A former colleague would describe his religious background as "foot-washing Baptist." When an itinerant evangelist would come to his door, he'd interrupt the introductory spiel by asking, "Does this have anything to do with foot washing?" When the stunned stranger recovered sufficiently to stammer, "Why, uh, no," he'd close the door, saying, "Well, then, I don't want anything to do with it. If it doesn't involved foot washing, I'm not interested."
Suppose for a moment that my associate had grown up Presbyterian. Imagine the same scenario. What distinctive feature of Presbyterian faith would he have substituted for "foot washing"?
Results from a recent Presbyterian Panel survey indicate that he might well have asked, "Does this have anything to do with a connectional form of governance?" When asked to rate how distinctive Presbyterians are on eight different items, "form of government" came out at the top. Majorities of both pastors and specialized clergy view this feature as very distinctive, as do 40 percent of elders and 28 percent of members. Combined somewhat distinctive and very distinctive responses total at least three-fourths of every sample (see the figure).
E=Elders; P=Pastors
There's a bit of a gap between this item and the next items in the ratings. Among clergy they are, in order, "use of the Confessions," "tolerance for individual freedom of thought," and "concern for social justice." The same three items appear next but in reverse order among laity.
The only remaining items to receive a total of 50 percent or more very distinctive and somewhat distinctive responses are "focus on ecumenism" (among ministers) and "sense of mission" (among laity). That leaves "style of worship" and "core Christian beliefs" as the least distinctive features among Presbyterians of the eight listed.
The overall sense from these responses is that, governance excepted, few Presbyterians, laity or clergy, view the Presbyterian Church as all that different from many other Christian bodies. That conclusion is reinforced by responses to another question on the same survey. Only 21 percent of members, 23 percent of elders and specialized clergy, and 25 percent of pastors strongly agree or agree that "the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has a clearer understanding of the church's mission in the world today than do most other denominations."
A downside to the lack of sharp distinctives is that many Presbyterians could be just as happy worshiping elsewhere. In fact, when we ask panelists if there are "several other denominations where I could belong/serve and be just as satisfied," 60 percent of members, 58 percent of elders, 55 percent of specialized clergy, and 50 percent of pastors responded in agreement.
There are at least two ways to view these results. The pessimistic one bemoans that our distinctives are generally subtle and not sufficiently important to instill life-long loyalty. The optimistic one holds that our distinctives a representative form of government, foremost, but also a tolerance for independent thinking, a concern for social justice, and a willingness to revisit Scripture anew for our own time and place however understated, may be key to attracting seekers in our pluralistic, educated society. I'll take those features over foot washing any day.
A summary of results from the February 2001 Presbyterian Panel on the Presbyterian Church in the 21st Century is available online.
Email the author: Jack Marcum
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