OP-ED: An Evangelical Evaluation of the 2008-2009 Fidelity-Chastity Campaign in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Written by Harry S. Hassall   
Thursday, 04 June 2009 14:07
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INTRODUCTION
For the fourth time in a dozen years, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) clearly reaffirmed our understanding of God’s design for human sexuality, and recommitted our denominational family to a continuing affirmation of biblical standards for ordination and leadership within Christ’s Church.  By a 95-78 margin, presbyteries reiterated the importance of faithful living, honest repentance, and the expectation of God’s transforming power as central to the faith and practice of ordained ministers, elders, and deacons.  While a determined minority of presbyters continue to promote their interpretation of “justice” and their desire to affirm self-advocating diversity in faith and lifestyle as full expressions of God’s intention, unrepentant adultery, fornication, and homosexual practice, along with a host of other life choices Scripture and our Confessions call sin, remain barriers to Presbyterian ordination.
THE CONTEXT OF HISTORY
As we move beyond the 2008-2009 vote, it is important to see this year’s outcome in its larger historical context.  The end result of the current ballot was essentially a repeat of the 1996-1997 sea-change that added the language of G-6.0106b (“the requirement to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman (W-4.9001) or chastity in singleness”) to the Book of Order.  While the denomination has been forced to endure two intervening votes on essentially this same question, the baseline for any legitimate comparison of this year’s result is still the 1997 vote – an accomplishment that brought great hope and comfort to a majority in the PC(USA).

The second referendum, 1997-1998, was the immediate (and, from the perspective of history, unwise) attempt of revisionists to nullify the victory of the preceding year.  Conservatives who opposed this untimely effort to reject what the presbyteries had just supported were joined by hundreds of other presbyters who, regardless of their personal views on the presenting issue, reasoned that the new provision for fairness needed more time to be tested.  A major reason for our greater victory in 1998 (114-59) was this additional support.

When the third referendum was held in 2001-2002, not only was the United States as a whole still reeling from the terrorist attacks on 9/11, but the PC(USA) had just commissioned a new task force to study “the peace, unity, and purity of the church.”   Americans everywhere rallied around the more essential question of national survival.  Presbyterians joined in this larger concern, but also voted to once again give the denomination and its fledgling task force space for hopeful deliberation. The presbyteries voted, and there was a mass movement toward biblical orthodoxy.  The 2002 result (127-46) peeled revisionists’ support back to their raw base.

Recently, revisionist rhetoric has attempted to benefit from a comparison of the anomaly of their historic loss of 2002 to this year’s vote.  The truth is, however, that the 2009 vote on this issue does nothing more than return us to the same level of victory seen in our first effort in 1997.  The percentage of individual presbyters voting support of Fidelity-Chastity in 1997 and in 2009 varied by a microscopic 9/100ths of one percent!

THE IMPORTANCE OF EVERY SINGLE VOTE
In analyzing the current Fidelity-Chastity vote, it is also instructive to realize that although the margins of victory in the presbyteries over the years varied significantly (13% in 1997, 33% in 1998, 47% in 2002, and 10% in 2009), in reality, the difference between victory and defeat rested on very few individual voters in strategic presbyteries.  This year, a change of only 28 votes to the revisionists’ position could have changed the outcome in nine additional presbyteries, resulting in a national victory (86-87).  Conversely, with a change of a mere 44 individual votes strategically placed, conservatives could have won eleven more presbyteries, resulting in an even more significant national victory (106-67). 

In raw numbers, proponents of Fidelity-Chastity in 1997 garnered approximately 13,271 votes in comparison to 11,003 votes in 2009.  This equals a loss of 2,268 votes.  Similarly, opponents of Fidelity-Chastity in 1997 collected an approximate 12,722 votes in comparison to the 10,510 votes they registered in 2009.  This equals a loss of 2,212 votes.  Both the revisionists and the conservatives lost approximately 17% of their 1997 votes in 2009.  To suggest that only the conservatives lost strength is a total inaccuracy.

REALITY #1 – THERE IS MUCH TO CELEBRATE!
The close margin of this latest vote assures this issue is not going away, in spite of the unwavering clarity of Scripture.  In faithfulness to God’s Word, we must prepare to continue our witness.  As we do, there is much that should strengthen our hope and deepen our confidence that a majority of our Presbyterian family will remain faithful, even within the current reality of our dysfunctional denomination.
  • We can see amazing prayer dependence, as great numbers of faithful Presbyterians deepen their personal relationship with and dependence upon Jesus Christ through prayer and maintain prayer partnerships with others in their presbyteries and around the denomination.  Evangelical groups are re-forming and strengthening in many presbyteries.  We need to continue this pattern of health and mutual support.
  • We can see evidence of deepening trust in both the sovereignty of God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, especially among Presbyterians in middle and smaller sized presbyteries, and particularly within the bounds of Puerto Rico, the coastal West, the Mountain states, Pennsylvania, and the South.  California, the front line in the culture wars, surprisingly leads the way in upholding historic standards.
  • We must not stop rejoicing over the adamant continuing biblical witness of racial-ethnic Presbyterians, especially in the nine presbyteries where these sisters and brothers hold sway.
  • We must continue to thank God for faithfulness to His revealed Word, especially among the elders in congregations, both large and small.
  • We must continue to thank God that in the face of significant personal, professional, and political pressure to abandon biblical faithfulness, there are, throughout the presbyteries, reliable “Gideon’s bands” of pastors and CLPs, young and experienced alike, who willingly take the heat for proclaiming God’s revealed design for sexual righteousness.
  • We can remain thankful for the leadership shown by boards and staff of evangelical and mission organizations within our family, especially by Presbyterians For Renewal and The Presbyterian Coalition.
REALITY #2 – THE “PLAYING FIELD” IS NOT PREDICTABLE
At the same time, there are less hopeful realities.  In the midst of conflict within our denominational family, one would hope that seminary faculty (who are charged with nurturing leaders for the whole denomination) and presbytery staff (who are called to serve clergy and congregations across the theological spectrum) would attempt to avoid obvious partisan stands.  Not so.  In 2009, rhetoric of many seminary faculty evidenced a revisionist sellout, and many presbytery leaders appeared to maneuver the structure of debate and discussion-making on this issue to gain political advantage for the revisionists.

The shifting parity between elders and clergy is also not helping our cause.  Between 1997 and 2009 the latest comparable statistics show a denomination-wide loss of 541 congregations and 455,730 members, with a net gain of 728 ministers.  These statistics clearly impact voting within the presbyteries.  Representation from fewer congregations and fewer members depletes the corps of elders eligible to attend presbytery.  Intelligent estimates give evidence that approximately two elders support fidelity and chastity for every minister with the same position.

And yet, the votes are still in the pews!  A careful study of the four national referenda since 1997, translated into percentages for comparison, suggests that presently our 173 presbyteries now fall into the following five categories on the issue of Fidelity-Chastity:
  • Conservative - 40 presbyteries (23%)
  • Leaning Conservative - 38 presbyteries (22%)
  • Too-Close-to-Call - 46 presbyteries (27%)
  • Leaning Liberal - 21 presbyteries (12%)
  • Liberal - 28 presbyteries. (16%)
In other words, when there is a “level playing field” and when there are intentional efforts to maximize participation of all eligible voting presbyters (both elders and clergy), Presbyterians can ordinarily be counted on to make solid, orthodox decisions. 

The strength of this Presbyterian witness to biblical faithfulness is found among multiple generations of believers in most congregations; people who firmly believe God and want to follow the teachings of His Word. The grace of God, revealed through the compassion and witness of such people, continues be our foundational hope in this time of trouble.

REALITY #3 – A REALISTIC ASSESSMENT
The shift toward what Scripture calls “the world” in the culture of our nation, particularly among some of the socio-economic cohorts where traditional Presbyterianism is most firmly rooted, is beyond question.  This cultural change may have benefited the revisionists’ cause this year, although a Gallup study released this past month (May 2009) suggests pro-gay sentiment may have peaked in 2007 and may now be slightly declining. 

In reality, however, conservatives can be our own worst enemies: 
  • Many conservatives continue to show deep angst over this repeated controversy, as though evil could ever be expected to go on vacation!
  • Many conservatives responded to this year’s challenge with fatigue, preferring to ignore the obvious opportunity to share our witness to the grace and truth of the authentic love of Jesus Christ.
  • Many conservatives find this repeated challenge an inconvenient bother, while to the revisionists this issue remains a compulsion.
  • Too many conservatives thought the impact of the significant vote in 2002 should have concluded the matter in our denomination.  Some expressed their unhappiness by defecting in place or romanticizing that in lieu of this continuing required witness for truth we should re-focus on other forms of mission.  Still others allowed anger to be translated into AWOL behavior, abandoning our call to serve our Lord in this part of the Body of Christ.  Again, historic comparisons are instructive.
A study of potential voters across the denomination in 1997 indicates there were approximately 41,280 eligible presbyter-voters with only 25,993 exercising their right to vote: a 63% voter turnout.  That same study indicated that in 2009 there were approximately 42,736 eligible voters with 21,513 casting votes, a startling drop to an unacceptable low of 50% voter turnout.  Our continuing conflict over this issue is decimating the PC(USA), negating efforts at evangelism and church growth, and dissuading thousands of presbyters from involvement in our conflicted presbyteries, to the shame of us all and to the detriment of our call to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission.

Finally, a significant conservative minority became so fed up that they fled the field into “more pleasant pastures,” leaving behind some 36 upset and more hostile-than-necessary presbyteries where a pro-Fidelity-Chastity witness required a greater uphill effort to be heard and to win.  It did not help that one columnist in a major church paper, formerly supportive, seemed at every breath to be pulling for our loss so that even more could “escape” to that alleged “more pleasant pasture.“

CONCLUSION
It seems apparent that a unique part of the call of God to current generations of disciples throughout the North American Church will be to uphold and repeatedly defend His revealed design for sexual intimacy.  This includes the exercise of forgiving grace and forbearance amid attempts of a minority to revise or ignore the clear teaching of Scripture and the continuing unflinching witness of a majority of Christians throughout time and around the globe to uphold that call of the first “General Assembly” in Jerusalem “to shun sexual immorality” (Acts 15:20).

We must be preparing now for the next chapter in this continuing challenge “to live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Ephesians 4:1), discerning His revealed Truth, repenting of our own sin, and embracing all God’s children with the amazing promise of His transforming grace and love.  We can do nothing less.



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