Saturday hodgepodge

As various ecclesiastical bodies gear up for assemblies, the PCA suddenly steals the SBC's thunder

After the recent fiasco in Charlotte in which the once great United Methodist Church (UMC) chose the way of absurdity and foolishness, consigning itself to the ash heap of history, you would think the various other ecclesiastical bodies gearing up for their summer confabs would take note. Unity and a forthright commitment to proclaiming repentance and forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus Christ (Luke 24:47) should be first, last, and everything in between on any church body’s convention agenda. To be sure, my own tribe, the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), appears to have kept that focus. The main item of interest at our meeting in Latrobe, Pennsylvania (June 26-28) is the election of a new archbishop and primate for the province. Outgoing Archbishop Foley Beach’s final address should be noteworthy and the list of speakers appears interesting.

Other iterations of the Body of Christ appear poised for more contentious gatherings. The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), meeting in Indianapolis (June 9-12) has a hotly contested race for convention president and a second vote on a proposed amendment to the Baptist Faith and Message that would clarify the convention’s position on women pastors. While the amendment appears to have strong support among rank-and-file membership, the current entrenched leadership seems to want to take a more pragmatic approach, garnering criticism from online influencers.

Southern Baptists always seem to garner headlines, often from reporters who understand little or nothing about the way they conduct business, every time they gather. Presbyterians, conversely, usually fly under the radar. That will not be the case this year, apparently. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), meeting in Richmond, Virginia (June 10-14) has stolen a considerable amount of thunder from the Baptists by announcing that controversial journalist and attorney David French will be a featured panelist during a forum on “How to Be Supportive of Your Pastor and Church Leaders in a Polarized Political Year.”

So, what’s all the fuss about? Well, let’s begin with something that is being overlooked, namely, that the topic of the forum is stupid. “Political Year” or not, pastors and church leaders are to be above the fray of partisan politics, leading their congregations, instead, in prayerful discernment regarding what voting choices should be made, lifting up the nation before God, that he would bless and guide those who are entrusted with the authority of government, and praying that those so entrusted would govern in accordance with God’s law. This is a constant obligation of pastors and other leaders within a church and if political controversy splits a congregation, it’s a bad reflection on their spiritual leadership.

The furor that has erupted over David French is, perhaps, the quintessential illustration of what happens when pastors and church leaders are dragged into partisan politics. He is one of quite a few formerly conservative, formerly evangelical “thought leaders” (Russell Moore being his most notable sidekick) who have allowed disdain for one political candidate, Donald Trump, to influence them in so toxic a way as to cause them to abandon many previously held convictions about faith, ethics, and liberty. There are others who have been toxically influenced by Trump in the other direction but most of them are considered (or at least used to be considered) outside the mainstream of evangelical Christianity. French’s deconversion from defender of religious liberty to apologist for “Drag Queen Story Hour” and collaborator with atheist filmmaker Rob Reiner cannot be explained merely as his being consistent with a long-held belief in “principled pluralism” (oxymoron). Neither can his opposition to Trump be seen, ultimately, as the sole cause of his ideological and theological flip flop. I will not wade into those weeds, however, as that would be risking going against my own advice to stay out of the partisan fray. I will simply conclude by doubling back to my original point and say that the PCA’s invitation to French is ill-advised, but only in a secondary sense because the whole idea behind the proposed forum is itself absurd.