The headline from the Record reads “Oro votes to leave denomination.” It's not easy to know what to do with news of this sort. In the past half century, I cannot recall having seen anything like it in our denomination.
A very large congregation in the heartland of Canadian Presbyterianism (southwestern Ontario) has decided to leave us. No issues of theology or doctrine are named but there is a problem with the flexibility of the structures. Trinity Community Church in Oro would like to expand by establishing satellite congregations. A generation ago the technology to do so did not exist. Now it does.
The situation pulls a spotlight over to it. Our polity was designed in another era. The rapidity of technological and social change among us makes it difficult to respond quickly. I heard the first response of grief from the denomination the other day at the meeting of our church's most westerly synod. One speaker lamented the loss that, according to him, pointed to the PCC's inhibiting of mission, rather than its support of the missional energies of its people.
Is it possible that the divorce will be temporary and that there will be recommitment as soon as we get our act together? Possibly. I'm too far removed from this congregation to know how the people are thinking. The unwritten law of churches seems to say that, once a congregation leaves a mainline denomination, it is in no hurry to return.
It remains for Presbyterians to grieve. In the process of grief they will ask many questions about our polity. The Reformation of half a millennium ago encouraged us to ask in every generation: How shall we understand the Church? In the process and aftermath of grief we'll need to ask about making our structures a little better oiled, more responsive. We can have a structure that blesses us as we fulfill the Great Commission of Jesus, or, we can have a structure that produces gridlock. The making of that choice is an imperative – not to decide is to decide!
Discussions in our household have surfaced the needs of some remote churches in our region for this kind of ministry. Maybe a congregation that is too small for the usual minimal package – one that includes the payment of a minister's stipend and expenses – could add this choice to its list of possibilities. Of course they could also choose to be a multi-point charge or to form a cluster ministry, but these models do not always fit. I wonder what would happen if a presbytery decided to allow one of its congregations to pursue this “satellite church” option with Trinity, a congregation no longer a part of The Presbyterian Church in Canada?! Eyebrows would be raised, I'm sure, but it might work.
In all this discussion there may be “an elephant in the room”, as they say. On the worldwide scene we are experiencing something known as “globalization”.
Economies once regulated by the national government are now governed by a large (often multinational) corporation. The laws of the marketplace, big business, replace the laws of elected people. An example of how it hurts is the closing of a local plant and the moving of jobs to a cheaper labour market, somewhere across the planet. It all happens without a voice for the people in the affected community, nor even the voice of the government of the nation.
The same inner dynamics that work for the economy, will also work for organizations of all sorts. It could mean that oversight that once came from the church courts, now comes from Oro or from Point Ministries in Alpharetta, Georgia. There is something about God-with-us that is always so very local. Even the regional governance of the Presbyterians (presbyteries, and the like) are little more than cooperatives, sharing the wisdom and discernment of the local congregation with locals elsewhere.
Globalization may be something that we just have to deal with in our age. As it is with common law marriage, perhaps we just have to find a way of being the church in a context where that's the way of it.
Proponents will likely argue that the church is not a parallel to the global economy and that none of this would ever happen. Possibly the church can overcome the top-down power structures of the corporations. But I'm not comfortable going there too quickly. It's a discussion that needs to happen. Maybe we can model something that more resembles the Realm of God as a witness to Christ among us. There may be more theology in this decision than first meets the eye. Trinity Community Church has put up on our screens a lot of homework that must be done within The Presbyterian Church in Canada.
