PCA Overtures 23 & 37 have officially failed in our presbyteries.

This is, to say the least, extremely disappointing. Did the PCA really just vote down overtures that helpfully clarify a biblical position on self-identified gay men being disqualified for office? Those who support and welcome Revoice/side B doctrine into the PCA will, of course, be pleased with the result. They believe the PCA tent must expand in ways the founders of the PCA would never have deemed permissible. Imagine for a moment traveling back to December 1973 and telling the founders that in 50 years the PCA would be ordaining men who self-identify as gay Christians. Imagine telling those godly and courageous men that major National newspapers and magazines would be reporting on (and confusing!) the world about self-identifying gay pastors in the PCA.Beautiful orthodoxy, according to the National Partnership, is a broad, culturally accommodating, and hyper-contextualized version of orthodoxy. It’s a version of “orthodoxy” that prioritizes the culture’s view of the church over the church’s faithfulness to the unvarnished, countercultural, and often offensive proclamation of God’s truth. Biblical and confessional arguments are regularly met with accusations of neo-fundamentalism, homophobia, and Pharisaism. Do they hear themselves? That Teaching Elders, Ruling Elders, and laypeople who do not believe that men who publicly self-identify as gay and who publicly identify with gay culture (rather than publicly renounce and forsake them – Titus 2:11-14) are neo-fundamentalists? I love my brothers who are on the other side of these issues. Seriously, I do. I am just discouraged that what looks so plain to me (and to many) is obviously not plain to a large percentage of our denomination, and to a growing number within broad evangelicalism. But I, along with others, do believe that there is a pathway to recovering a truly biblical and confessional orthodoxy in the PCA. 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, and most importantly for our beloved PCA. Please plan on joining us for the GRN National Conference in May. You can register on our website. Scholarships are available.

Soli Deo Gloria
Jon Payne