Written by Jon D. Payne |
Friday, February 25, 2022
The problem lies in the fact that a significant percentage of the PCA has moved from broad expressions of worship, ministry, and mission to progressive ones. Yes, that’s the main problem. Many of our churches, presbyteries, and agencies have shifted from broad to progressive, not unlike the wider evangelical world. Ten years ago Side B Gay Christianity and social justice were not noteworthy movements with influential voices in the PCA. Today they are. Ten years ago we didn’t have a self-identified gay pastor making national headlines in USA Today, Christianity Today, and Yahoo! News.[2] Today we do.

The Book of Church Order (BCO) amendments that many hoped would guard the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) from further infiltration of Revoice/Side B Gay doctrine were officially defeated. Yes, in case you haven’t heard, the amendments are now dead in the water. They will not be voted upon in the 49th PCA General Assembly in June. The road to reform has narrowed.
Reflections After Defeat
I believe that there are several reasons why a good number of PCA elders and congregants are discouraged by the failure of Overtures 23 and 37, and do not dismiss the defeats as a small bump in the road to reform. First, the failure of the overtures reveals that a significant number of ordained elders in the PCA are either in support of, comfortable with, or indifferent to having self-identified gay celibate pastors in the denomination. Can this point really be disputed anymore? The numerous personal interactions that I’ve had with PCA elders and denominational leaders since the inauguration of Revoice only underscore this point in my own mind. There is a subtle normalization and quiet acceptance of Side B Gay Christianity taking place in the PCA right now. The line has moved.
Second, the failure of the overtures shows that many elders who opposed them for technical (language) reasons do not regard Side B Gay Christianity as an imminent threat to the biblical fidelity and confessional integrity of the PCA. If they did, they would have voted on principle for these crucial, though imperfect, amendments — amendments that would’ve provided clear constitutional guidance to our presbyteries regarding pastors and ordinands who profess a settled gay identity. To argue that Overtures 23 and 37 are unnecessary or imperfectly worded, and thus rightly defeated, is to raise doubt that any amendments on the matter of self-identified gay pastors will ever be satisfactory enough to be approved by two-thirds of our presbyteries.
Third, the failed overtures communicate the same truth as the unanimously approved PCA Study Report on Human Sexuality. If this is the case, then why did the overtures fail to reach the necessary two-thirds presbytery threshold? Could it be that a large number of presbyters are agreeable to the PCA possessing a non-binding study report, but not to the application of the report to our constitution and church courts? It’s a fair question that I’ve heard asked more than once.
Fourth, the failed amendments demonstrate that they can be passed by overwhelming margins at the General Assembly, and yet be soundly defeated in the presbyteries.[1] For those laboring for denominational reform, this is a difficult pill to swallow.
Broad to Progressive?
Since its founding in 1973, the PCA has had a wide variety of churches. Diverse and sundry expressions of worship, piety, mission, and practice have always existed within our ranks. There have been more broad and evangelical approaches to ministry, along with more narrow and distinctively Reformed approaches. Some might refer to themselves as “Evangelical and Reformed” while others might be more comfortable describing themselves as “Reformed and Evangelical” or simply “Reformed and Confessional.” The nature of the PCA’s “broadness” — too broad for some and not broad enough for others — has, over the years, caused men on both ends of the spectrum to depart the PCA for what they believe are greener pastures. However, for the most part, men with different perspectives on ministry and mission have been able to labor together with relative peace and unity for almost five decades. Personally, I’ve deeply appreciated aspects of this broadness, and have learned from varying perspectives in ministry and mission that have differed from my own.
So what has changed? Why the dust-up? Haven’t we (the PCA) always been a big tent? Haven’t we always been broad? Why can’t we just all get along and continue to embrace our diversity of approaches? These are questions being raised by some presbyters. Perhaps you’ve wondered the same.
The problem lies in the fact that a significant percentage of the PCA has moved from broad expressions of worship, ministry, and mission to progressive ones. Yes, that’s the main problem. Many of our churches, presbyteries, and agencies have shifted from broad to progressive, not unlike the wider evangelical world. Ten years ago Side B Gay Christianity and social justice were not noteworthy movements with influential voices in the PCA. Today they are. Ten years ago we didn’t have a self-identified gay pastor making national headlines in USA Today, Christianity Today, and Yahoo! News.[2] Today we do. Ten years ago we didn’t have Revoice.[3] Today we do. Ten years ago we didn’t have TE’s promoting cultural expressions of social justice to their congregations. Today we do. The PCA’s broadness has turned progressive.
Those who oppose self-professed gay ministers, Revoice, and social justice in the PCA are criticized by some as working to make the PCA more narrow than it has ever been. They argue that we are trying to make the Big Tent smaller. But that’s simply not true. Our convictions on union with Christ, regeneration, definitive and progressive sanctification, sin, concupiscence, biblical justice, and sexual ethics haven’t changed. We are happy to live in a broad tent, with diverse approaches to Reformed ministry, just not a progressive one.
Still Time to Hope
My candid assessment of where things stand in the wake of the failed overtures will naturally seem gloomy. Is there still time to hope for reform and positive change in the PCA? Yes, I believe that we still have time to hope, but that hope must fuel action.
Read More

[1] My post 2021 General Assembly GRN article “The PCA’s Bright Future— Without a Bigger Tent” demonstrates my initial hope and expectation that things were looking brighter for the PCA. I did not believe that the overtures would be soundly defeated in the presbyteries.   https://gospelreformation.net/the-pcas-bright-future-without-a-bigger-tent/
[2] See Greg Johnson, “I’m a Gay Celibate Pastor in a Conservative Church”, USA Today and Yahoo News, December 22, 2021 https://news.yahoo.com/im-gay-celibate-pastor-conservative-120126716.html?guccounter=1 ; Johnson, “I Used to Hide My Shame. Now I Take Shelter Under the Gospel”, Christianity Today, May 20,2019.  https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/may-web-only/greg-johnson-hide-shame-shelter-gospel-gay-teenager.html
[3] While Revoice is not a ministry of the PCA, it has had a significant influence on many of our churches. A better choice for those struggling with disordered sexuality is Harvest USA. https://harvestusa.org/

Wisdom is not a mere matching quiz between biblical principles and life situations. Biblical wisdom is the embodiment of God’s character carrying out God’s agenda redemptively in a broken world. Intelligence is no big advantage to obtaining this kind of wisdom. It is as accessible to the simple as it is the brilliant. The power of this wisdom can be unleashed by the poor as much as it can the rich, by those with little social influence as much as the social elites.

Passage – James 3:13-18
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
Commentary
Imagine you’re in a group for overcoming anger. The group facilitator starts your meeting with the question, “Who is the strongest person in the world?” A few people roll their eyes at this hokey ice breaker, but still participate. Some do a quick web search for famous weightlifters and offer a few names. For a laugh, someone guesses Jesus. As a longshot, someone else guesses the current most famous athlete. The group leader doesn’t seem satisfied with any of the answers.
Once no one else has a guess, the leader says, “The person who can control their tongue.” The leader is defining power as the ability to curtail destruction and identifying the tongue as the source of the most life disruption. That is, in effect, what James does in this passage. He is going to redefine a key term: wisdom. In James 1:5, we were asked to pray for wisdom. In these verses, we will learn a lot more about what we should expect to happen within us as God answers our prayer.
What Is Wisdom? (vs. 13)
James starts this section of his letter by asking the question, “Who is wise and understanding among you?” We read this question and begin looking for valedictorians or someone with a Ph.D. James says, “That’s not what I’m talking about.” In effect, James says, “I’m not looking for a high IQ – intelligence quotient. I’m looking for a high CQ – character quotient.”
James defines wisdom as the ability to live in God’s world in a way that represents God accurately. James is going to help us see that the best way to measure biblical wisdom isn’t with a theology quiz but with a character assessment.
The wise person is the one who displays good conduct and meekness – power under control – even in hard times (v. 13). When situations are dicey, the wise person doesn’t acquiesce to a “survival of the fittest and shrewdest” mindset. The biblically wise person maintains a focus being an accurate ambassador of God’s character and agenda for that moment (2 Cor. 5:20).
In might be easy to miss that James is returning to theme that faith must be expressed in tangible actions to be genuine (v. 13). In this case, the “work” of faith is a disposition. Many of us fall into the trap of thinking that being wise is only about having right answers to hard questions and miss, as James is teaching, that wisdom is also about maintaining virtuous character in hard times.
Let’s contextualize this point for the original readers of this letter.
Read More
Related Posts:

We cannot know what is in the hearts of fellow Christians as they seek to honor God in their daily lives, and we should not impose restrictions on believers where God has given us liberty. Although it is human nature to do so, we also should avoid comparing ourselves with other believers and thinking that they are better than we are—or that we are better than they are—for whatever reason, since all of us are sinners in need of God’s grace in Christ.

Do you ever feel like other people are better Christians than you are? Maybe they read their Bibles more, give more money to the church, pray more for others, are involved in church ministry, do more good deeds, or never seem to do anything really sinful. It’s easy to get discouraged when we start comparing our own Christian walk with other believers we know.
One of the big reasons this happens is that humans are geared to think that keeping rules is how we are right before God, and they are actually correct about this (see Lev. 18:5; Luke 10:25–28). The problem is that no one can keep God’s laws perfectly. This is why Jesus came: we need his perfect righteousness and perfect sacrifice to be counted to us through faith in Christ so we can be declared justified before God.
Some Christians can add requirements that the Bible doesn’t dictate.
Still, Christians are often prone to think that they will be closer to God by keeping certain rules and living certain lifestyles. The problem with this is that some Christians can add requirements that the Bible doesn’t command, or they may consider certain lifestyle choices to be more spiritual than others. What is a Christian to do when it comes to knowing how to live according to God’s word in this world?
The Westminster Confession of Faith gives us excellent counsel in this area in its chapter, “Of Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience”:

God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are, in anything, contrary to his Word; or beside it, if matters of faith, or worship. So that, to believe such doctrines, or to obey such commands, out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of conscience: and the requiring of an implicit faith, and an absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience, and reason also. (WCF 20:2)

Look at the phrase, “or beside it.” With these words, the Westminster Confession of Faith reminds Christians that they are not bound by any “doctrines and commandments of men” that are not found in God’s word. It is also true that believers must be considerate of their neighbors, not causing them to stumble (Rom. 14:13–23: 1 Cor. 8:7–13). The sixteenth-century pastor and theologian John Calvin reminds Christians to use their freedom responsibly and lovingly:

Nothing is plainer than this rule: that we should use our freedom if it results in the edification of our neighbor, but if it does not help our neighbor, then we should forgo it (The Institutes, 3.19.12)

Read More