Among the Promise Keepers: a pastor's reflections

Christian Century, July 3, 1996 by Douglas DeCelle

WHEN TWO OF MY parishioners suggested that I attend the Promise Keepers' Clergy Conference, I wasn't sure I wanted to go. I looked for some intellectual reason that would indicate that I simply couldn't go. I looked up "Promise Keepers" on the computer in a seminary library. Curiously, Christianity Today and CHRISTIAN CENTURY were equally bland and cautious about the movement. I called the coordinator of men's ministry at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville. He didn't say anything negative (or very positive) about PK. Wanting to be open-minded, I found it hard to wriggle out of attending.

My first hours in the crowded Georgia Dome among singing, cheering PK enthusiasts confirmed my hesitations. I found many things to quibble about. For instance, one or two free-spirited worshipers (out of the tens of thousands of participants) frolicked and made themselves conspicuous in the aisles with their up-stretched arms and dancing feet. The closing communion service seemed shallow, like an afterthought. Furthermore, the PK core-beliefs statement included a phrase about the Bible's "verbal inspiration and inerrancy." This position is too wooden for me and many other mainline Protestants. In other words, what PK intended to be a "slam dunk" inclusive creed excluded me.

Not surprisingly, the hymns and other "liturgical" elements broke all the new rules about inclusiveness. The hymns' lyrics failed to acknowledge that women are Christians too. For example, we sang with gusto, "Rise Up O Men of God," which has been dropped from some hymnals. Yet perhaps the use of noninclusive music is forgivable, given the fact that there were no women present inside the Georgia Dome.

Predictably, the worship and presentations included some good-old revivalistic manipulation: "Everybody lift your hands!" or "We're going to get down on our knees!" During these contrived moments, when everybody's hands are flying, the secular press has a "Kodak moment. My hands stayed in their respectable Presbyterian place--stuffed in my pockets or fidgeting with papers.

Despite these drawbacks, my three days in Atlanta moved and transformed me. Usually when I am critical of the trappings of some religious experience I also find that its core message is inadequate. Not so with this event. I was simultaneously critical and deeply moved. I appreciated the meal breaks. The free time allowed me to chat with my traveling partner--a fellow Presbyterian minister--and other mainline ministers. Their response was uniform. Although they quibbled with some elements of the event, they found the overall experience deeply compelling.

Why did the Atlanta conference "work" for so many of us? First, the size of the gathering and the diversity of participants was impressive. No fewer than 42,000 ministers attended--10 percent of all American clergy. My guess is that they were mostly Baptists, Methodists and independents. The Atlanta event was an evangelical party, to be sure, yet there were considerable constituencies from every Christian tradition, including Catholics. Also, participation transcended region. Ministers came from all parts of the country. Furthermore, 20 percent were black clergy. Half of the speakers were men of color. Real diversity--an unrealized ideal in my tradition--lent the conference a feeling of significance.

Additionally, there was exuberance. The singing, for instance, was awesome. On the first night the Atlanta Symphony accompanied 42,000 jubilant voices. The hymns were a rich mix of old standards--"Holy, Holy, Holy," "Be Thou My Vision" and "Crown Him with Many Crowns"--together with the best praise music popular among evangelical groups. I love the great hymns, but for the first time I also enjoyed the contemporary Christian music.

SECOND, THE PREACHING was outstanding. The better preachers included Tony Evans, Max Lucado, Chuck Swindoll, E. V. Hill and Jack Hayford. Before Atlanta, I'd never heard of most of these men. In one warm moment, the master of ceremonies read us a personal message from Billy Graham. Despite the quality of the preachers, however, I nurtured a longing for a familiar voice. If PK is serious about including all traditions it will include the likes of James Forbes, Ernest Campbell, Billy Graham and others.

These speakers did not flinch in inviting us to holiness of life and zeal in vocation. They held a sharp vision of the necessity of personal brokenness and cross-bearing. We were told, that these personal qualities were prerequisite to transforming ministry. "God bruises you before God uses you." "Before there is breakthrough in the pews, there must be breakup in the minister."

Intellectually, the call to personal purity is nothing new to me. But it is new to hear this message thundered from the pulpit. My seminary preparation and early ministry ran through the decades of the '70s and '80s. I cannot recall a congregation, teacher, presbytery and certainly not a denominational leader who so clearly offered this invitation to conversion and life on the hard and narrow path.