Three Proposals for Racial Reconciliation Overtures in the PCA

Perhaps the biggest issue going into this year’s Presbyterian
Church in America (PCA) General Assembly will be the racial reconciliation
overtures that are starting to come in from the presbyteries.  This process was prompted by the personal
resolution submitted last year by Drs. Sean Lucas and Ligon Duncan.  When that overture was tabled to this coming
year, it has rightly prompted a variety of responses.  Moreover, the recent publication of Dr. Lucas’
record of the PCA’s founding, For a
Continuing Church, informs this process with abundant historical data.

As the calendar turns and thoughts begin to turn to the
general assembly, it is important that we think about this matter in a
biblically principled manner.  To that
end, I would suggest three principles for the PCA’s response to racial
reconciliation concerns:

1.      
We should
pursue grace with a diligent concern for truth.

2.      
We should
show care and respect to all sides.

3.      
We should
avoid diverting the church from its spiritual mission by means of permanent committees
for social justice.

Let me work out each of these as follows:

1.      
 We should pursue grace with a diligent concern
for truth.  Naturally, PCA members
will desire the gospel to find expression through the confession, repentance,
and forgiveness of sin as these are called for. 
We also should seek tangible actions to redress current sins that are
found.  These worthy desires should not
lead us, however, to make statements that cannot be substantiated as being
clearly true.  To this end, sweeping
generalizations should be avoided and the temptation to exaggeration should be resisted.  If sins are charged, they should be clear
biblical sins rather than transgressions we have constructed out of our social
context.  Sean Lucas’ book suggests to me
that there is clear evidence of two kinds of racial sins in the movement of
churches that led to the PCA: racially harmful teaching in support of
segregation and instances where African Americans were sinfully excluded from
worship and ministry.  As these sins are
substantiated, we should eagerly confess, apologize, and show tangible sympathy
to those afflicted.  Moreover, there
seems to have been indifference on the part of whites to the sufferings of
blacks under the injustices of segregation. 
As this is disclosed, our denomination which represents white
conservatives from that era should gladly say, “We are very sorry and we
confess how wrong this was.” 

2.       We should show care and respect to all sides.  When it comes to the people
and communities that have suffered under sin, there should be a gracious desire
to allow them to speak and express their thoughts and feelings.  It is common to minimize the effects of sins
that we have not experienced, so we should be sure to express our concern
towards them.  At the same time, due care
and concern should also be shown to the people and communities against whom the sins are charged.  If there was a context,
that context should be acknowledged without brushing the sin aside.  As an example, the Civil Rights era was one characterized
by societal turmoil of various kinds.  As
a result, people may have acted in response to the turmoil rather than to the
issues in question.  This does not mean
that they were not wrong and it does not justify sins.  But acknowledging the actual situation is a
way of treating people on both sides with the kind of respect and care that
reconciliation requires.  If the goal is
actually condemnation and retribution, then no such care need be taken.  But if reconciliation is the goal, then care
and respect will should be shown to all persons involved.   

3.       We should avoid diverting the church from
its spiritual mission by means of permanent committees for social justice.  Sean Lucas’ book clearly shows the peril
to a Christian church of embracing a mission of social change or justice.  It was PCUS’s Permanent Committee on Social
and Moral Welfare that played a significant role in leading that denomination
away from the gospel.  It was largely because
they embraced social justice as a mission of the church that the mainline
Presbyterians today frequently issue demands for divestment from Israel or for
peace proposals in the Middle East but no longer declare the atoning work of
Christ for the forgiveness of sin (see Lucas, 41-52).  Jesus assigned the church its mission in the
Great Commission, directing us to evangelism, discipleship, and church-building
(Mt. 28:18-20).  While the church can and
should speak prophetically to the culture on matters of sin, and should seek to
cross cultural boundaries with the gospel, these activities can and should be
done under agencies devoted to church’s spiritual mission (Jn. 18:36).    For
the PCA General Assembly or its presbyteries to erect permanent committees
devoted to societal reform is to walk down a well-worn path away
from its Christ-ordained unity in gospel mission. 

There is no doubt that much will be
said, written, and proposed in the coming months.  I hope that these principles will aid that
discussion so that there can be genuine confession with forgiveness and true
gospel reconciliation in this important matter.