Editor’s Note: Read the Theological Vision here.

Before it is anything else, the PCA must be a denomination with Christ at our center. The Father has appointed his Son to be our cornerstone, our builder, and the head toward whom we grow. There is nothing more important, nothing more glorious than our calling to be a community in whom Christ richly dwells, through whom he fills the world with the glory of God.

We are constantly in danger of losing sight of this. Ever since Christ confronted the church in Ephesus for abandoning its first love, every generation of believers has been tempted in its own fashion to turn its attention away from the one who is preeminent in all things.

This is why Paul repeatedly warns us against quarrelsomeness. When believers become mired in controversy—when, for example, we view everything only in terms of being on the left or on the right, we stop focusing on what is central. And because he who stands at the center of all things is also the one in whom all things hold together, when Christ is moved to the periphery of our attention, everything begins to fall apart. Missional creativity and theological seriousness are suddenly pitted against each other. Suspicion replaces trust as we forget the true basis of our unity.

AMR’s conviction is that renewal happens and mission flourishes only when Jesus is given his rightful place. The health of any denomination requires more than simply believing and loving the right things. Right proportion is also necessary: we must keep central what is central. AMR’s efforts—drawing leaders together relationally, elevating the quality of our common conversation, and patiently engaging in the formal structures that shape our common life—are rooted in our passion to see Christ increasingly at the center of the PCA.

Expressing this desire only in general terms is insufficient. Clarity of vision is required. What does it mean to be a denomination that maintains a right sense of proportion? What does keeping Christ central look like when it comes to our posture toward each other? How can a Christ-centered vision clarify our unity and give focus to our shared mission? And, even as we must focus first and foremost on what we are for, what does this commitment call us to oppose?

Over the last few months, we have worked together to articulate our answers to these questions in written form. The result is what AMR’s board has now adopted as its new Theological Vision statement, declaring AMR’s defining commitments. This statement describes what we believe the PCA is called to be.

Overview

It begins, as it must, by describing the foundation that we have in Christ:

“Our world will experience its full and joyful consummation once all things have finally been brought perfectly together in Jesus Christ, the risen and exalted King who now reigns and is putting all things under his feet. Astonishingly, God has chosen to accomplish this glorious plan through the Church. It is the Church that God has redeemed and called to be Christ’s body. It is as the Church obeys God’s call upon it that Jesus, its head, fills the world, causing even the heavenly authorities to marvel at God’s manifold wisdom. Alongside all other branches of Christ’s Church, our denomination’s sacred task is, in Christ, to help the Church increasingly fulfill this calling.”

Built upon this foundation are ten articles. The first three describe the posture to which Christ calls us. The Christ-shaped community is a community of love, and within a denominational context, this love must manifest itself specifically in the virtues of gratitude, hope, and trust. Gratitude, because having inherited a rich and grace-filled tradition and history, we are called to be stewards who respectfully conserve what we have been given. Hope, because the ongoing presence of Christ’s Spirit gives us confidence that we will continue to be refined as we apply the truths of his Word to new challenges. And trust, because Christ has bound us to each other, calling us to work together in this endeavor.

The next three articles affirm and articulate our denominational identity: as the PCA, we are committed to being unapologetically biblical, Reformed, and presbyterian. For this is our shared understanding of what it looks like for us as a denomination to submit ourselves in faith and practice to Christ’s ongoing rule.

The statement concludes with four articles that describe the work we believe is entailed by seeking to be obedient to Christ’s Great Commission. We move from Christ-exalting mission, which rests in the power of the gospel as it is thoughtfully proclaimed and faithfully embodied by the church, to the appointing of Christ-shaped elders, to the Christ-filled ministry that comes when the entire church community is equipped and exercises its gifts, to the Christ-saturated worship of God that is the goal of all that we do.

Conclusion

In the coming weeks, we will be posting essays meant to further clarify the content of each part of the Theological Vision. Our purpose in these efforts is not to offer a detailed theological standard or to provide a comprehensive articulation of good polity, for the PCA already has these things. Rather, this Theological Vision statement is presented as a lens to help provide focus. Our prayer is that God will use these efforts to help us ever more deeply turn our attention toward our King.

“With joy we dedicate ourselves in Christ to this sacred calling. We resolve to persevere in this work until that glorious day when the earth is as full of the glory of God in Christ as the waters that cover the sea.”

Read the Theological Vision here.