The Presbyterian Church (USA) is one of several mainline denominations reconsidering what it means to be a denomination in the twenty-first century and how best to organize church governance in an increasingly postmodern world. In recent years two thirty-somethings have been elected to the denomination’s top two posts: Moderator and Vice-Moderator.
- The thirty-nine year old Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, currently the founding pastor of Mission Bay Community Church in San Francisco, served as Moderator of the denomination from 2008-2010. To become more acquainted with him, consider reading his blog, following him on twitter, or friending him on facebook.
- The thirty-three year old Rev. Landon Whitsitt, current pastor of the 171 member First Presbyterian Church in Liberty, Missouri, was just elected to serve as Vice-Moderator from 2010-2012. You can get to know him better by reading his blog, following him on twitter, or friending him on facebook.
These two men have been working together since 2009 on God Complex Radio, which is a weekly podcast that seeks to become the go-to destination for progressive Christianity. Reyes- Chow serves as co-host along with Carol Howard. Landon Whitsitt is the producer of the podcast.
So What?
Bill Tammeus, a Kansas City area author and religious blogger, recently interviewed Landon Whitsitt about his new role:
Q: What are the moderator’s and your primary goals for your term?
A: “Cindy’s passion for the last 4 years has been the nFOG (Tammeus note: that’s Presbyterian-speak for “new form of government”), so the primary talking she will be doing for the next year will be about that. But in a larger frame of reference, it’s really about finding and telling the stories of how Presbyterians are ‘doing it differently.’ “The nFOG is emblematic of a larger shift in our church (I think) towards a more fluid and responsive organizational identity. It starts with a new Constitution, but it doesn’t stop there. I’ve been vocal of my desire to see our church ‘open source’ itself, but that’s really just a hipster way of talking about the same thing.”
Q: Mainline churches have been losing members for 40 or 50 years. So what?
A: “So what, indeed. Exactly. The Moderator of the 218th GA, Bruce Reyes-Chow, is noted for saying that he has no interest in saving the Presbyterian Church. What he does have an interest in saving in the gift the Presbyterians give to the world: the belief that we discern the mind of Christ and the will of God best together. “It was trendy at this year’s GA for people to get a picture of me and my tattoo of the PCUSA seal (it’s quite prominent on my left forearm). Every time people would joke about what I was going to do if the church split or died. I would be okay. For me the PCUSA (and its seal) represents a moment in time when God has gathered a group of people to live in a particular way. But it won’t always be this way, and rather than being bound to the ‘how’ of something I’d like us to be bound to the ‘why.'”
If you are a part of the Presbyterian Church (USA), how do feel about a recent Moderator and current Vice Moderator who express progressive ideas about the changing role of denomination and who do not consider the furtherance of the entity (a denomination as constructed and understood in modernity) as essential?
Whether or not you are part of this tradition, how might this and other mainline denominations restructure and reconstruct identity in ways that are meaningful and matter in a postmodern world?
Note: For further consideration of a postmodern response, consider my recent review of Clyde Steckel’s new book New Ecclesiology & Polity, which speaks to this same topic in the context of the United Church of Christ.