Why I Left the Presbyterian Church in America?

I was a member of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) for over 20 years. However, I recently made the difficult decision to leave the PCA due to several concerning trends within the denomination. In this blog post, I will explain the five main reasons why I left Presbyterian Church in America.

Failure to Exercise Church Discipline

The PCA has failed to properly exercise church discipline in cases involving Federal Vision (FV) theology. Despite officially condemning FV theology in 2007 and calling it contrary to the Westminster Standards, the PCA has failed to discipline ministers who openly teach FV doctrines.

For example, Peter Leithart and Steven Wilkins signed an FV statement affirming doctrines that the PCA had condemned. Yet Leithart was acquitted in his Presbytery trial on charges of teaching FV theology. This sets a precedent, making it nearly impossible to discipline FV proponents if their presbytery wishes to protect them.

A similar situation occurred with FV advocate Jeffrey Meyers in Missouri Presbytery. Despite clear evidence of his aberrant teachings, he was acquitted in a predictable “foregone conclusion” trial.

Pattern of Protecting False Teachers

Unfortunately, this failure to discipline false teachers has repeated itself numerous times. Certain “rotten” presbyteries have arisen that harbor and protect heretics. This tragic pattern closely mirrors what happened in other Reformed denominations like the PCUSA and PCUS as they declined. Without enforcing doctrinal standards, theological error goes unchecked.

Anarchy in Worship Practices

The PCA theoretically adheres to the Regulative Principle of Worship (RPW). This means only worship practices found in Scripture are permitted. However, in reality, almost no PCA church follows the RPW consistently. There is no uniformity – some churches are very liturgical, others extremely casual or charismatic.

The diversity of worship styles in PCA churches causes problems for members moving to new areas. They often end up attending charismatic churches because local PCAs are nothing like where they came from.

In addition, debates over issues like intinction (dipping communion bread into wine) reveal the RPW carries little weight in the PCA. People argue based on preferences rather than Scripture. The low view towards binding standards has allowed nearly any worship practice to flourish, contrary to our confession.

Failure to Safeguard the Sacraments

In 2012, an attempt to forbid the practice of intinction failed. This allowed an unbiblical Communion practice explicitly condemned by the Westminster Standards to continue unabated.

In the same year, a shockingly lax decision was also made allowing the practice of paedocommunion (giving Communion to infants). This view is rapidly spreading in the PCA without discipline. Already several churches practice paedocommunion openly. Soon it will undoubtedly become widespread as candidates holding this view continue being ordained.

Allowance of Theistic Evolution Views

In 2000, the PCA approved a multi-view approach to creation, claiming that Genesis 1-3 allows for several permissible interpretations. However, young earth creationism was supposed to remain the only acceptable view.

Troublingly, one of the PCA’s most prominent ministers, Tim Keller, has aggressively promoted theistic evolution through the organization Biologos. His Metro New York Presbytery openly supports Keller and has not restrained these activities in any way. Promoting theistic evolution utterly contradicts past PCA general assembly decisions on creation. Yet Keller and his allies face no accountability for contradicting denominational standards.

Moral Compromise

In a disappointing lack of discernment, the PCA campus ministry Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) complied with Vanderbilt University’s demand to eliminate religious standards for student leadership. This cowardly betrayal refused to stand for truth when it risked losing access to campus.

While deeply discouraging, RUF’s compromise should not surprise anyone familiar with the PCA. Moral compromise has become our modus operandi – just look at our egalitarian drift regarding women’s ordination and loose views of divorce. It seems unlikely the PCA would ever risk public criticism to stand for biblical morality. When legal pressures over sexuality come, expect our leadership to capitulate rather than show courage under fire.

Conclusion: Time to Leave the Denomination

Given these disturbing trends including unchecked false teaching, worship anarchy, sacramental abuses, evolution, and moral compromise, I concluded that the PCA no longer upholds biblical faithfulness. Serious theological declension has set in. To protect our local congregation spiritually, the painful choice was made to begin an orderly withdrawal from the PCA and seek a new denominational home.

Rather than make this decision alone, our leadership is proceeding slowly and carefully with much prayer and counsel. We hope to affiliate with a staunchly biblical Presbyterian denomination that upholds doctrinal discipline against compromise. Even if small, we desire a theologically conservative group committed to the inerrancy of Scripture without wavering before wider cultural pressures.

In sum, it was a very difficult choice to leave the PCA after being a member for over two decades. But the worrying direction of the denomination left our session no viable alternative. We hope and pray that God guides us to a new denominational home where His Word is proclaimed without compromise. Our greatest responsibility is protecting the doctrinal fidelity of the local sheep God entrusted to our care. So with hopeful hearts, we open this new chapter for our congregation.