I think there are good “arguments” for and against the practice of cremation from a Christian perspective. I worry less about whether cremation poses any obstacles for God’s power to resurrect the dead, and more about how the practice can impact our attitude toward the physicality of life in the present. We do tend to treat our bodies as objects apart from ourselves, rather than part of our-selves. Pressing issues in bioethics offer plenty of good examples, and in the evangelical community it tends to be part and parcel of the larger world-denying rather than world-engaging spirituality. If ultimately, God's plan is to redeem our bodies and indeed all creation, how should that impact the way we treat our own bodies and the creation now?  (Gilbert Meilaender has an interesting article on this issue, and he touches on cremation, in the February 2007 issue of Touchstone, called “Broken Bodies Redeemed.”)

As a way of introducing myself and the work I hope to do with PFR, I would like to offer the following touchstones for renewal, some reflections on the way forward for PFR and for our denomination.

As Presbyterians and as PFR, we have a big task ahead of us. As the PC(USA) continues to wrestle with its own identity, PFR will remain committed to fostering a Reformed and evangelical vision for the renewal of the church. As Executive Director of PFR, I will commit my energy to implementing that vision, that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) may honor God more purely and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ more boldly.

Renewal is the continual, transforming work of the Holy Spirit

For many years PFR has engaged the church with the following mission: “As followers of Jesus Christ, seeking to conform our lives and beliefs to the Word of God, our mission is to participate in God’s renewing, transforming work in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).” Because renewal is the work of the Holy Spirit, we participate in God’s renewal of the church, which is an ongoing process of transformation, necessary in every age of the church’s life. The Holy Spirit renews the church at every level: individual, congregational, connectional, and global. Because the Holy Spirit is the ultimate source of our renewal, rather than our own energy or wisdom, we are called to pray for and be instruments of the Spirit’s work in our midst!

Renewal at the local level

Our connectional identity and the comprehensive nature of the Spirit’s work lead us to engage in renewal efforts at both the congregational and the national levels. The individual congregation is the mission center of the Spirit’s activity, for it is here that the Gospel of Jesus Christ takes root in the lives of Christians. Responding to the Gospel proclaimed from the pulpit and made visible in the sacraments, congregations strive to be faithful to the Gospel, witnessing to its power in their own communities. Even so, as the last several decades have made clear, our congregations face tough challenges today, and PFR is committed to facing these challenges without wavering.

One challenge we continue to face is the need to support the theological and spiritual development of our pastors and elders, indeed of all our members. Today, even many evangelical congregations struggle to integrate biblical preaching, our confessional heritage, God-honoring pastoral care, and faithful church-growth strategies into ministry at the local level. As we look to the future and respond to the spiritual and educational needs of the church, PFR will continue to be a strong presence of renewal in the church through its Issues Ministry, Curriculum, Network of Presbyterian Women in Leadership, Seminary Ministry, as well as our Wee Kirk and Christian Life conferences and Congregational Renewals. We have seen many hopeful signs! To give but one example, this year we have witnessed a growing Presbyterians For Renewal student movement at Princeton Theological Seminary, which promises to send the church future leaders who are prepared to proclaim the Gospel with passion and integrity. By addressing the needs of our seminarians and young pastors, and by tapping the creative and bright evangelical minds in our church, I believe we can foster the renewal of mainline evangelical theology that is so important for every aspect of our church’s life. PFR seeks to be a critical instrument in bringing this renewal to fruition, by preparing and distributing reliable materials through our publications, our website, and other forms of popular media.

Another challenge we face is the fact that many evangelical pastors and congregations feel isolated in their own presbyteries. In such circumstances, it is extremely difficult for them to see beyond their intense local struggles into a brighter future for their presbytery and for our denomination as a whole. PFR wants to collaborate with these pastors and congregations, helping them to network for mutual support and to cultivate strategic thinking within their presbyteries. PFR will continue to expand its base of local chapters, fostering grassroots energy for the renewal of our member congregations and their respective presbyteries. Supporting strategic planning in many presbyteries will also be important as we look forward to a future where the General Assembly will be focused on working with numerous overtures that seek to implement an evangelical vision for the denomination.

We find a further local challenge in the fact that our congregations continue to reflect the racial/ethnic and economic divisions found in the wider culture. To faithfully live out the Gospel, we must strive against this part of our history and prepare for a more diverse future. Nurturing an evangelical multiculturalism in the church is a particularly pressing need in our age, and PFR is committed to addressing this need with vigor. On this important matter we need to be constantly reminded that right doctrine and right living can never be separated. We will seek to raise up minority leaders, increase awareness, listen to our congregations’ struggles, and offer creative, practical paradigms for the way forward.

Renewal at the national level

Of course, some of the most pressing issues facing the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) today involve decisions made at the national level, both in the General Assembly and in the denominational offices in Louisville. Debates over ordination standards, abortion, social witness policy, the Washington office, ecumenical relationships, institutional structures, enforcing the Constitution—the list could go on—have preoccupied the national conversation, usually to the detriment of the concerns of local congregations. One of my goals as Executive Director will be to give PFR’s national voice greater prominence, becoming more proactive in our political advocacy. I will work hard to get out in front of the issues, thinking well beyond defensive measures, presenting a strong, irenic evangelical voice in the denomination. In addition to building relationships, we will invest in publications, conferences, videos, and creative forms of commissioner education, covering various pressing issues of evangelical concern.

Because ideas can change the world, it is heartening to note that as a widely respected yet distinctively evangelical voice, PFR is well positioned to be a clearinghouse for confessional, creative theological thinking. We will be working on the concerns of our younger pastors, such as the deeply felt conflict between a high view of the connectional church on the one hand, and distrust of the “institution” on the other. We will offer a faithful and concrete approach to homosexual practice and the debate over ordination standards. And we will strive to help the church evangelize an increasingly “post-Christian,” pluralistic society.

A word about PFR’s role in the struggle over ordination standards is in order here. PFR has a good track record of working for broad-based renewal, rather than being defined by one issue. I am convinced this approach is the right one. Having said that, PFR will make a concentrated effort in the coming years to maintain biblical ordination standards, including G-6.0106b, while partnering with other groups in the Presbyterian Renewal Network. The next year and a half leading up to the Assembly in Birmingham promises to be a crucial time, and we will be making the case for biblical and unitive standards, offering guidance to commissioners before we gather in Birmingham. If biblical ordination standards are maintained at the next Assembly, I am hopeful that the following two years can be more positive years of evangelical hope for our future, hope to be made concrete in overtures and forward-looking policy initiatives that may de-center the ordination issue. If we can fill these years with multicultural leadership and a global vision, a broad-based coalition could then move our denomination forward, witnessing to Jesus Christ by engaging the culture without conforming to it.

Renewal is future oriented and globally conceived

As a Reformed evangelical, I am convinced that looking forward and trusting the Spirit’s strength is a mandate for evangelicals. Because the Holy Spirit sanctifies us, moving us forward in our pursuit of holiness, we must be the true “progressives,” those making progress in the way we engage the culture and conform ourselves to the character of Christ. No culture since the Fall—and no church for that matter—has ever been beyond the need for repentance and transformation. In other words, our vision for the church is not to return to a glorious past or to defend the status quo. Evangelical renewal is not “conservative” in this sense; it is future oriented.

For instance, when PFR defends our church’s present standards that are biblical, we do so as part of our interest in moving forward in our proclamation of the Gospel. Fighting the battle over ordination standards is one part of a broader effort to offer a positive vision for renewal. Now and in the future, our wider concerns for Assembly action may include:

1) more effective allocation of funds as well as altering our bureaucratic structure, so that our national structure follows the concerns of our congregations rather than the reverse;

2) improving our efforts in global missions to bring the Gospel to unreached people groups;

3) developing reciprocal relationships with churches in the “Global South,” where we learn from them how to better contextualize the Gospel, which will help us be more effective in our own new church developments;

4) developing a program for training pastors to be missionary-evangelists in our own increasingly secular context;

5) having a more consistently pro-life ethic;

6) taking a hard look at the curricula of our denominational seminaries and the programs widely endorsed to train our pastors; and

7) exploring how our confessional heritage can play a more significant role in our identity as a church and in the education of our pastors. In the coming years, PFR will explore these and other issues, working through our governing bodies to effect positive change for the future.

Finally, today more than ever, our vision for the renewal of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) must embrace a global perspective. The Holy Spirit is working all over the world, and a global consciousness will lead us to consider the Spirit’s movement in our brothers and sisters of evangelical faith in various cultures and locales. A global consciousness will encourage us, as we participate not just in a struggling American denomination but in the 21st century explosion of the Christian faith in the southern hemisphere. How can we learn from these non-Western churches? A global perspective will also alert us to changing demographic patterns: are we prepared for the influx of evangelical, non-white immigrants to the United States? How can we invest in the leadership of racial and ethnic minorities who in many ways represent the future of American Christianity? Evangelicalism is truly global and multicultural; our evangelical voice in the PC(USA) should be as well.

Obviously, this vision for the church cannot be accomplished by a few individuals or a small team. We must unite our passions, offering ourselves to be transformed by the Spirit at the local level. I am eager to partner with you in the ministry of the Gospel! Please feel free to contact me with your questions, concerns, or to share how the Spirit has been at work in your congregation’s life or in your participation in a PFR event. Soli Deo Gloria!

The following is the text of an address I gave at a special PFR worship service on Feb. 2 at Clear Lake Presbyterian Church in Houston, TX.

What a challenging time and place to be a believer. Biblical and theological illiteracy at seemingly record highs, widespread suspicion of ecclesial structures and institutions, increasing knowledge of institutional corruption and mismanagement. All these characterize the period. Some believers think they can live within the current system; some think they must break away from it, not because they want to start a new church, but because they think the institution they’re leaving isn’t a church at all. There are debates about age old moral standards and church practices. Things that were once taken for granted are now called into question. Some religious sects, identifying themselves as Christian, seem to be further distancing themselves from historic Christianity and gravitating more and more to extremism, even engaging in acts of civil disobedience and violence. Some believers in this age refuse to be engaged in the world because they are sure that world events point to the imminent coming of Christ and the end of the world. Heresy trials become commonplace. “Essential tenets” of the faith have become all but unidentifiable, even among theological allies. New communication technology develops at break neck speed, allowing people a voice they had never previously had, and theological disputes become popular affairs. This is a world yearning for and needing the Gospel, yet many believers are caught up in theological debates rather than cross cultural mission for the sake of the world. All this, and the constant threat and fear of Muslim aggression from the Arab world. What a time to be a believer.

Some of you undoubtedly think I’m referring to the present. I’m not.

I’m speaking about the 16th century. Indeed, the founders of our Reformed tradition lived in a time not unlike our own. It was a time when the Church faced unique challenges and had to press on in light of an incredibly uncertain future. It was a challenging context to be a Christian, to be the Church. If you asked me to choose any period I wanted to live in as a believer, it probably wouldn’t have been this one. On top of all the theological, spiritual and cultural challenges, disease and death ran rampid, and many of the civil liberties that we as members of Western Liberal Democratic Society have come to expect were simply unimaginable in the 16th Century. It’s not a time I’d choose to be a believer in, or choose to try to raise my family in. And yet, the ironic thing is that as a Church historian it’s a time period that I can’t get my mind off of.

I must confess: I love the 16th century. Most of my spiritual and theological heroes lived in that time period. Many of the ideas that have come to inform my faith, and to ground our own Reformed tradition, emerged from this century. Bold innovations came from this century, innovations that still shape the life and practice of our own Churches. A new piety of the Word emerged, which led scholars to translate the Bible into the language of the people, as the Church experimented with new technologies like the printing press. And while Protestants were focused on Europe alone, Jesuit missionaries like Matteo Ricci were finding creative ways to translate the Bible and the faith into the thought patterns of Southeast Asia. Some of the most creative missionary work in the history of the Church happened in this century.

I am reminded of that famous quote about 18th century France: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…” Most of us don’t like ambiguity. Most of us prefer times and places and situations where the issues that face us are clear, simple and unambiguous. But truth be told, most historical times and places are as complicated as 18th century France, or 16th Europe during the Reformation. Most of the times and places that God’s people have been called to live in are exceedingly ambiguous. They are times full of both light and darkness, truth and falsehood, promise and peril.

It’s interesting to note that the Chinese character for “Crisis” is a combination of the characters for “danger” and “opportunity.” In times of crisis, one of the dangers is that the crisis in question will be understood in one-sided terms: emphasizing either the danger, or the opportunity. Make no mistake, the Presbyterian Church USA is in crisis. And there are such voices in our denomination that want to oversimplify that crisis. There are those who look at our denomination and only see opportunity. They tell us that if one or two more changes are made all will be well. They say the denomination’s critics, especially the more conservative ones, are reactionary, part of some grand right wing conspiracy to destabilize the institution. Wherever they look around, all they see is boundless potential. There are others that look at our denomination and see nothing but danger. There are those who would tell us that nothing is well, that all is lost, that there are no signs of God’s redemptive presence in the PCUSA, that God’s glory has left the temple, never to return. Both sets of voices tell us a story, but neither set tell us the true story. Both tell compelling stories. Both garner lots of attention. Neither really help a Church in crisis.

A Church in crisis has to realize that it is called to a time and a place ridden with danger. There are real dangers facing Mainline denominations like the PCUSA. There’s the danger of heresy. There’s the danger of apostasy. There’s the danger that in our efforts to be inclusive we might affirm all manner of ungodliness and untruth. There’s a danger that in our desire to be politically correct, we might make decisions that are politically naïve and uninformed, as can be seen by our denomination’s recent debacles in the Middle East. There’s the danger that in our desire to be relevant to the culture, we’ll preach a Gospel that is captive to the culture, failing to offer the healing power of the Gospel. There’s the danger that our denomination’s cultural influence of yesteryear will lead to delusional beliefs that we somehow are still at the center of the culture’s concerns. There’s the danger that in our desire to be diverse, we will honor and embrace ideas and theologies that do not lift high the cross of Jesus Christ. Friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, make no mistake, there is danger.

There is danger, but there is more than just danger. There is also opportunity. There’s the opportunity, within the constraints of the biblical witness, to develop new theologies that can speak the Gospel to our postmodern context in new and creative ways. There’s the opportunity to embody the sort of racial, ethnic and cultural diversity that we see in the New Testament, all to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. There’s the opportunity to offer a prophetic witness to our culture, one that is consistently pro-life, calling truth to power, defending the widow and the orphan, seeking to be about the politics of Jesus, defending the concerns of the least, the last and the lost. There’s an opportunity to speak the age-old truths of the Gospel in an ever-changing world. There’s the opportunity to be the missional church, to be an alternative community that shows how radical the Gospel is. There’s an opportunity to show radical love and acceptance to gays and lesbians, all the while calling them to repentance and newness of life. There’s the opportunity to support the work of the Gospel in the Global South, the place where the Gospel is taking root in new and promising ways. There’s the opportunity to share the Good News of the Gospel with those who have never had a personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, many of whom sit in the pews of our own congregations. Friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, make no mistake, there is opportunity.

The Princess Esther was told: “Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silence at such at time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.” Many see the PCUSA as a problem to be overcome. But what if being Presbyterian means being presented with the opportunity to be Christian in some powerful, prophetic and unique ways. What if, despite all the challenges and complexities being the PCUSA involves, we have been called to be God’s people for such a time as this. What if the PCUSA has a distinctive witness that God wants to it to offer? I believe it does, which is why I’m called and committed to stay in this denomination and work for its renewal.

Of course, some of our friends disagree. Some say the PCUSA has had its day. Some suggest evangelicals should leave, seeking greener pastures. But where would we go? Could we go to a new place, full of opportunity, but bereft of danger? I’m afraid not. I think we’d just find ourselves with a different set of dangers and opportunities. Make no mistake: Luther and Calvin did not leave the church; they were asked to leave, and they were asked to leave an institution that was no longer recognizable as the church. The Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed by evangelicals like Luther and Calvin was declared anathema – accursed, and if our understanding of the Gospel and its implications for human sexuality is declared anathema, and we are asked to leave, then we will face a harsh reality as they did. But that day has not come and we must maintain our resolve to work zealously for reform in our denomination at every level so that it never does.

There will always be dangers and opportunities facing God’s people. It’s part of being a believer in a time of crisis, the sort of crisis that characterizes most periods in history. Perhaps we have been called for such a time as this, like that Jewish princess Esther. Perhaps there is a witness that, like Esther, only we can give. Perhaps there is a job that we, like Esther, have been given that only we can do.

In its more than 15 years of existence, the Lord has blessed Presbyterians for Renewal. The Lord has given us the privilege of ministering in the midst of crisis, of being an instrument of clarity amidst the ambiguity, of stability amidst danger. The clearly evangelical and passionate voice of PFR helped me to take the step of faith into the PCUSA, not having grown up in the church at all. There are many youth growing up outside the church today, and we will continue to reach out to them and to engage them with the power of the Gospel [PFR Youth]. We will continue to network our women leaders, encouraging and resourcing them as they answer God’s calling on their lives [Network of Presbyterian Women in Leadership]. Our Wee Kirk Ministry is expanding with plans to reach whole new regions with conferences that nurture leaders of our smaller churches. The spiritual lives of PCUSA congregants are being revived and nourished by our Congregational Renewal Ministry, by the curricula being published by PFR, and by our Christian Life Ministry. And our Issues Ministry is providing sound advice on matters of pressing concern to the whole church, aiming to set out solid biblical arguments and to tell the stories of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. And being a long-time seminarian myself, I have a particular fondness for our seminary ministry. In the last year we have seen the birth of the first PFR seminary chapter at Princeton Seminary, a group whose ministry will help our denomination have the well-trained evangelical pastors it so desperately needs.

Board members and friends of PFR, the Lord has called us to this ministry, he has blessed us in this new day, and we are poised to answer his call with the resources and energy that only he can provide. God is using your investment of time, money, and energy to bring renewal to his church, to bring the hope of the Gospel to those who are lost, and to bring strength to weary believers.

The opportunities and the dangers will remain with us. But we can be assured that we are not the first to have faced these, and we will not be the last. Whatever age and however much ambiguity, the Lord is faithful, his calling is sure, his Gospel is freedom. We as PFR rest in God’s faithfulness, we are responding to his calling, and we live boldly in his freedom. As the PCUSA struggles, and as North America becomes a mission field, PFR’s ministries are needed now more than ever. Because of God’s mercy, our ministries have a long reach in the church, and our voice is unique: it is Reformed and evangelical, and it is unitive. It is my prayer and hope that the Lord will continue to bless PFR, so that we might not only continue our ministries but expand them, that the PCUSA might be renewed in head and members.

It is a privilege to be your new Executive Director. May God continue to bless Presbyterians For Renewal and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).