My church does not speak for me.
I’m a conservative who happens to be a member and ordained elder in the increasingly liberal Presbyterian Church (USA). For years, the denomination’s leaders have been issuing statements with which I disagree — and I’m not alone. Not every PC(USA) member shares the opinions of those who claim to be the voice of our denomination.
In my small PC(USA) congregation, our members’ views span the gamut from far-left liberal progressive to far-right conservative. In the parking lot, you’ll see cars with pro-life and pro-choice bumper stickers parked next to each other — along with cars sporting bumper stickers expressing a broad range of social and political positions (and a few good jokes). But we are united in our faith in Jesus Christ and our commitment to one another as friends and a church family.
PC(USA) members do not vote as a bloc. We don’t all shop at the same stores, buy the same products, make the same choices when it comes to health care or even laugh at the same jokes.
Yet in a recent public letter to the CEO of Ben & Jerry’s, our stated clerk, J. Herbert Nelson II, implied that 1.4 million Presbyterians agreed with his position on an issue related to how the ice-cream company operates. We do not.
In the letter, Nelson urged the company to “enter into a legally binding agreement to join the Milk with Dignity Program developed by Migrant Justice.” Ben & Jerry’s is known for its commitment to social justice. A statement on the company’s website says it’s still negotiating that agreement and is committed to being the first dairy company to implement the program.
Ben & Jerry’s can do the right thing in terms of assuring safe, dignified working conditions for all those in its supply chain without signing an agreement with an external entity. This is just one example of why I think Nelson is out of step with tens of thousands of PC(USA) members.
Membership in mainline churches, including the PC(USA), is declining. A key reason conservatives are fleeing the PC(USA) is the church’s regular public statements and positions that are at odds with their views and values.
This is one of the challenges of being a member of a mainline denomination — any of them, not just Presbyterian. I doubt that my experience in the PC(USA) is unusual. There is value in local congregations being part of a larger connected body, but not when that body fails to recognize the uniqueness of the individual members.
While we discuss just about every topic under the sun, the members of my local congregation don’t presume to speak for one another on social or political issues — or even in interpretations of the Bible. We speak for ourselves. But it appears that the PC(USA) is actively trying to create a denomination of like-minded people who speak with a single voice on social and political issues.
When the national denomination takes radical positions with which individuals disagree on issues that would be better left outside the church, many leave. Others struggle with the decision to stay or go because, as objectionable as they may find the denomination’s positions, they are reluctant to leave their local community of faith where they have built relationships over the years.
For example, the PC(USA)-affiliated Presbyterians Affirming Reproductive Options joined in signing a letter to the U.S. Senate urging Congress not to defund Planned Parenthood. My local congregation lost at least one member because of that, and I suspect that loss was mirrored in churches across the country.
Our congressional representatives need to know that there is a substantial number of PC(USA) members who support the defunding of Planned Parenthood. That support is not based solely on the issue of abortion; we have done our research and don’t want to see our tax dollars going to that organization for a variety of reasons.
As the denomination’s top elected ecclesial officer, Nelson routinely makes statements on a range of issues that come under the “social justice” umbrella that are, in my opinion, misguided and not always based in fact. I know it’s likely that a majority of PC(USA) members agree with him, or he wouldn’t be in the position he holds. Still, he fails to acknowledge the members with different views.
When you’re in a relationship where you don’t feel valued and respected, where others feel free to speak on your behalf without your consent, the best thing to do is leave. And that’s what members of mainline denominations are choosing to do.
Jacquelyn Lynn of Winter Springs is an ordained Presbyterian Church (USA) elder and a member of Tuskawilla Presbyterian Church in Oviedo.
