I had the privilege of attending our denomination's (the Presbyterian Church in America or PCA) General Assembly this June. Now, you might not know or care much about our denomination, which is why I want to speak about why I'm grateful for our denomination.
What is General Assembly, you might ask? It's a meeting of all our church's leaders from all over the nation. Presbyterianism is a lot like the American federal system of government, which has local (city and county), regional (state), and national (Washington DC) levels. Presbyterians have local sessions (a particular church's leaders), regional (presbyteries), and national (general assembly) levels too. Actually, it would be better to say the American government is a lot like presbyterianism, since it came after, but that's off topic. Anyway, we had our general assembly in Richmond, Virginia this year. General Assembly is like a giant church conference with worship and speakers and seminars combined with a huge business meeting where important matters of the church are reported, discussed, debated, and determined by vote.
I grew up in a Baptist church. Baptist churches are known for being autonomous and independent, which means they do not recognize any external authority outside of their leadership. Autonomous churches sometimes associate with other churches (like Southern Baptists) but those associations are rarely binding. I've found that the further west and north you go in the United States, the more autonomous churches there are. Non-denominational churches are the epitome of autonomous churches, and California is a veritable hub and hotbed of non-denom churches. All that to say is that I know it's strange for some of us, that our church is part of a denomination. And if the latest religious polls are true, non-denoms is ironically the only "denomination" currently growing.
But against all those trends and what seems to be the non-affiliative waters here in Cali, I'm incredibly thankful to be in a connected church. By virtue of being in the PCA, we are really and organically connected to churches all over our country and even the world. I shared an Uber with a pastor from St. Louis and a church planter from Connecticut. I was a stranger but we immediately had something in common by virtue of the same faith we profess. I loved being led in worship by brothers and sisters from a different corner of the church. And there's a lot of us former Baptists in the PCA (some tongue-in-cheek call the PCA the second largest Southern Baptist denomination) who love being in a more churchly and connected church.
Being part of a denomination like the PCA means we have to submit to each other. That's a bad word among many Americans. Submission or subjection is a threat to our independence and our liberty. But this is one blind spot for Americans. Christ does not say that the life abundant is marked by independence and autonomy. Rather, he says that it is in dying to ourselves for the sake of thers that we actually discover life. Subjection is the path to life; first and foremost to the Lord and then to each other. If you remember our 1 Peter sermon series, the command to subject ourselves formed the core of the book, running from ch. 2 until the end. It's because of this prevalence that subjection is baked into our denomination. Pastors, elders, and members vow to subject themselves. "Do you promise subjection to your brethren in the Lord?" they asked me when I was ordained. Being Presbyterian gives me lots of opportunities to fulfill this vow.
As you know, subjection is hard. So is being a connectional church. We are connected to churches that hold radically different cultural and political ideals than Indelible Grace. If you were to attend General Assembly, you'd hear a panoply of American accents, especially the plethora of Southern accents (Tennessee sounds different than Texan which sounds different than Mississippi). Sometimes people and churches and presbyteries say or propose things that I do not agree with and even potentially find offensive. But that again is the point. The difference is the point. The PCA is not about us, not about me, or my team. The PCA is about Jesus who is making for himself a people from every nation, tribe, and language. And submission is usually more spiritually important than being right. Being right often puffs us up with pride, whereas submission forms us into the image of Jesus.
You don't have to love or know about the PCA. That's yet another thing I love about our denomination. In order to be a member, you don't have to know or agree with all the PCA doctrine (though you should, because it's beautifully biblical :). You just need to believe in the simple gospel that Jesus came to save sinners like you and me by virtue of his death and resurrection. But I do hope that we will all grow in our capacity to submit to the Lord and to each other. I do pray we will become a little less American (and Californian?) in the personal value we put in our independence and autonomy. The path to spiritual maturity is in the opposite direction, towards needy dependence and a life surrendered to Christ.
Pastor Jesse