selected articles concerning the formation of the pca
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SELECTED ARTICLES DEPICTING THE FORMATIONAL PERIOD PRIOR TO AND THE ACTUAL FORMATION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICACompiled by Roland S. BarnesTRANSCRIPT
SELECTED ARTICLES DEPICTING THE FORMATIONAL PERIOD PRIOR TO AND
THE ACTUAL FORMATION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA
Compiled by Roland S. Barnes
In 1977 Roland Barnes compiled these articles as part of a denominational history class at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Roland is Senior (and organizing) Pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Statesboro, Georgia where he has served for 32 years.
Several years ago he made copies and gave one to me while I was serving as RUF Campus Minister just down the road at Savannah College of Art & Design. When I read them I knew it was a unique snapshot of the Presbyterian Church in America and its beginnings. And, given more than a cursory look, a vital clue to so much of what we are now, and what we struggle with.
Roland has kindly given me permission to reproduce them. Nearly all the articles are from the Presbyterian Journal. Founded in 1942 as the Southern Presbyterian Journal it was an independent voice "to challenge the assumptions and activities of the liberals and to return the [Southern Presbyterian] denomination to its biblical moorings.” It ceased publication in 1987.
By 1971 the Journal was one of the principle voices calling for a “continuing Presbyterian Church” out of the Southern Presbyterian Church (PCUS). There were others but none matched the Journal for its reach and influence.
The articles here (including one each from the Presbyterian Guardian and The Banner of Truth that were added later) date from February 17, 1971 to January 20, 1978 and record events from about three years before the PCA was established up to the fifth General Assembly.
It is not an historical narrative and for many who were removed from these events it will take some effort to understand and connect the dots in what may appear to be a dated and peculiar world. I think it’s especially important that two sections of the PCA take particular care in reading these articles.
First, there is the younger, urban-minded group of our church. They need to avoid the temptation to summarily dismiss what they see here as demoded, strange and even a little embarrassing. Indulging in that would be arrogant and ungrateful. It would also prevent them from being able to learn better how to love and encourage the PCA. There is also in these pages a strong guide to understanding their confusion and frustration at where we are as a church.
But there is also a hazard for those who were directly involved or witnesses to these events. Their temptation is to see this as soft-focus hagiography, especially as these articles are certainly not a dispassionate account of events. It is vital to see in these pages an account of (to paraphrase John Newton) faithful men to a great Savior and very great sinners, to see those who challenged the realpolitik of a Main Line denomination at times preoccupied with accommodating culture who, as with all men of like flesh, carried with them their own particular set of accommodations and blind spots. These are easier to see in hindsight, but they need to be seen as a matter of ordinary Christian growth and to better address the challenges of life together in our denomination.
Tom CannonRed Mountain Church (PCA)April, 2013
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The following article from the January 20, 1978 edition of The Banner of Truth had several sections that here highlighted by a felt marker. This made them difficult to read. This has been (rather crudely) corrected.
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