Miscellaneous Thoughts from Study Leave

A week of time lay as a blank space on the calendar two months ago. As time progressed -- aka drew near -- I found this blank space crunched with activities.   A routine breaker was the three days spent in Stony Point, NY with a variety of Presbyterians.  It was an interesting mix of folks and their thoughts regarding what to do about the Presbyterian dilemma of mainline malaise and members of the PC(USA)'s allergy to evangelism.  The denomination has been hemorrhaging members since 1968.  Twelve years ago the denomination even published a 'study' on evangelism for the PC(USA), which has not had any effect on the aforementioned ailment.  

So the discussion at the conference raised the interesting question "Can the PC(USA) be a movement rather than an institution?"  "Can the presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst inspire a movement rather than keeping the 'status quo' of the institution?" As one pastor observed, "People join movements, they don't join institutions."  Another former pastor turned church consultant commented something to the effect that, "Our current systems are perfectly designed to get the results they are presently achieving."  

Some speculation centered on raising the bar on member expectations; the idea that low requirements gets low commitment.  Other speculation focused on monastic practices that would bring a new spiritual energy for a younger generation yearning for connection.  Still others thought long and hard about reviving practices that would bring current members to a deeper spiritual place.  Do we need evangelism both inside and outside the denomination?  What does it take to make the PC(USA) a movement rather than an institution?  Is this what it would take to grow the church "Deep and Wide?"