McCarthyism and the GRN

Generally speaking, I’m an optimist when it comes to our capacity to work together in the PCA across the various tribes that make up our fellowship in the Gospel. My youngest daughter attends a GRN supporting church, and it is beautifully pastored by a man I count as a dear friend. We have so much in common in our shared mission. I said as much in a recent post, writing “It's time for a ‘swords into plowshares’ day to dawn in the PCA. I don't know that those who hold to strict subscription — or its defacto form of forbidding the teaching of allowable exceptions — can stay in community with good faith subscription brothers and build together. Perhaps not. But I hope so. After all, both love the Lord Jesus Christ, the Scriptures, and his Church. Both are committed to the Great Commission. Both need one another.”

Less than hopeful moments do occur though, especially when I read misleading articles on the GRN website. Sadly, that happened again today, this time with an article by Rev. Jim McCarthy from Hattiesburg, Mississippi. While Rev. McCarthy’s article contains a few insights I’d happily applaud and commend, I also came across this misleading material:

“Their efforts have been magnified by the National Partnership; a highly organized, clandestine fraternity of block-voting progressives. While naïve moderates and confessionalists have been busy writing sermons and pastoring their churches, NP leaders have been mastering the art of denominational chess, stacking committees, distributing General Assembly voting guides, organizing their closed-door annual meeting, and maintaining anonymous mailing lists, closed Facebook groups, and password-protected websites. But rather than maintaining the PCA’s peace and purity by quietly transferring their credentials to a more like-minded denomination like the EPC, they have launched an offensive to seize control of the PCA and recast it after their own image.”

It’s hard to imagine a longer parade of false assertions marching down Main Street PCA. It’s yet another episode in what I can now sadly refer to as the PCA’s McCarthyism era.

Perhaps you recall McCarthyism from your history texts. It refers to Senator Joe McCarthy of Wisconsin and the years between 1950 and 1954 during which he led a movement that falsely accused otherwise loyal US Citizens of being Communists. Many were blacklisted, lost their jobs, and a great many others lived in fear of his investigative committee. He failed to make the accusations stick and ended up being censured by the Senate. That’s why McCarthyism lives on in our language, defined by the Encyclopedia Brittanica as  “a byname for defamation of character or reputation by means of widely publicized indiscriminate allegations, especially on the basis of unsubstantiated charges.” That’s exactly what Rev. McCarthy does with his hit-piece published on the GRN website this week. 

McCarthyism and the NP

First, anyone who’s received an email from the NP knows there’s no organization, no clandestine fraternity, and no closed-door annual meeting. There’s no annual meeting of any kind. I wish there was one! This entire sentence would be merely preposterous and laughable except for the fact that it's not only incorrect but mendacious.

Then, Pastor McCarthy engages in false comparisons. The guys he favors are busy working on sermons, while those ‘progressives’ are obviously not doing so because they’re busy with political maneuvers. First, I’m guessing all of the PCA Pastors I know across the board work very hard to be faithful ministers of word and sacrament. Second, I’m fairly certain that Pastor McCarthy doesn’t seriously wish to suggest that if Jon Payne, David Strain, and Harry Reeder work hard to write and publish GRN website material, organize conferences, and double down on efforts to get Commissioners favorable to their viewpoint to attend GA and populate committees, that they’re being unfaithful in or negligent of their pastoral duties. I sure don’t think that’s the case and my guess is that he doesn’t either. So before McCarthy asserts that is the case for those he accuses of breaking their ordination vows — which is what he’s done — I suggest a less strident approach would be helpful. Caring for the denomination we all love does mean arguing for positions we believe in, organizing for important votes, and informing people of the vision for the future of the PCA we cherish. There’s nothing wrong with that and it doesn’t detract from pastoral responsibilities. In fact, my guess is that while Pastor McCarthy was writing his article, he probably felt that what he was doing was an important part of his calling and I’d agree with him.

Meetings are bad? Wow. Here’s Jon Payne’s Facebook post about how the GRN actually views meetings about denominational strategy:

The battle is not over. The GRN Council will be meeting the first week of March to pray and seek the Lord’s wisdom regarding next steps. You’ll be hearing from the GRN in a couple of weeks. Thanks for your prayers for our meetings…

Well OK, then. Again, I don’t want to be presumptuous, but I’m guessing Pastor McCarthy won’t object to this meeting and will eagerly await its outcome, its decisions about strategic next steps, filling GA with RE’s who will vote the ‘right’ way, and doing all that is possible to turn the PCA into the Calvary Presbytery.

Let’s do a little comparison. Does the NP have a website? No. Does it have an annual conference? No. Does it have a fund-raising arm to secure money to cover the costs for sympathetic RE’s to get to GA? No. Does it have an Executive Group that meets to plan strategy? No. But I do know which group has all of this. The GRN. To be clear, that’s fine by me. I think they do a great job advocating for their view, even if on occasion some of their articles are found factually wanting and I find their vision positively chilling.

McCarthyism and Vow Breaking

And yes, Pastor McCarthy has accused me and many of my colleagues of breaking our ordination vows. He’s accused us of sticking around the PCA while secretly denying the Standards and our Polity; he’s just sure that we should’ve headed for the EPC long ago. Instead of doing so, I’m part of some mysterious group who’ve - checks notes - “launched an offensive to seize control of the PCA and recast it after their own image.” Well, Pastor McCarthy, I have three recorded exceptions and I’ve been examined by the Nashville Presbytery twice, South Texas once, and Gulf Stream most recently. You’re suggesting that I’m being disingenuous with my examination answers? Rev. McCarthy, prove it. And if you won’t or can’t, retract it. You’re introducing a new brand of ecclesiastical ‘McCarthyism’ and it's not a good look.

The irony of a GRN article suggesting that the “other” guys are trying to remake the PCA in their own image is truly astonishing. Trying to turn the PCA into a strict subscription denomination, or keep it ‘southern’, is exactly the radical remake of the denomination that’s going on, the one that should actually be resisted, and the point of origin for that transformationalist vision is in Charleston and Birmingham, not Columbus, New York, or Nashville.

I’m a good-faith confessionalist and that’s exactly what the PCA was founded to be. The only people I know looking to impose a revolutionary new culture on the PCA are men like the Rev. McCarthy who consistently hijack the word ‘Confessionalist’ to negate the confessional fidelity of others, re-order the PCA around their version of the Regulative Principle, argues for a ‘southern’ church (Seriously, Rev. Groff? - https://twitter.com/ZGroff/status/1492284022147457026), threaten to leave if that way of doing things isn’t accepted as the way forward, and make slanderous allegations against their brothers (who they ‘dearly love’ of course).

It is certainly true that churches and pastors are evaluating leaving and staying; that’s true at either end of these disagreements. It’s also true that the process of discerning that direction takes time, patience, and humble prayer. I don’t disparage anyone’s move out of the PCA, whether to the ARP, the EPC, the ACNA, or another communion. There will no doubt be more moves like this over the next few years if only to get away from the constant conflict imposed on this denomination by men like Rev. McCarthy who not only make wildly inaccurate assertions about those they apparently wish would leave, but also call on others to join their battle against their brothers whom they regard as wicked deceivers. So much for my ‘swords into plowshares’ call.

The Vision Thing

Let’s be clear: had the GRN vision of the PCA been in place in the mid-90s, it would’ve created a PCA I could never have joined. I’m not ‘southern’ (sorry Rev. Groff), I do take allowable exceptions and I will teach the Scriptures accordingly, and I think that the liberty PCA churches have to establish worship cultures suitable to their mission and place is not only permitted but wise. If one wishes to be in a strict-subscriptionist southern church with worship practices that are uniform across the country, one should join one or form one, but stop trying to make the PCA into one. And as for Pastor McCarthy’s invitation to pack and leave for the EPC, I’ll simply say that, much as I appreciate and admire my friends in the EPC, I like the home I have.

The PCA is an Evangelical and Reformed denomination that has room for every GRN church I can imagine. The GRN’s version of the PCA, however, has no room for the vast majority of PCA churches that differ from them. And that’s the difference. The GRN desires a hyper-homogenous, super-southern, strict subscriptionist PCA - nothing short of a revolution - while others want an evangelical, good-faith subscription, national Presbyterian Church with a global vision that has a posture of serving inclusion rather than defensive exclusion.

On a Sunday morning soon I’ll be worshipping in a GRN supporting church, enjoying the fellowship, learning from the message, and thanking God for my friend’s ministry in Franklin, TN. If there’s an exclusionary spirit in the PCA, it doesn’t belong to the people Rev. McCarthy accuses of harboring it and the GRN should remove and disavow his dangerously misleading post. After all, McCarthyism should have no place in the PCA - the ninth commandment springs to mind.