westminster Confession of Faith.  Actually, I don’t think many of them even knew it existed.  It’s an embarrassing fact, but it is true!  I’m not sure how they were ever ordained.  This is not to impugn their character.  They were very godly men full of zeal for Christ.  They were the product of what they had been taught.  However, Billy Graham was their icon, and it was dangerous for any minister to criticize Graham’s theology or his methods.

This is the Presbyterianism I came into when I graduated from Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia in 1972.  Rev. William Smith mentions that Dr. Morton Smith was the theologian who was behind the original documents of the PCA, but the actual leadership as a whole was much more moderate.  In Westminster Presbytery, which consisted of mostly non-reformed churches, Dr. Joe Morecraft held a similar position as Dr. Smith.  He was behind the scenes doing the paperwork with the intent of creating an Old School Presbytery.  The documents represented Old School Theology, but in reality the churches were anything but that. Dr. Morecraft’s leadership was strong, and early on, he and those of us who were later called “fire-eating TR’s” began the task of reforming the churches.  Some ministers expected quick change and their tenure was short.  Others, like me, were in it for the long-haul (now over 41 years).  The battle was often difficult and many mistakes were made, but I can say that today, as far as I can discern, all of the ruling elders in this Presbytery are consciously committed to Reformed theology as summarized in the Westminster Standards.  Certainly, the teaching elders are.  Westminster Presbytery is a unique Presbytery in the PCA.  See my article Westminster Presbytery (PCA) – Are the Rumors True?

I am not trying to contradict anyone or take anyone to task.  I just think there is a need to tell the whole story. Younger men cannot appreciate what it was really like back then, and the sacrifices that had to be made in order to lead churches in the early PCA back to a Reformed commitment.  The younger generation has inherited that for which others paid a heavy price.

Okay, the secret is out! Although on paper we were Reformed, in reality, the churches were far from what they were on paper.  That’s the way it really was in the PCA in Appalachia in 1973, and I suspect that is the way it was in a large part of the PCA as a whole.

Larry E. Ball is a Honorably Retired Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church in America and is now a CPA. He lives in Kingsport, Tennessee