Proverbs 14:15 A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps.
At the end of this week, I will have been a pastor for 25 years. I was ordained on April 30th, 1986 and began my pastoral duties on May 1st. I was the first graduate of my class to be ordained in Scotland and I have tried to serve God well in the congregations to which I have been called.
Throughout the last quarter of a century, I have sadly seen Presbyterianism decline in both Scotland and the United States. I have made my views known on this from both the pulpit and through the devotions that I continue to write. I have seen the caliber of pastoral ministry diminish and divinity degrees being discredited. I have watched churches die and ministers burn out. I have tried to keep the churches under my care alive and growing. I have tried to be faithful to God’s word in preaching and pastoring, even when this has become unpopular.
I feel that I have failed. I feel that the words I have written, the sermons I have preached, and the studies I have led have not changed anyone or anything. People believe anything and Presbyterians are headed down a dead end street. There’s nothing I can do to reverse this and so I feel like the weeping prophet Jeremiah, who preached the Word of God faithfully to a people who believed in anything but the Word of God.
A new dawn is beginning for the Presbyterian Church which will see its demise in this century. By the time I retire professional pastors, denominational seminaries, and parish congregations will be relegated to the ecclesiastical history books. They will be replaced by part-time preachers, online courses, and community centers. Dinosaurs like me will eventually become extinct, along with denominations. Independent, post-denominational, charismatic and missional fellowships will grow because the True Word of God will be not only preached but practiced by all of the people. It will be a time of renewal and revival, but at least three generations will be lost because the large majority of them will believe anything but the Word of God.
So, on Sunday, I’ll be commemorating 25 years of ministry, but I won’t be celebrating it. It will be low key, simple, and for me very, very sad.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, when did we go off track and wander so far away from the Truth? How long will we stay on this dead end path that leads to nowhere? Why are we so afraid of our cultural peers? What makes our generation so certain that we have it right and every preceding one for two thousand years has been wrong? How long, O Lord, will it be before the Church awakens from its slumber and shakes off its dust? In Your Holy Name, we lament and pray. Amen.
John Stuart is currently the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment or ask questions of today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.
