The following is the text of an address given by Michael Walker, Executive Director of PFR, at a special PFR worship service on Feb. 2 at Clear Lake Presbyterian Church in Houston, TX.

What a challenging time and place to be a believer. Biblical and theological illiteracy at seemingly record highs, widespread suspicion of ecclesial structures and institutions, increasing knowledge of institutional corruption and mismanagement. All these characterize the period. Some believers think they can live within the current system; some think they must break away from it, not because they want to start a new church, but because they think the institution they’re leaving isn’t a church at all. There are debates about age old moral standards and church practices. Things that were once taken for granted are now called into question. Some religious sects, identifying themselves as Christian, seem to be further distancing themselves from historic Christianity and gravitating more and more to extremism, even engaging in acts of civil disobedience and violence. Some believers in this age refuse to be engaged in the world because they are sure that world events point to the imminent coming of Christ and the end of the world. Heresy trials become commonplace. “Essential tenets” of the faith have become all but unidentifiable, even among theological allies. New communication technology develops at break neck speed, allowing people a voice they had never previously had, and theological disputes become popular affairs. This is a world yearning for and needing the Gospel, yet many believers are caught up in theological debates rather than cross cultural mission for the sake of the world. All this, and the constant threat and fear of Muslim aggression from the Arab world. What a time to be a believer.

Some of you undoubtedly think I’m referring to the present. I’m not. I’m speaking about the 16^th century. Indeed, the founders of our Reformed tradition lived in a time not unlike our own. It was a time when the Church faced unique challenges and had to press on in light of an incredibly uncertain future. It was a challenging context to be a Christian, to be the Church. If you asked me to choose any period I wanted to live in as a believer, it probably wouldn’t have been this one. On top of all the theological, spiritual and cultural challenges, disease and death ran rampid, and many of the civil liberties that we as members of Western Liberal Democratic Society have come to expect were simply unimaginable in the 16^th Century. It’s not a time I’d choose to be a believer in, or choose to try to raise my family in. And yet, the ironic thing is that as a Church historian it’s a time period that I can’t get my mind off of.

I must confess: I love the 16^th century. Most of my spiritual and theological heroes lived in that time period. Many of the ideas that have come to inform my faith, and to ground our own Reformed tradition, emerged from this century. Bold innovations came from this century, innovations that still shape the life and practice of our own Churches. A new piety of the Word emerged, which led scholars to translate the Bible into the language of the people, as the Church experimented with new technologies like the printing press. And while Protestants were focused on Europe alone, Jesuit missionaries like Matteo Ricci were finding creative ways to translate the Bible and the faith into the thought patterns of Southeast Asia. Some of the most creative missionary work in the history of the Church happened in this century.

I am reminded of that famous quote about 18^th century France: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us..." Most of us don’t like ambiguity. Most of us prefer times and places and situations where the issues that face us are clear, simple and unambiguous. But truth be told, most historical times and places are as complicated as 18^th century France, or 16^th Europe during the Reformation. Most of the times and places that God’s people have been called to live in are exceedingly ambiguous. They are times full of both light and darkness, truth and falsehood, promise and peril.

It’s interesting to note that the Chinese character for “Crisis” is a combination of the characters for “danger” and “opportunity.” In times of crisis, one of the dangers is that the crisis in question will be understood in one-sided terms: emphasizing either the danger, or the opportunity. Make no mistake, the Presbyterian Church USA is in crisis. And there are such voices in our denomination that want to oversimplify that crisis. There are those who look at our denomination and only see opportunity. They tell us that if one or two more changes are made all will be well. They say the denomination’s critics, especially the more conservative ones, are reactionary, part of some grand right wing conspiracy to destabilize the institution. Wherever they look around, all they see is boundless potential. There are others that look at our denomination and see nothing but danger. There are those who would tell us that nothing is well, that all is lost, that there are no signs of God’s redemptive presence in the PCUSA, that God’s glory has left the temple, never to return. Both sets of voices tell us a story, but neither set tell us the true story. Both tell compelling stories. Both garner lots of attention. Neither really help a Church in crisis.

A Church in crisis has to realize that it is called to a time and a place ridden with danger. There are real dangers facing Mainline denominations like the PCUSA. There’s the danger of heresy. There’s the danger of apostasy. There’s the danger that in our efforts to be inclusive we might affirm all manner of ungodliness and untruth. There’s a danger that in our desire to be politically correct, we might make decisions that are politically naïve and uninformed, as can be seen by our denomination’s recent debacles in the Middle East. There’s the danger that in our desire to be relevant to the culture, we’ll preach a Gospel that is captive to the culture, failing to offer the healing power of the Gospel. There’s the danger that our denomination’s cultural influence of yesteryear will lead to delusional beliefs that we somehow are still at the center of the culture’s concerns. There’s the danger that in our desire to be diverse, we will honor and embrace ideas and theologies that do not lift high the cross of Jesus Christ. Friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, make no mistake, there is danger.

There is danger, but there is more than just danger. There is also opportunity. There’s the opportunity, within the constraints of the biblical witness, to develop new theologies that can speak the Gospel to our postmodern context in new and creative ways. There’s the opportunity to embody the sort of racial, ethnic and cultural diversity that we see in the New Testament, all to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. There’s the opportunity to offer a prophetic witness to our culture, one that is consistently pro-life, calling truth to power, defending the widow and the orphan, seeking to be about the politics of Jesus, defending the concerns of the least, the last and the lost. There’s an opportunity to speak the age-old truths of the Gospel in an ever-changing world. There’s the opportunity to be the missional church, to be an alternative community that shows how radical the Gospel is. There’s an opportunity to show radical love and acceptance to gays and lesbians, all the while calling them to repentance and newness of life. There’s the opportunity to support the work of the Gospel in the Global South, the place where the Gospel is taking root in new and promising ways. There’s the opportunity to share the Good News of the Gospel with those who have never had a personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, many of whom sit in the pews of our own congregations. Friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, make no mistake, there is opportunity.

The Princess Esther was told: "Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silence at such at time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this." Many see the PCUSA as a problem to be overcome. But what if being Presbyterian means being presented with the opportunity to be Christian in some powerful, prophetic and unique ways. What if, despite all the challenges and complexities being the PCUSA involves, we have been called to be God’s people for such a time as this. What if the PCUSA has a distinctive witness that God wants to it to offer? I believe it does, which is why I’m called and committed to stay in this denomination and work for its renewal.

Of course, some of our friends disagree. Some say the PCUSA has had its day. Some suggest evangelicals should leave, seeking greener pastures. But where would we go? Could we go to a new place, full of opportunity, but bereft of danger? I’m afraid not. I think we’d just find ourselves with a different set of dangers and opportunities. Make no mistake: Luther and Calvin did not leave the church; they were asked to leave, and they were asked to leave an institution that was no longer recognizable as the church. The Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed by evangelicals like Luther and Calvin was declared anathema – accursed, and if our understanding of the Gospel and its implications for human sexuality is declared anathema, and we are asked to leave, then we will face a harsh reality as they did. But that day has not come and we must maintain our resolve to work zealously for reform in our denomination at every level so that it never does.

There will always be dangers and opportunities facing God’s people. It’s part of being a believer in a time of crisis, the sort of crisis that characterizes most periods in history. Perhaps we have been called for such a time as this, like that Jewish princess Esther. Perhaps there is a witness that, like Esther, only we can give. Perhaps there is a job that we, like Esther, have been given that only we can do.

In its more than 15 years of existence, the Lord has blessed Presbyterians for Renewal. The Lord has given us the privilege of ministering in the midst of crisis, of being an instrument of clarity amidst the ambiguity, of stability amidst danger. The clearly evangelical and passionate voice of PFR helped me to take the step of faith into the PCUSA, not having grown up in the church at all. There are many youth growing up outside the church today, and we will continue to reach out to them and to engage them with the power of the Gospel [PFR Youth]. We will continue to network our women leaders, encouraging and resourcing them as they answer God’s calling on their lives [Network of Presbyterian Women in Leadership]. Our Wee Kirk Ministry is expanding with plans to reach whole new regions with conferences that nurture leaders of our smaller churches. The spiritual lives of PCUSA congregants are being revived and nourished by our Congregational Renewal Ministry, by the curricula being published by PFR, and by our Christian Life Ministry. And our Issues Ministry is providing sound advice on matters of pressing concern to the whole church, aiming to set out solid biblical arguments and to tell the stories of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. And being a long-time seminarian myself, I have a particular fondness for our seminary ministry. In the last year we have seen the birth of the first PFR seminary chapter at Princeton Seminary, a group whose ministry will help our denomination have the well-trained evangelical pastors it so desperately needs.

Board members and friends of PFR, the Lord has called us to this ministry, he has blessed us in this new day, and we are poised to answer his call with the resources and energy that only he can provide. God is using your investment of time, money, and energy to bring renewal to his church, to bring the hope of the Gospel to those who are lost, and to bring strength to weary believers.

The opportunities and the dangers will remain with us. But we can be assured that we are not the first to have faced these, and we will not be the last. Whatever age and however much ambiguity, the Lord is faithful, his calling is sure, his Gospel is freedom. We as PFR rest in God’s faithfulness, we are responding to his calling, and we live boldly in his freedom. As the PCUSA struggles, and as North America becomes a mission field, PFR’s ministries are needed now more than ever. Because of God’s mercy, our ministries have a long reach in the church, and our voice is unique: it is Reformed and evangelical, and it is unitive. It is my prayer and hope that the Lord will continue to bless PFR, so that we might not only continue our ministries but expand them, that the PCUSA might be renewed in head and members.

It is a privilege to be your new Executive Director. May God continue to bless Presbyterians for Renewal and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).