A couple of weeks ago I returned from Chattanooga, Tennessee, my former home and the location for this year’s General Assembly meeting. King’s Cross belongs to the denomination, Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). A denomination is simply a group of people who voluntarily name themselves together; the Latin word, nomen, means, name. To name yourself with others and allow yourself to be named with them is to be, denominated (Latin, denominare). In September 2016, King’s Cross was organized by a PCA presbytery (the Potomac Presbytery) as a PCA “mission”, with the assistance of a PCA congregation (McLean Presbyterian Church), and under the leadership of a PCA pastor (Paul May). On October 24, 2021, we ceased being a PCA “mission” and became an official PCA “church”. To keep up on what is happening in the PCA, make a habit of visiting byFaith Magazine.
General Assembly is the annual gathering of the elders of the PCA. The assembly exists for just four days, during which the elders in attendance (called, commissioners) exercise authority over the denomination. Similarly, the elders of a congregation (called, a session) exercise authority over a congregation. And in the same way, elders of a geographical region (a presbytery) exercise authority over the churches in that geographic region. There were nearly 1,800 commissioners at this year’s General Assembly. For my own short summary, see This Year’s General Assembly.
Founded in 1973, the PCA is a denomination of people committed to being faithful to the Scriptures, true to the Reformed faith, and obedient to the Great Commission (see the vision of the PCA). The PCA is more than this (including details about what the Reformed faith is), but is never less than this.
The word, presbyterian, refers to the structure of the denomination. An independent congregation (most churches in America) does not normally belong to a denomination and all structure is isolated to the congregation. An episcopal type of congregation (like a Methodist congregation) belongs to a denomination that is overseen by a bishop. A presbyterian church is free to pursue a local vision, but is connected to (and accountable to) the churches in its region, and connected to (and accountable to) a General Assembly made up of equals.
I was introduced to the PCA in 1999 when I began my ministry training at the denominational seminary, Covenant Theological Seminary. Prior to this, Karen and I were members of an independent church and I was called to ministry in that church. During the four years of seminary we became members of a PCA church and, after seminary, I became an ordained minister in the PCA denomination.
Over the years I have come to love and value the PCA more and more, particularly in terms of the shared vision, ministry accountability, leadership of many, submission to the authority of Scripture, hope-filled commitment to the kingdom of Jesus, and stable continuity with the historic church. I am so optimistic about the flourishing of the PCA denomination, even as non-denominationalism in America outgrows denominations. My sentiments echo those of Jason Helopoulos, David Strain, and Sean Michael Lucas.
The PCA is the fourth best denomination in the world, and that’s saying a lot. The first best denomination is the household of God as defined by God, alone, since Christians are people who are “no longer strangers and aliens, but … fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God”, under one King (Ps. 2:6, Matt. 21:5, Isa. 9:6-7, Phil. 2:8-11). This is what theologians call the invisible church, the church seen through God’s eyes, past, present, and future. A membership interview is an imperfect attempt to discern those who are members of the invisible church, the first best denomination.
The current second best denomination is a denomination we have never heard of. When people ask me who the best preacher is, I tell them it’s a preacher nobody has ever heard about. Their church doesn’t podcast their sermons. It’s a preacher tending to the sheep, preaching wonderful sermon after wonderful sermon, while remaining known only to those sheep. The second best denomination is very likely a collection of small churches in a country far away and, unfortunately, the denomination doesn’t have a cool website.
The third best denomination exists in the blink of the eye. This is the denomination in which, sporadically and unexpectedly, according to God’s providence, all weaknesses become strengths. Most denominations have a few dynamic strengths and a few stubborn weaknesses. In the middle are a host of non-distinguishing qualities. As an example, fellowship and youth ministry may sparkle at the top, qualities in the middle vacillate, and anchored to the bottom are outreach and musicianship. But the third best denomination gets it right when weaknesses are coaxed into strengths, for one providential microsecond. Don’t blink. You were just passed by yet another third best.
So the fourth best is really a great place to be. Maybe too good. The PCA may not be there. I tend towards optimism and have biased affection for the PCA. Even still, fifth best might be fine. Or even sixth best.
Currently, the PCA, Assembly of God, and Anglican Church of North America are the only growing denominations in the United States (see also). Even the largest Evangelical denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, continues to shrink. In 2024 the PCA comprised 1,667 churches and 297 church plants, representing slightly more than 400,000 members. These figures are even higher, but nearly half of our churches do not submit annual records (King’s Cross does!). Last year there were more than 5,000 adult professions of faith in our denomination, more than 5,000 child professions of faith, and more than 5,000 infant baptisms. There are more than 5,000 ministers in the PCA. Most of the increases of new ministers were in the metropolitan areas of Birmingham (AL), Atlanta, Orlando, St. Louis, Dallas, and DC.
In his latest book, our outgoing Stated Clerk (the administrative leader of the denomination) reminds us of the need to understand and support the young people of our denomination and that the best way to ensure they remain in the church is for parents to remain vitally connected to church life. One of the ways we see this helped is through the campus ministry of the denomination, Reformed University Fellowship (RUF), now active on 160 U.S. college campuses and eight international campuses. Three U.S. campuses were added in 2024 and four will be added later this year. Additionally, last year the undergraduate institution of the denomination, Covenant College, received the largest incoming class in ten years. This will be exceeded in the fall as the college reaches nearly 2,000 students (similar to a nationwide trend).
The local mission and church planting agency of the denomination, Mission to North America (MNA), has focused their labors on planting new churches and sustaining struggling churches. Last year the denomination planted 40 new churches and provided varying degrees of support for several other plants. MNA helped train more than 150 future church planters, which includes not just assessing those who already believe they are called to plant, but also looking upstream for those just beginning to discern their ministry calling. Related to this, the number of students at Covenant Theological Seminary who are training for pastoral ministry increased by 18%. The seminary offers scholarships to potential church planters and received a grant to further cultivate church planters, and church planting team members. In 2023, MNA set an aspirational target to plant 3,000 new congregations in 10 years and we are seeing the momentum swell. As a church plant, we are part of that swell. As the chairman of the MNA committee of our presbytery, I have taken note that our presbytery is eyeing the South Riding and Aldie area as a target site for a potential church plant.
The international missions agency of the denomination is Mission to the World (MTW). MTW includes 509 long-term missionaries and 1,068 short-term missionaries serving in 104 countries. Echoing the emphasis of MNA, 75% of long-term missionaries are involved in church planting, while 10% work in theological education to help train local pastors. This includes planting new churches in the UK and Europe alongside the International Presbyterian Church (IPC), the denomination founded by Francis Schaeffer. Like MNA, MTW is looking upstream for future missionaries through a growing internship program offering overseas experience from one to eleven months. While MNA organizes local disaster response, mobilizing more than 1,500 saints to assist those suffering from hurricane, flood, and fire, MTW supports saints in Ukraine through Crates for Ukraine, as well as those recovering from fires in Chile earlier this year. International church planting activity is happening in Bogotá, Monterrey, Dakar, Kigali, and Kampala. Proactive ministry training is happening in Mexico, Rwanda, Senegal, The Gambia, Uganda, Malawi, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Additionally, through the work of Global Muslim Ministries, MTW fuels several more church plants and plans to add five more in the upcoming year.
In God’s grace, the PCA is a notable Fourth Best denomination. I praise God that King’s Cross is not a lonely independent congregation, but one attached to churches around the world, within a rich current of Presbyterian history, in service to the one true King. Again, see my comments in This Year’s General Assembly.
