July 1, 2012 | 9:30 and 11:00 a.m.

The Costs of Connectionalism

John W. Vest
Associate Pastor, Fourth Presbyterian Church

Psalm 133
Acts 15:1–21

The mutual interconnection of the church through its councils is a sign of the unity of the church. Congregations of the Presbyterian Church (USA), while possessing all the gifts necessary to be the church, are nonetheless not sufficient in themselves to be the church. Rather, they are called to share with others both within and beyond the congregation the task of bearing witness to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in the world. This call to bear witness is the work of all believers. The particular responsibility of the councils of the church is to nurture, guide, and govern those who witness as part of the Presbyterian Church (USA), to the end that such witness strengthens the whole church and gives glory to God.

Book of Order
Presbyterian Church (USA)

I suppose I missed the memo, years ago, about slowing down the pace during the summertime months. Because of my particular ministry and family schedules, I tend to do most of my traveling during the summer, which means that just as the regular program year comes to a close here at Fourth Church, I hit the road for a full summer of mission trips and various other church-related activities.

Just last evening I pulled up to the Fourth Church entrance on Chestnut Street with twenty-one teenagers and four other adults returning from our Senior High WorkCamp. We spent all last week in the Appalachian region of southeastern Kentucky building and repairing homes with an incredible organization called the Housing Development Alliance. As you’ve heard, the youth who participated in this mission trip will be leading worship and sharing their experiences at our 4:00 jazz service today. I do encourage you to come hear what they have to say about this transformative week of serving others.

Immediately after that worship service, I’ll be flying to Pittsburgh, where 4,000 Presbyterians have already gathered for the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA). This morning these commissioners and observers are worshiping in thirty-two different churches across Pittsburgh. From our congregation, as part of the Presbytery of Chicago delegation, Judy Watt and Sam Evans are among the 688 voting commissioners and 221 advisory delegates. Adam Fronczek and our pastoral residents will be there providing welcome and peer mentorship to our new resident, who will be joining us in August. Several other members and friends of this congregation are also there in various capacities. I will be serving as an advocate for an overture from the Presbytery of Chicago that our Session first brought to the presbytery. This overture, drafted by the Covenant Network, calls on the General Assembly to maintain the status quo we have recently achieved concerning ordination standards, recognizing that the church is now in a place in which we can potentially hold together very different beliefs about human sexuality. I will also be advocating for the recommendations of the Mid Councils Commission, a commission I served on for the past two years, formed after the last General Assembly to study our denominational structures and make recommendations for how we can better fulfill the church’s mission in a rapidly changing world. In addition to these recommendations, which have proven to be somewhat controversial, the General Assembly will take up contentious business having to do with same-gender marriage, ordination standards, divestment from companies doing business with Israel, immigration, confessional statements, and the economic crisis.

The convergence of these two events—and this week’s celebration of Independence Day—have shaped my thoughts as I prepared for worship this morning. Fresh off of a mission trip, practically en route to the General Assembly, reflective of the ideals and realities of our great nation, and (as always) right in the middle of our time of transition here at Fourth Church, it seems appropriate to take some time to think together about what it means to be a connectional church—that is, a church in which congregations are bound together into a broader denomination that strives for unity in the midst of great diversity.

During our mission trip in Kentucky, we were based in the small town of Hazard in Perry County. First Presbyterian Church was our host and served as our home for the week. While we were there, we were privileged to participate in a remarkable celebration. Just weeks before our arrival, the congregation had completed a stunning renovation of the church building. The particular focus was not the sanctuary, but the adjacent portion of the building that houses classrooms, fellowship space, and offices. Does this sound familiar?

Having stayed at this church once before, five years ago, I could appreciate the significance of this remodeling project. The space was transformed beyond recognition. Instead of cramped and ill-equipped rooms, everything was open and shining new. It was an honor to stay in these newly renovated rooms, because one of the major reasons they embarked on this million-dollar project—no mean feat for a small rural congregation—was to enable them to better host mission groups like ours. Their deep desire to serve their community in mission, while also forming and nurturing disciples within their own congregation, compelled them to invest in this bold building project.

To celebrate this incredible achievement, and to thank the contractors and builders that poured themselves into this project, the church hosted a potluck dinner and graciously invited us to join them. The entire event was rich with small-town charm, and it all reminded me of the things I miss most about small churches. The food was magnificent, and the fellowship was spirited. It was quite moving to witness the pride this community felt in what they had accomplished.

It was moving, too, because I couldn’t help but notice the obvious parallels to our own situation. To be sure, the congregations and building projects in Chicago and Hazard are of radically different sizes and scales, but the underlying commitment to a shared sense of mission in the world is identical.

In a superficial sense, these two congregations could not be more different. One is urban, and the other is rural. One is among the largest churches in the PCUSA; the other represents the vast majority of small churches that make up our denomination. Cultural differences abound. Yet both congregations are striving to make disciples of Christ and serve all of God’s children in love. These two congregations, with all of their differences and similarities, are a perfect picture of what it means to be a connectional church. At some basic level, these congregations are part of a bigger church that collectively embodies God’s particular mission in the world through the Presbyterian Church (USA).

According to our Book of Order, “congregations of the PCUSA, while possessing all the gifts necessary to be the church, are nonetheless not sufficient in themselves to be the church” (Book of Order, G-3.0101). Each in their own ways, the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago and the First Presbyterian Church of Hazard have all the gifts necessary to be God’s church for the world. Yet according to our theology, neither of these churches—neither the small rural church nor the large urban church—is sufficient in and of themselves to fully accomplish what God wants to do in the world.

For us, at least, that should be a sobering thought. Let’s face it: we could function perfectly well on our own, without any denominational systems or structures at all. We could be an independent megachurch if we wanted to be. We have dynamic worship, a healthy budget, and robust programs. We are engaged in mission locally, nationally, and internationally. In stark contrast to most urban mainline churches, we have been steadily growing for decades. In most measurable ways, we don’t need other churches.

But our theology suggests that if we were to follow that logic, we would in fact be much, much less than we could be. According to our theology, we—the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago—need the First Presbyterian Church of Hazard. We, even we, are insufficient by ourselves to be God’s church for the world.

And so Presbyterian churches gather together into councils to share together the task of sharing the good news of God’s love for the world. Each congregation is governed by a council called the session. Regionally, congregations and their pastors form councils known as presbyteries. There is a super-regional level of councils known as synods. And finally, the whole church comes together as the General Assembly.

All of this is a far cry from the very first church council, the gathering we know as the Council of Jerusalem. In the early days of Christianity, when the church was still quite small, there was no formal organizational structure. Churches were planted in cities across the Roman Empire, and they functioned more or less independently. However, the mother church, the church of Jerusalem, certainly commanded a great deal of influence. After all, this was the church of the apostles, the original followers of Jesus.

Like every new religious community, the early church was deeply engaged in the business of figuring out who and what they were. As they struggled to discern God’s will in a rapidly changing world and rapidly changing faith, it was inevitable that conflicts would come up. One of the first involved the relationship between traditional Judaism—the faith of Jesus—and the emerging forms of Christianity that began to distance themselves from Judaism, especially as the Christian movement took root in non-Jewish communities.

If you aren’t familiar with this important moment in the early history of the church, here is the basic scenario. Paul, Barnabas, and others were preaching what I would call a progressiveform of nascent Christianity, which insisted that Gentiles (non-Jews) did not need to follow ancient Jewish customs—like circumcision or kosher food restrictions—in order to become Christians. In other words, non-Jews didn’t need to become Jews in order to follow the way of the Jewish messiah, Jesus, and have faith in him as savior. Paul (himself a Jew) was very successful in this mission to the Gentiles. The less severe entrance requirements of Pauline Christianity no doubt helped his pitch. Jesus plus pork minus circumcision was a winning combination.

Meanwhile, what I would call conservative followers of Jesus, those who still maintained the laws and customs of Judaism, insisted that Gentiles must be circumcised in order to be saved. For them, these were essential aspects of Jesus’ faith that could not be changed.

Disturbed by these conflicting messages out in the mission field, Paul and Barnabas returned to the home church in Jerusalem to seek arbitration by the apostles and elders. After hearing their case, Jesus’ brother James—who seemed to be the de facto leader of the Jerusalem church and presumably maintained the very Jewish traditions under dispute—pronounced a compromise that was adopted by those gathered in Jerusalem. James’s solution was essentially this: with a few exceptions, Gentiles do not need to follow the Jewish commandments. This authorized Paul to spread his more progressive interpretation of Christianity among the Gentiles. At the same time, more conservative Jewish Christians like James would presumably carry on as they had been.

This ultimately resulted in two parallel expressions of Christianity: a progressive stream that left behind certain aspects of Judaism in order to minister to Gentiles, and a conservative stream that maintained traditional Jewish practices alongside their new beliefs about Jesus. In many respects, each stream was a fellowship of likeminded followers of Jesus that kept to themselves and their respective communities.

This doesn’t sound all that different from what we experience today.

The Presbyterian church is as polarized as it has ever been. Jack Haberer, editor of The Presbyterian Outlook, suggests that the PCUSA is at a tipping point of disintegration (Jack Haberer, “Tipping Point,” The Presbyterian Outlook, 9 July 2012). Last year the church passed an amendment to our constitution that removed language that specifically prohibited the ordination of people in sexual relationships outside of heterosexual marriage. This was the provision that, for more than a decade, made it against church rules to ordain homosexuals who are in committed relationships. As it has been for decades, when it comes to the issues of human sexuality, moves in one direction or the other have been very controversial and disruptive. It was not entirely surprising, then, when earlier this year a new conservative Presbyterian denomination was created. More and more conservative congregations are departing the PCUSA for this and other Presbyterian denominations. According to Haberer, all of this “pretty much guarantees that we are now in the midst of the largest division of the denomination since the Civil War.”

In many respects, this was the pattern established by the Jerusalem Council. Rather than fight each other over what was for them a critical debate about the ongoing significance of Jewish beliefs and practices within the young Christian movement, the progressives and conservatives agreed to disagree and went about mission in their own separate ways. In many ways, this is a striking contrast to later church councils that insisted on arriving at a uniform resolution to theological disputes, proclaiming that resolution the “orthodox” view and all other views “heretical.”

It is tempting to suggest that the Jerusalem Council could serve as a model for churches like the PCUSA today. Perhaps progressives and conservatives could agree to disagree and go about our separate ways. We would be two expressions of Christianity, both under the banner of the Presbyterian church, yet not really engaged with each other.

But here is the problem: how many Jewish Christians do you know who can trace their faith ancestry back to James and the conservative church of Jerusalem? By creating these separate streams of Christianity, we ultimately ended up losing an important early expression of Christian faith.

No congregation—and no single approach to Christianity—is sufficient to be the church. We need each other to be what God has called us to be in the world.

This week’s General Assembly will be contentious and divisive. As our denomination dwindles and our unified mission in the world hangs in the balance, there is much at stake. We must find a way to be church together.

Now I’ll admit, having been involved in a large and complex congregation like Fourth Church, the Presbytery of Chicago, and the denomination as a whole, it is easy for me to grow weary of the incredible amount of time, energy, and resources it takes to maintain these institutions. When it comes to councils and structures and institutions, I’m often left feeling like we are wasting God’s time when we ought to be involved in more pressing missional needs.

Yet it occurs to me that perhaps God is, in fact, calling us in this time to figure out how to live together as a divided people. It would be so much easier to go out and serve the world on our own. It would be so much easier to be our own little Presbyterian island in the heart of Chicago. It takes so much effort to be a connectional church. The costs of connectionalism are incredibly high. But maybe—just maybe—this is part of the witness God is calling us to share with the world.

On Wednesday, when we celebrate the birth of our nation, we will do so as a deeply polarized people. As election year politics will continue to remind us, perhaps the United States is also as divided as it’s been since the Civil War. And perhaps it could be argued that our divisions are preventing us from fulfilling our civil calling as a democratic nation as much as the divisions of the church are preventing us from fulfilling our ecclesiastic calling as a democratic church. Perhaps part of God’s good news for the world is that it is possible for deeply divided people to live together as one.

If this is the case, we have a lot of work to do—as a nation, as a denomination, and even as a congregation.

As the General Assembly gathers in Pittsburgh this week, pray for the Presbyterian church. As the United States celebrates Independence Day on Wednesday, pray for our nation. And as Fourth Church continues to move forward into our shared future, pray for each other.

Amen.