A Word from Cynthia
Given recent news that the PCUSA is declining faster than any other mainline denomination, we have passed recent changes to the Book of Order including 24-A & C, and the end of the missionary outreach of the PCUSA in the way we have known it for decades, it can be easy to be pessimistic. I was born and raised in the PCUSA, nurtured as a third generation worshipper in the church where I grew up. My grandfather served as Clerk of Session in my home church, my parents are still elders there, I was raised, confirmed, and ordained in that church, and later married and baptized my daughter there as a now 4th generation Presbyterian in that historic sanctuary.
When I look around at our PCUSA today, I wonder sometimes if my grandparents would still recognize our denomination. I often wonder if I still belong here. But then I feel the nudging of God, the movement of the Spirit, the call to follow Christ, and to stay. To stay with my brothers and sisters in Christ who have nurtured my faith as a disciple of Jesus. To stay among my friends and colleagues in ministry. To stay even in places and conversations where there is discomfort, friction, or the need to walk on eggshells. I stay because I also have you. I have friends, colleagues, mentors, and acquaintances within the ministry of the PCUSA who are serving the Lord faithfully with dignity, grace, and forbearance. I see the Spirit at work among us. I hear amazing testimony of how God is still at work calling people into the Church.
Yet I am not a fool. I know that the recent, what feel like ever increasing and rapidly changing movements within our denomination have consequences. I cannot pretend and put my head in the sand. I recently came across this quote from C. S. Lewis which he wrote in The Case for Christianity in 1943 – more than 8 decades ago.
“We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man. There is nothing progressive about being pig-headed and refusing to admit a mistake. And I think if you look at the present state of the world it's pretty plain that humanity has been making some big mistakes. We're on the wrong road. And if that is so we must go back. Going back is the quickest way on.”
I am feeling the pull to go back. To change our understanding in the PCUSA of what it means to be progressive. To repent and admit to some hasty changes, so as to reaffirm our foundation as the Word of God, the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit alive and active among us. It takes humility to admit when we have made one or many mistakes. It takes accountability to call others to repentance. It takes love to stay even when we know there have been decisions made that hurt the Body of Christ, that misrepresent the Gospel, and that attempt to silence those with gifts to share with the church and the world. We can turn back. The PCUSA can and should repent. We can reclaim our biblical witness, reactivate mission and evangelism, focus on being the church rather than going along with the ways of the world. We can stay, but only if we stay together and stay true to the call to come to the foot of the cross seeking the love of our Savior because we genuinely seek to turn away from sin and toward Jesus. I hope you stay with me.
Rev. Cynthia Betz-Bogoly
Cynthia Betz-Bogoly is pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Deep Run in Perkasie, PA and serves as secretary on The Fellowship Community’s Board of Directors.