I know, because I remember sitting before the ministerial committee of the Memphis (now Mid-South) Presbytery of the PCUSA in the 1980s and telling them that I wanted to be a minister in their denomination, and that I wanted to go to Reformed Theological Seminary

The story of today’s PCUSA reminds me of an incident that occurred in my life several years ago.

One afternoon while watching a game, standing on the edge of the soccer field here at African Bible College, a student said to me, “Dr. Brown, Carey is going down the hill in a pickup truck.”

I turned around, and he was. My four-year-old son had gotten in a pickup truck, had apparently released the hand brake, and was going down the road between the men’s
dorms and the dining hall. Had he simply coasted down without steering, he would have veered off the road and into the grass. But he kept his hands on the wheel and skillfully guided the vehicle all the way down the hill.

At the bottom of the hill he had nowhere else to go, so he slammed up against the maintenance building, took out a brick column, and telescoped the frame of the truck so that we couldn’t open or shut the doors. By God’s grace, my child was unhurt. A bunch of students and I had chased the truck downhill, but had been unable to catch up to it. Had we caught up to it, we couldn’t have stopped it.

It is the same with the PCUSA today. Its leaders are deliberately steering the denomination downhill in order to implement their agenda, which takes precedence over the wellbeing of the PCUSA. A wreck is therefore in the making.

Those at the wheel are skillful in using Orwellian “newspeak.” They speak of inclusion, but are only interested in “including” the right people: i.e. gays, lesbians, left-wing political activists, etc. At the same time they are conspicuous in their exclusion of theological traditionalists.

I know, because I remember sitting before the ministerial committee of the Memphis (now Mid-South) Presbytery of the PCUSA in the 1980s and telling them that I wanted to be a minister in their denomination, and that I wanted to go to Reformed Theological Seminary. I remember their reaction to that. Had I been sitting in an ejection seat, I’m sure they would have pressed the button. I went to RTS anyway.

While there, my church transferred to the EPC.

There is a reason why the more inclusive the PCUSA gets, the smaller it becomes. This is because the group they wish to include, the GLBTs, is much smaller than the group they systematically exclude, the evangelicals. As the cause of inclusion jumps from triumph to triumph, the excluded group bails out.

The EPC started in 1981 – thirty years ago – with 12 congregations and a few thousand members. When I graduated from RTS in 1990, it had about 125 congregations and maybe 40,000 members. In 2007, it had 180 congregations. Today, four years later, it has 306 congregations and about 115,000 members. I read one forecast that stated the belief that they will pick up another 100 congregations in the next two years. It is
basically the evangelical wing of the PCUSA in exile, but it’s the fastest growing denomination in America.

At the next PCUSA General Assembly next year, gay ordination will become mandatory, rather than merely permissible. They will redefine marriage.

Citing compassion for the weak and oppressed of the earth, they will release funds for more abortions and same-sex household benefits. The rank-and-file PCUSA member, already a senior citizen, will not feel inclined to move his/her membership, but will instead give less money and attend services less frequently. All the stats for the PCUSA will continue to spiral downward, but the desired agenda will be firmly in place.

The PCUSA has become indistinguishable from the left wing of the Democratic Party. But since there already is a left wing of the Democratic Party, doesn’t that make the PCUSA redundant?

Larry Brown is a minister in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, a member of Central South Presbytery, and serves as Professor of church history, world history, hermeneutics and missions at the African Bible College in Lilongwe, Malawi