The Biggest PCA News You Never Heard
Keller protege Scott Sauls went egalitarian & hardly anyone knows, by Brad Isbell
YOU MIGHT HAVE HEARD that one of the Presbyterian Church in America’s most notable ministers got in trouble, was suspended by his presbytery, went through a lengthy discipline process, eventually resigned his church, and two days later was restored as a member in good standing by his presbytery. You might have heard that much and no more, because as far as the PCA’s denominational organ ByFaith1 is concerned that was the end of the story.
ByFaith is in a tough spot. They have to balance the varied roles of “internal” (for the PCA) messaging system, outward-facing…well, face of the PCA, news bureau, and public relations organ. They do a pretty good job covering the annual General Assembly but often opt out of controversial issues. And because of the broadness of the PCA they sometimes promote figures who later become problematic or leave—loudly or quietly. An old puff piece on the “ministry” that factored heavily into pastor Greg Johnson and his historic church leaving the PCA under duress, for instance, lives on.
The innovative is often favored over the boring, but controversy is sometimes handled with kid gloves or passed over in silence. Such (so far) has been the case with news about departed celebrity pastor and prolific author Scott Sauls whose visage, byline, and opinions have been all over the pages of ByFaith for years. It appears that he wrote more ByFaith articles in the last decade than any other PCA pastor, and he was Tim Keller’s golden boy understudy2—arguably the face of the PCA, the exemplar of pastoral piety and practice.
HE IS PCA NO MORE. But you might not know that. You probably don’t know it because the facts of his departure were not covered by ByFaith. To learn about it you’d need to subscribe to the Nashville newspaper3 whose coverage (though a bit confused) more or less describes what happened. The paper began by quoting a letter from Sauls to the Nashville Presbytery:
“With mixed emotions and too many meaningful memories to count, I request release from my ministerial call,” Sauls said in a March letter to the presbytery, according to a copy The Tennessean obtained. “I have begun exploring ordained membership in other biblically orthodox denominations whose polity makes provisions for these new realities.”
Sauls cited both a new professional trajectory and his views on women in ministry as reasons for leaving the PCA, a denomination through which Sauls gained national prominence partly due to his association with the late Rev. Tim Keller.
Sauls sought to embody many of the ideas associated with Keller, who was among the most influential figures in contemporary evangelical Christianity, at Christ Presbyterian through ministry initiatives such as the Nashville Institute for Faith and Work and Koinonia, a satellite campus that sought to engage a more diverse population of churchgoers.
Here’s the timeline: Sauls was restored to good standing in his presbytery in November of 2023 after a season of suspension, confession, and repentance. This is where ByFaith’s reporting ended...10 months ago. His restoration to office came two days after Christ Presbyterian Church accepted his resignation. Between November and March, Sauls’ views changed in a way that made him incompatible with the PCA: He became (or revealed himself to be) an ecclesial egalitarian, meaning he believes that all of the roles and offices in the church are open to men and women. When the face of a denomination changes his views in such a dramatic way (think Rick Warren and the SBC) it is, as they say, kind of a big deal. But it is not something readers of ByFaith ever read about: There has been no reporting on the May presbytery meeting where he was removed (as far as we can tell) from the presbytery’s rolls—as much for his intention to join another denomination as for his new views. Of course, his new views and his choice of a new denomination are connected.
WHERE DID HE GO? Sauls (as we understand it) intends to affiliate with ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians, a loose4 denomination formed in 2012 by refugees from the liberal, homosexual-affirming PCUSA. Those who formed ECO were a sort of “last straw club.” The last last straw was the ordination of open, practicing homosexual ministers and gay marriage in the mainline church. ECO now positions (markets?) itself as “the Presbyterian denomination built for the 21st Century.” Assumedly, the PCA was built for previous centuries.
ECO IS TWO NOTCHES TO THE LEFT OF THE PCA.5 It’s a big jump for a PCA minister…or is it? One of ECO’s tenets is “A Livable Theology”. The strength of our faith is how we live out our Reformed beliefs in a relentlessly contextual way. Contextualization is all the rage in the PCA, too, and is the justification for various methodological and ecclesial modifications of questionable legality. Is egalitarianism the necessary landing spot for contextualizers when the context is 21st-century America? We’ll see. In the meantime, we have noted that the PCA is “leaking left” at a drip-drip rate and that developments at the most recent General Assembly may precipitate more leftward, egalitarian exits. Will Sauls be a Pied Piper or a pariah?
IT IS INTERESTING THEN to ask why the Sauls departure was not on ByFaith’s radar, especially in light of the big deal ByFaith made about the departure of a very small-time PCA pastor.
Benjamin Inman informed his presbytery that he was joining a Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America (RPCNA) congregation and was recently removed in a way similar to Sauls’ removal. While still a member in good standing, Inman submitted a controversial overture that passed the General Assembly in amended form. Maybe that is what made Inman (who you’ve probably never heard of) more newsworthy than Sauls.
ADDENDUM: In becoming fully egalitarian Sauls departed from the position of his mentor Tim Keller and his wife Kathy Keller.
“Byfaithonline.com is the web magazine of the Presbyterian Church in America. The title is inspired by Hebrews 11 and the realization that just as it was ‘by faith that Abraham obeyed and went…,’ we live by faith today.
At the same time we were reminded that we all need help, and we were humbled by how God has blessed our denomination. We have—in our pulpits, pews, and classrooms—men and women who can ‘build us up and spur us on toward love and good deeds.’ Byfaithonline.com is where you can hear their stories and be encouraged by their lives; it is where you can be connected to God’s people, and drawn into the life of the church…
“Byfaithonline.com is created from a Reformed/PCA perspective, and provides a Christian world-and-life view. Where there’s struggle, controversy, or debate we handle issues graciously, always striving for the peace, progress, and purity of the Church.” - https://byfaithonline.com/about/
Sauls had (prior to 2012) served on Keller’s staff at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. A glowing video recommendation of Sauls by Keller remained on the Christ Presbyterian Church website for nearly a decade on Sauls’ bio page.
Well, you might have also read about in X aka Twitter, but who would spend time there?
“When you join ECO, you get the distinctives of a denomination but the freedom of a network.” - https://eco-pres.org/
In between the PCA and ECO is the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (also made up of later mainline refugees) which is less hardcore egalitarian than ECO. The EPC has a somewhat narrower understanding of Reformed theology than the multi-confession “guided” ECO. The EPC does minimize “non-essentials” in a way that a good portion of the PCA might appreciate. The EPC formed much earlier (1981) than ECO.
On its current trajectory, the EPC is likely to pass ECO on its drift leftward.
Built for the 21st century is all you need to know.