Calvary OPC in Glenside, Pennsylvania is a fairly vanilla Orthodox Presbyterian congregation.  Granted, the exterior is aesthetically quirky, and the constraints of parking leave visitors wondering if they’ll be left behind should the rapture occur during a service. But the services are modest, centered on the word read and preached, the hymns are traditional; the Supper is administered once a month. Calvary is by no means high church, nor is it happy-clappy.
So when the PCA decides to plant a congregation only two miles from Calvary OPC, some on both sides might wonder about the need or advisability of a new conservative Presbyterian work in the area. What makes the situation even more anomalous is that the new plant is a daughter church of Tenth Presbyterian, a Center City Philadelphia congregation whose worship differs from Calvary’s only noticeably by virtue of special music – Tenth has an ambitious and tasteful choir, organ, and set of soloists while Calvary gave up on choirs in services about a decade ago. Granted, the new church plant may not be trying to replicate Tenth’s “style”; it might be after a different liturgical market. But since Calvary already provides a service and pulpit ministry that is in the ballpark of Tenth’s, it is not at all clear why the new church is necessary.
Comity agreements aside – that is, the understanding that members of the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council have about not poaching from other denominations’ members – if Bible-believing Presbyterians in the Northwest section of Philadelphia and the southeastern parts of Montgomery County were looking for a church with reliable preaching, sane worship, Sunday school and catechesis, and fairly winsome fellowship, why would they pass over Calvary OPC? Yes, the congregation has a reputation for being “very” conservative, TR (Truly Reformed) as some would call it. But its pastors never engage the cultural politics that turn some seekers off, the word “Reformed” is rarely heard in sermons, the congregation says either the Nicene and Apostles’ Creed each week, and most of the members could not tell the difference between Francis Turretin and Herman Bavinck – mainly because they’d be hard pressed to identify either one of those Reformed theologians. Again, Calvary is a generic Presbyterian congregation that wears its Presbyterianism not with a shove but a smile.
One possible reason for the inability of PCA Philadelphians to recommend Calvary OPC to Presbyterian communicants in the area is that the PCA, even in some of its more traditional sectors, like Tenth, no longer cultivates a sense of being Presbyterian. Instead, what appears to drive the PCA, and has been doing so since roughly 1995 when Tim Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City became such a phenomenon, is exegeting, engaging, and redeeming the culture. From Keller’s “word and deed” model of ministry, cultural transformationalism as a working assumption at the denomination’s Covenant College, Equip magazine’s self-conscious effort to be hip, to Mission to North America’s self-understanding of home missions and the relevance of a congregation to its community, the PCA’s members, and increasingly her ministers as well, are less recognizable as Presbyterian than they are as evangelical Protestants who do not want to be mistaken for the Religious Right. They appear to want to establish the Lordship of Christ over America without the baggage of Rush Limbaugh or D. James Kennedy.
This puts the PCA in an odd predicament. It is in fellowship with communions that should be reasonably attractive to its members should they be moving to a new location or looking for a church while traveling away from home. As it happens, however, the communions with whom the PCA has the closest ties through NAPARC are expressions of Reformed Protestantism increasingly foreign to the ministry of the PCA. Those communions represent various branches of twentieth-century Dutch Reformed (Free Reformed, United Reformed), or contemporary expressions of Scottish Presbyterianism (the Covenanters and the Associate Reformed), or older version of American Presbyterianism (the OPC). In effect, the PCA does not seem to be giving its own members enough acquaintance with the Reformed tradition to feel comfortable in these other embodiments of it. Instead, the understanding of the Reformed tradition and Presbyterian ministry within the PCA apparently makes her members uncomfortable with those who practice the Reformed faith differently from PCA’s quest for relevance and influence.
Orthodox Presbyterians are not the only ones who wonder about the future direction of their sister denomination. In his recent reflections on the PCA, Charles Dunahoo, the Coordinator of the PCA’s Committee on Christian Education and Publication, identifies five sub-groups in the denomination. He uses the unfortunate moniker of “fundamentalist” to describe the group that shows the greatest affinity with the other churches in NAPARC. The other groups include “Reformed Evangelicals,” “Neo-Reformed,” “Post-Conservative Evangelicals” and “Emergents.” He believes the groups that share the label “Reformed” have been able to work together reasonably well. But he believes the new and younger PCA groups have a potential of disrupting the cooperative arrangements that have prevailed for almost three decades. “Missional” endeavors have undermined commitments to the PCA’s agencies. Dunahoo warns that “Diversity without unity is chaos.” But “Unity without diversity is mere uniformity.” Somehow missing in that monition is the idea of being Presbyterian, particularly in the government and ministry of the church, both local and as a whole.
So the question is which way is the PCA headed. Is it moving in directions that are recognizably Reformed? Are its officers and members capable of discerning and encouraging ties to churches of like faith and practice if the faith and practice of the PCA is increasingly without coherence? The PCA appears to be heading down the path that the CRC turned almost twenty years ago. Will that make the PCA too cool to hang out with Covenanters, conservative Dutch Reformed, and Orthodox Presbyterians?
The current issue of the NTJ, hitting the new stands today and timed to be out for the PCA General Assembly which begins today in the Land of Mickey Mouse, includes a forum on this subject. It includes essays by Sean Lucas, Bill Smith, and Jason Stellman. Of course, if you’re a subscriber, you don’t need to wait a year before the issue is archived at oldlife.org.
Old Life 
Fascinating observations. Thanks.
I sent in my check for NTJ a few months ago (and it was cashed), but I have not yet recieved in issue. I believe the spring issue came out after I sent in my check. Can you make sure I’m on the list?
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Take heart, brother Hart, as the Oceanside United Reformed Church has also experienced this phenomenon of planting a church on top of another’s plant. We used to be the only NAPARC congregation in Carlsbad/Oceanside (a large area with over 220,000 people) . . . that was until I heard from a member who heard from a relative who married a guy . . . you get the picture. I had to inquire after a PCA was planted in Carlsbad why we were never consulted or even notified per the Comity Agreement. Long story short, we’re not threatened as this PCA follows the “Harbor Model” (a sorry, So Cal version of Keller) and we follow Christ through Word, Sacrament, and discipline.
Anyways, it’s too bad our lip service “unity” as a part of NAPARC doesn’t actually mean anything when MNA comes to town.
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Excellent post Darryl. I do have to wonder if some of the TTR (truly truly reformed) might get upset by labeling the members of Calvary OPC Glenside “TR.” Many of the seminary-educated at Calvary hold to non 24-hour day creation views. The audacity!
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Dang it, DG, don’t make me miss Calvary/G more than I already do! It appears I’ve solidly re-entered PCAland. Dunahoo’s sub-groups might be helpful in my initial observations.
So far, it’s been good to see some strong views on worship here, and love for presbyterian church government, but these seem to be held without necessarily strong theological foundations. Hmmm. Looking forward to my NTJ to help me navigate, maybe…
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But, BW, you knew how to park.
We miss you.
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Good insight here Dr. Hart. This ‘new church plant’ on top of an already existing NAPARC church just happened in the panhandle of Texas as well.
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Darryl,
As the planting pastor of the PCA church in Chestnut Hill, let me say I agree that there is little difference between Calvary and Cresheim Valley Church. Our theology and worship styles are very similar, and certainly much closer to Calvary than New Life Glenside, another PCA church less than two miles away from Calvary in the other direction and in the same town. I also agree there should have been direct dialogue between the PCA Philadelphia presbytery and City Net church planting bodies with Calvary about the current church planting effort in Philadelphia, and I am sorry for not personally pursuing it with Calvary. I did meet with churches all up and down Germantown Avenue as part of our planning process. The Episcopal Church literally around the corner from where we worship, responded by sending delegates to our particularization service and presenting us with a hand designed communion plate and cup and formally welcoming us to the community.
I think it is important to remember, as you know because you have lived in Chestnut Hill for many years, Chestnut Hill and Mt. Airy are culturally miles away from Glenside and the distance to cross Stenton Avenue (leaving Philadelphia for the suburbs) is unthinkable for most of the folks who live in those two sections of the city. These areas are not homogeneous; each area thinks of itself as its own town. Chestnut Hill has its own local newspaper, the residents call themselves Hillers and take great pride in their community. The same is true of Mt Airy. To impact Chestnut Hill/Mt Airy we believe you must be present in those communities. Yes, Calvary can get those with a Presbyterian background to come to your church from Chestnut Hill, but you will have little or no impact on Chestnut Hill from Glenside.
We did not plant Cresheim Valley Church to save ourselves a ten-mile trip to Tenth in Center City. We planted it to specifically reach Chestnut Hill/Mt. Airy, an underserved area by Reformed and even evangelical churches. Our goal is to reach people in those communities with what we believe to be the most effective means of evangelism, a Reformed church that is faithful to the scriptures. A local community church, the kind of church you can walk to – and we increasingly have people who do walk to church, many of whom have not attended church in years, if ever. We intentionally host a booth at the Mt Airy and Chestnut Hill Street fairs to let people know who we are. We financially contribute to community causes, like the Fire Department. We place ads the local papers. We volunteer at the Chestnut Hill Hospital to provide chaplain service for those who have no pastor to visit them. We have visited – and patronize – the businesses up and down Germantown Avenue, letting people know about our church and praying for those who ask for prayer. We are looking for ways to serve the public schools in Chestnut Hill/Mt Airy. We are members of the Chestnut Hill Business Association.
We are for Calvary OPC. And while we are drawing some people from Glenside and Abington, by and large we are drawing from our specific target area. We refer people to your congregation. We want and pray that God would bless your ministry in Glenside. We are praying that God would send a revival so great and powerful that all our churches would be overflowing.
Again, should we have informed Calvary OPC of our plans before we planted? Yes, we should have and for that I publicly apologize. Let’s work together for the glory of God’s kingdom.
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If the PCA really is as the article contends, then the church plant 2 miles away should not “poach” any potential OPC members because the demographics of the two churches will be dissimilar.
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Matt G.: Which PCA? Tenth or New Life?
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John,
I appreciate your lengthy comments and explanation.
The point of the post was not about comity agreements and church planting. It was about a growing difference between the OPC and PCA, one that would make “exegeting” and “impacting” the culture more or less important.
As you may know, I am not inclined toward the church as transformer of culture model. (Nor do I think the cultures of Glenside and Chestnut Hill are that distinct. If they are that particular, then including Mt. Airy in the Chestnut Hill culture is a stretch.) And this is precisely the point. It is “cool” to impact society. It is “boring” to be otherworldly.
Which leaves the question the post asked: is the PCA capable of nurturing members who are comfortable in other, smaller, less “influential” communions than the PCA is? Or is the PCA cultivating a mindset that the real action in in the church is transforming urban (you know, hip) communities?
P.S. Speaking of hip, organic farming, Community Support Agriculture, and slow food also seem to be “cool” these days? Anyone for transforming Lancaster County?
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One can emphasize either transformationalism or otherworldliness just fine given a majority demographic of presbyterians that would be hard-pressed to distinguish Bavinck from Turretin. And I’d like to think that separating even Kline fans and Covenant grads into ‘demographics’ for church planting would be cause for concern.
RSC’s comments on the Heidelblog wrt the NAPARC comity agreement are worth reading. Does being “sensitive to the presence of existing churches” mean anything in practice, or is it the equivalent of being assured by a customer service representative that they are “taking the matter very seriously?”
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I am a recent graduate of UCSD and have been going to one of the Harbor churches since freshman year. One of the major reasons I go to Harbor is the excellent redemptive historical preaching. Most of the other members of the congregation would tell you something similar. It seems that you are implying that we do not “follow Christ through Word, Sacrament, and discipline.” I felt I had to post and affirm that my experience has been entirely to the contrary.
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I wonder if pastor Leonard would say that his PCA plant, Cresheim Valley, has a similar or dissimilar “philosophy of ministry” to/from Calvary OPC in Glenside.
I take Darryl’s point to be that the Cresheim Valley church likely has a dissimilar one, and this dissimilarity is an increasingly common feature in the PCA, and is also a feature that puts these PCA congregations at odds with the biblically-grounded confessional practice of other Reformed churches, and therefore puts them out of genuine fellowship with each other… and all that accounts for the fact that the NAPARC comity is little countenanced (as exemplified in the Cresheim Valley case).
If this is Darryl’s point, then pastor Leonard might then feel a need to shed some light on whether a dissimilar “philosophy of ministry” really accounts for (or contributed to) the neglect of comity in this case, and especially what he makes of what Darryl says that means more broadly.
So, pastor Leonard, is your church plant out of fellowship with the majority of other NAPARC congregations, given their confessional reformed practice?
(Darryl, is this the/a relevant question?)
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The question was less focused on a specific congregation and addressed more to what constitutes being Reformed in the PCA.
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Darryl, but in the PCA “being Reformed” might be constituted by the same things that constitute being Reformed in the rest of NAPARC… and yet your point would nevertheless be that being Reformed does not appear to be a majority concern in the PCA. Right?
Too many PCA congregations are being something other than Reformed, and they are explicit about it in terms of their “philosophy of ministry/ies.” That’s where they spell out what they are about, and it doesn’t spell out to being Reformed, not even in their own terms.
I’m just trying to put a sharper point on the point. Perhaps unnecessarily.
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Then the finer point is something like this: when a PCA member moves, does she look for another Presbyterian or Reformed church and consider the other members of NAPARC if a PCA work is not in the area? Or is it more likely that said Presbyterian will look for a non-Reformed or non-denominational church with the same “style” as the PCA church in which she was worshiping?
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I’ve been to every single Harbor church in San Diego. None of them are Reformed (or even Presbyterian). They’re basically evangelical and theologically liberal because they’re out to redeem the culture. The best way to know you’re at a Reformed/Presbyterian church is to have experienced the real thing. I could only stomach 1 sunday each from the myriad of Harbor churches in San Diego.
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i wouldnt take it to personally. the PCA plants churches on top of PCA churches. Harbor PCA in la jolla/utc is just a couple of miles from Presbyterian church of la jolla. i’m sure the churches are very different in nature (a co-worker of mine belongs to harbor, i’m a former member at LAPC) but not in association. weird phenomenon?
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