I'm Dreaming of a New Church:

Straight AheadWith the increasing chaos of so-called mainline Protestantism, I'm dreaming of a new reformation, a new church. Actually, the dream began back in 2002, when I attended a conference of the Association for Church Renewal, under the auspices of the Institute for Religion and Democracy. The conference was held in Indianapolis, Indiana, and brought together more than 700 church leaders from a dozen different denominations in the United States and Canada. At the time, I was a minister in the United Church of Christ. The idea that began to form in my head at that time, the church that began to take shape, was a church that would definitely have to be the product of a new reformation. It would bring together evangelical elements from the several mainline Protestant denominations as we now know them. The theology would be centered around the authority of Scripture, the Deity and efficacy of Christ as the only way of salvation, traditional orthodoxy regarding sexual morality, and other basic views of historic Christianity. The ministers of this new church would not all be Calvinists, but the denomination would be solidly Trinitarian. Local churches would have a good deal of flexibility as to their own governing structure, but there would be a denominational connectionalism. Obviously, many points would have to be negotiated, mainly in areas of polity. Another important aspect of this new church would be a conscious decision not to feel obligated to speak out on every divisive social issue facing society. The primary efforts of this new church would be directed toward evangelism, worship, Christian education and nurture, and missions at home and abroad. If you think that such a new church, a new reformation, could never happen in the United States, I disagree. I think it could happen, and I think it will. I may not be around to see it--at least, not as an active minister--but I believe it will happen. We already have some models of church polity in Europe and Canada to observe for guidance in forming such a church. I fully expect that for the rest of my ministry, I will be serving within the PC(USA.) I have niether the opportunity nor the resources to advocate or initiate such a church and reformation as I envision. But some time, it will happen; and I suggest that it may be sooner than many suppose. Bob Henderson, a long-time evangelical minister in the mainline Presbyterian Church, indicated several years ago in a little book that he wrote, that the days of mainline denominations as we know them are probably numbered. As we look at recent events in the PC(USA), the Episcopal Church in the USA, and other major denominations, can anyone doubt that Henderson is probably correct?