goodbye PCA from Rob Wootton

The Northern California Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America is meeting today, Friday, May 5th, 2023. They are receiving a recommendation from a committee that investigated me about accusations against my character and fitness for ministry.

I believed these accusations to be, as the PCA Book of Church Order describes, on slight grounds (BCO 34-2). As no minister ought, on account of his office, to be screened in his sin, or slightly censured, so scandalous charges ought not to be received against him on slight grounds. There was no scandal and yet I have been treated like I committed some heinous sin.

This is all related to the closing of my former church here in Salt Lake City. None of this came about until I made my intention to leave the PCA known. Even after all this we still wanted to leave quietly and in peace, but the gossip, slander, libel, and lies about me and my character continued with this the 2nd investigation I’ve had to suffer through in less than a year.

I didn’t handle it all perfectly, I owned, confessed, and asked for forgiveness for the role I played in the closing of the church but I could not confess to accusations that were not true. My confession wasn’t sufficient for them, I was never offered forgiveness, and they had to make it clear that none of it was their fault. Not one of my accusers has had the courage or the character to admit any fault to me. In the Bible blamelessness isn’t about being perfect or without sin, it’s about rightly offering confession and repentance when needed. In all of this I have been blameless, biblically speaking, and I submitted this letter, officially ending my ties to the PCA, with a clear conscience.

To the Northern California Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in America,

At our stated meeting on February 3rd , 2023, I offered my resignation as the pastor of New City Salt Lake. I did so because it became clear that the Presbytery no longer had confidence in my ability to pastor a church in the PCA as I had made my intention to leave the PCA known. I now no longer have confidence in the courts of the Presbyterian Church in American.

Based on the investigative committee’s recommendations, that are likely to proceed to a trial about accusations concerning my fitness for ministry, without fully examining the gossip, slander, libel, and lies that led to these accusations, leads me to believe that you have lost your ability to objectively handle the truth. After two investigations I will no longer and can no longer subject myself and my family to this spiritually abusive environment. This is a systemic problem in the PCA. There are now many instances where those who have attempted to speak the truth about spiritual abuse in the PCA have become the ones that have suffered further abuse through investigations, charges, and trials. The Presbyterian Church in America’s Book of Church Order is built upon a presupposition of suspicion; it is not built for the flourishing of The Church and its people.

I understand that because I refuse to participate any longer in this system that I will be found contumacious and then excommunicated. As I stated at the called meeting of Presbytery on April 2nd , 2023, I am thankful for my nearly 30 years in the PCA. I have grown tremendously and learned much about the hope of Jesus and His Gospel, but the PCA is no longer the same denomination as it was when I first joined. The growing rise of fundamentalist ideology coupled with the inability of others to combat that ideology has led to an environment that is no longer safe to confront sin and wrongdoing.

Jack Miller wrote the following in 1989 as he was leaving the Orthodox Presbyterian Church for the PCA. I believe this is applicable to our current situation and it is fitting for me personally.

“My final humbling lies right here. … I was converted in the OPC and love its doctrinal roots in the glorious Reformation, all my memories are here. … But it has been inexpressibly humbling for me to confess that denominations, unless revived by repentance, usually fade after fifty to seventy years. To admit that this is what happens in history and that I cannot change this history is crushing to my pride. Somehow I feel in my heart there ought to be one more thing to do, one more attempt to call men to repentance, one more way of rationalizing this chaotic aspect of life, or some way to minimize, wish away, the dreadful effects of sin in Christian movements.”

I commend the whole letter to you and all in the PCA and I pray that it will give you some pause as you consider the current state of your denomination. You can find that letter here.

https://thejackmillerproject.com/2023/04/19/denominations-unless-revived-by-repentance-usually-fade-after-50-to-70- years-letter-from-jack-miller-to-elders-at-new-life-church/

Jack Miller also wrote this in that letter, and it expresses my heart as well.

But it is also freeing for me to recognize my limits. Very freeing for my conscience. I am not the Holy Spirit. I can trust the OPC to His working. I can and must endure the pain of seeing my beloved society of fellow Christians become more and more ingrown and to avoid repentance as a thing of shame. To leave may mean that we shall be misunderstood and judged by them. Oh, I love to preach about being forgiven like the publican, but I hate to be treated like one by the church where I found Christ! Brothers, it hurts deep, but it hurts clean!

I have actively worked for change in the PCA for over a decade. Many of you joined me as we stood together for a more beautiful and welcoming orthodoxy. I believe that we have lost that fight, I pray that I am wrong, and I pray that the PCA can change and grow into a denomination that will no longer allow this kind of spiritual abuse.

In the Hope of Jesus and His Bride,

Rob Wootton