Dear Denominational Discerners:

I mentioned in my sermon yesterday that the Reformed Church in America (RCA) is hemorrhaging congregations. The issue at the core of their splintering is the all-too-familiar tree shredder question of same-sex marriage and the ordination of homosexuals. At their General Synod (their national denominational conference) in 2016, the RCA considered an amendment to their Book of Church Order to define marriage as exclusively between one man and one woman. The proposal failed to receive the necessary two-thirds majority to change their constitution. Being good reformed Christians, at their subsequent biannual Synod they formed a committee called a “vision group” that was tasked with discerning a way forward for their divided assembly. The vision group was scheduled to share their results in 2020, but due to the pandemic, their report was postponed to this past fall.

Reporting in 2021, the group recommended that the RCA abandon their historic regional structure in favor of a denomination organized by affinity; congregations could join a classis (a governing body similar to our Presbyteries) based on affirming or rejecting LGBTQ+ as a valid Christian identity. America’s oldest denomination, dating back to 1620, failed to fully embrace the compromise. So far, they have endured the loss of more than ten percent of their 1,000 congregations. The dust has far from settled, and in the ensuing acrimony, members on all sides have accused the others of being fundamentally not Christian.

I’ve followed with some interest the conversations among my RCA colleagues on social media. I’ve chosen not to engage, as I perceive this as a family feud; and as a Presbyterian, I don’t think it is my place to publicly intervene. Still, I have some musings on the matter, which is why I am inflicting these observations on you, my gentle FPCLG readers.

My primary concern is the devaluation of the currency known as Christian. Lest you think the metaphor too pecunious, I draw the connection because we refer to various brands of Christianity as “denominations.” Whether you are Baptist, Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran or any subdivision of those broader groups, we all derive our value from the same base; Presbyterianism is a denomination of that value set in the same way that a five-dollar bill is a denomination of currency.

Arguments between the denominations help determine their relative prominence. We can argue that one tradition may be of greater comparative dominance, but all denominations must affirm the undergirding values that grant our shared worth. The Church of the Brethren may be smaller, but its appraisal still rests on the shared principles of our common Christian faith.

The problem arises within denominations when an argument breaks out and members protest that others have abandoned their shared Christian values. While I believe there are valid scriptural reasons why Presbyterians do not have bishops, I cannot suggest that Methodists and Lutherans, even Roman Catholics, are not Christians; they’re just not Presbyterians. And lest we think that an issue such as sexual orientation is far more crucial to Christianity than the value of a bishopric, please remember that the entire Anglican Church exists because of an argument over who got to define adultery.

Throughout the decades, our own Presbyterian tradition, about ten years younger than the RCA, has stumbled over the same errors of passion. There is a place to discern our identity as Presbyterians, but that conversation becomes of a significantly different order when we think we’re defining who gets to be called a Christian. I’m inclined to leave that discernment to God; of course, that's when it’s not my family fighting.

Struggling to stay in my lane, I remain,

With love,
Jonathan Krogh,
Your Pastor