We have seen over the last several years the results of a small, secretive, but well-organized group operating in the shadows. But imagine the benefit to the PCA if a large group of elders became engaged in the courts of the church and openly worked toward promoting faithfulness to the historic truths and the warm, biblical piety summarized in the Westminster Standards.

In my previous article, I explained why I am optimistic about the future faithfulness of the PCA as a confessionally Reformed denomination.
In short, I believe we are at a crossroads; our current heavy discussions, difficult interactions, and passionate debates reflect that many issues formerly hidden under the surface are now being addressed in the courts of the PCA.
While I believe it would be easier for confessional and/or conservative churches and members of the PCA to simply leave this denomination, I believe that is the wrong course of action at this time (as I explain in the previous article).
Now is not the time to leave, but it is the time to take firm and clear actions aimed at promoting biblical and confessional integrity within the PCA. If the activities or perceived agenda of PCA agencies trouble you, if the actions of a church court disturb you, there are ample remedies other than leaving the PCA.
Here are some recommendations for how to continue as a part of the PCA even if you have serious concerns about her trajectory, leadership, and/or institutions.
IV. Standing Firm
A. Funding
We are a “grassroots” denomination. In order for the agencies, committees, and missionaries of the PCA to function, they must be voluntarily supported by the congregations of the PCA. So if you have serious concerns, one remedy in the meantime is to carefully hold back funding.
Is it disingenuous to be part of the PCA without funding her committees and agencies? No; that is the way the system is designed and is another way of holding the committees and agencies accountable. As the saying goes: “get woke, go broke.”
This is not a long-term solution nor is it a policy to be lightly adopted. But rather than leaving the PCA, consider simply withholding financial support for a time.1
B. Generously Support Missionaries and Outreach
1. Targeted Support
Don’t just withhold funding; find missionaries whom you can support, who are part of the PCA, and who share the values or vision of your session.
For example, the small congregation I serve gives nearly $40,000 per year to individual missionaries and church plants.
Instead of supporting committees and agencies, we carefully select missionaries and ministries who share our vision for the church, who are likewise devoted to the Westminster Standards, who uphold the historic Christian position on sexuality, who are not “woke,” and who have not been captivated by a Post-Modernist understanding of language and truth.
Yes, it would be easier for us to simply write a check to the Presbytery or General Assembly MNA, MTW, and/or RUF Committees and hope for the best. But instead, we invest time and effort to cultivate relationships with missionaries whom we believe will expound the whole counsel of God in all its timeless truth.
2. Finding and Discerning Ministry Partners
This requires expending significant effort to get to know missionaries, but the efforts to build relationships are a blessing. I encourage other churches to do likewise rather than depart the PCA. But how can you get to know like-minded missionaries and outreach organizations? Here are some ideas:

Friendship isn’t formed only on these surface-level conversations but instead on the weightier ones of life, hardship, anger, battles, confessions, and questions. We’ll never be able to minister to one another in our fights with sin and suffering if we never answer truthfully, “How are you today?” It’s impossible to bear one another’s burdens without first reaching the heart and earning trust.

We all engage in conversations on various levels. We know the light and airy conversations of the weather, the funny antics our children did last week, the novel we just started reading, and brainstorming new meals to feed our families.
In some relationships, we easily sink into deeper conversations. I think of my sister-in-law, my friend Michelle, and a pastor’s wife I know. Within a few visits together, we swim through the surface-level conversations of dirty diapers and streaky floors and, without noticing, we tread into the deeper and sometimes murkier places of life. We move from giggling about the silly things our husbands did on our first dates to the arguments from the previous night. We may start by rolling our eyes at the unreal number of dishes we wash each day to sharing the fearful thoughts for our children that come to mind as we washed those dishes yesterday.
There are some women I sit down with whose kind eyes and gentle questions seem to uncork my heart and lead me to pour out my honest questions, past hardships, and current struggles with sin. Others, though I still enjoy their presence, stay within unspoken boundary lines of wall colors, water bottle choices, and tips on how to hide vegetables in our children’s food.
What makes these conversations so different? How can we dive beyond the surface of our relationships and encourage deeper conversations?
They were willing to initiate.
Few people want to be the first one to share. I like to wait and listen to how others respond and then gauge how I should frame my response. I often do the same in conversations. If they discuss the recent snowfall, I’ll reply with how my son and I share a distaste for the cold weather. But if they share about how postpartum depression nearly debilitates them in the winter months, I may feel the nudge to tell them how my depression is likewise worse when snowstorms and snowbanks keep me trapped inside.
Those who engage us in deeper conversations are willing to go first and share their pain. They don’t over-share for sake of gasps—they want to go beyond the shallow end. They want to know us. They want friendship, a companion to shoulder suffering with. They want to know they aren’t alone. And they in turn are willing to take the risk of vulnerability so we won’t feel alone either.
Being proactive: What are some ways we can steward our stories well? Who is going through a similar experience as you that you could share your story with to encourage them?
Read More
Related Posts:

If you’re struggling with sin that you feel cannot be excoriated, you have two options: Struggle alone, without the Spirit’s help, and out of the sight of others, or, bring it into the light, trust God to change you above and beyond your own weak strength, and allow others to bear fruit that will nourish your soul too.

I had just sworn—much to my wife’s surprise. What’s worse was I didn’t know why.
Growing up in South London, swearing was regular feature of my life until I’d been convinced and convicted that my careless tongue was to come under God’s reign and rule just like the rest of me. It had been years though, I had slipped up here and there, but always in the most difficult of situations.
This wasn’t one of them.
It was the middle of the day and we were having a regular conversation and suddenly, I’d sworn.
What had changed? I’d just started taking steroids.
I was at the start of a year stuck in bed, and little did I know that along with struggling to walk, or interact with people, or do any kind of meaningful tasks, I would also have to battle my old sin of least resistance all over again as the steroids stripped away my self-control.
Truth be told, there were times we laughed at the vulgar additions to my sentences, but more often than not, it was just upsetting.
I knew I ought not to, and yet, I continued in my sin.
The year dragged on as more medicine was added to an already bitter cocktail, and I had to reckon with the fact that this sin would not go away on its own. I had to come before God and trust him again that he was stronger than my sin, mightier than the medicine, and ever able to fill me with the fruit of the Spirit.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23 ESV
Read More
Related Posts: