An honest look at the PCC through the eyes of confessional, orthodox Gen Z Christians.
Note: This essay was originally published at PCC Renewal’s Substack.
A group of us from PCC Renewal were fortunate enough to attend the PCC’s 2026 General Assembly (GA), which ran from Sunday, June 7 to Thursday, June 11. We sat through sederunts (Latin for “they sat”), the sessions in which the PCC makes decisions at the highest court level in our denomination.
We came back from GA carrying a complicated mix of emotions. There were moments of deep frustration and grief and no small amount of confusion and bewilderment. To be fair, there were also a handful of hopeful moments where we felt the Gospel was actually proclaimed with clarity (though usually not by an established member of the denomination).
What follows is our attempt to give a firsthand look at the PCC through the eyes of confessional, orthodox Christians in their twenties and thirties, and present an honest account of what we experienced at GA. We are thankful for all of the prayers, connections, and words of encouragement that were shared with us during our time at GA, to exhort us and to help us with any anxiety that may have beset us.
Financial crisis
GA started with an overview of the finances. It was disheartening to learn that about one in four dollars that the denomination takes in came from the sale of proceeds from dissolved churches and voluntary withdrawal contributions.
We also observed that there is some interesting accounting happening. In the 2026 finances, there was a $3.1M deficit in the operating fund that is being backstopped by a fund called Budget Stabilization Fund, which currently has a balance of $13M. The 2027 budget projects a deficit of $4.6M, so after the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years, this Budget Stabilization Fund will be down from $13M to roughly $5.3M, and the operating deficits will have to start drawing down from other Restricted Funds to continue the work of the Life and Mission Agency (LMA) and the Assembly Council.
Christian Nationalism and the call to dismantle oppressive systems of power received ample attention; the Good News did not.
PCC Renewal may consider doing a deep dive into our denomination’s finances in the future to better understand the sustainability of the current path, and what options will need to be considered when the Budget Stabilization Fund dries out. At this rate, we’re only 3-4 years away from that.
Dwindling yet distracted
Jeremiah 23:16-19 (ESV) – Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’” For who among them has stood in the council of the LORD to see and to hear his word, or who has paid attention to his word and listened? Behold, the storm of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
The Church has reduced the Gospel to social justice and a simple understanding of good works.
The PCC has around 55,000 members in its jurisdiction today, but is losing around 3,000 members a year. At this rate, there will be no PCC in less than 20 years. And yet, the proceedings at GA were markedly preoccupied with pseudo-Gospel and social concerns, leaving little room for theological substance or any honest reckoning with the PCC’s decline. Outgoing Moderator Rev. Jeff Murray’s opening sermon telegraphed this from the start: Christian Nationalism and the call to dismantle oppressive systems of power received ample attention; the Good News did not.
First, many in the PCC have subtly redefined the Gospel itself. Rather than centering the forgiveness of God and the gift of eternal life we have in Christ, the Church has reduced the Gospel to social justice and a simple understanding of good works. Rather than being a faithful response to the Gospel, social justice and good works have been equated with or even superseded the Gospel.
Second, the denomination has lost its sense of identity. Instead of saying with confidence this is who we are, the PCC has been desperately trying to chisel its identity against those it disagrees with by declaring this is who we are not.
To now posture as though it has the ear of Prime Minister Carney is not a prophetic witness. It is pretense.
Third, the commentary on Christian Nationalism revealed a denomination speaking outside its competence and confused about its own influence. In seeking to reject the current American government’s distortion of the Gospel, which makes the Church subordinate to the government, the PCC overcorrects and ironically seeks to use its own influence to denounce all Christian influence on the world. The PCC is not a foreign policy authority, nor has it proved itself a particularly effective voice for social justice. Meanwhile, the PCC is not conspicuously bold in proclaiming the Gospel to its own neighbours, which is its primary mission.
The result is an institution that has become neither one thing nor another: neither a faithful herald of the Gospel, nor a credible voice in public life. The PCC lost its influence on national affairs long ago. To now posture as though it has the ear of Prime Minister Carney is not a prophetic witness. It is pretense.
Refusing to stand on scriptural grounds
When it came to the Overtures 1 and 2, regarding the prioritization of evangelism in word, the LMA’s report was baffling in certain sections. It claimed that “Paul never encourages [Christians] to proclaim the Gospel or to seek to bring others into the community of God”, and that the Great Commissions in Matthew and Mark “do not support a view of universal evangelism by all who are baptized as followers of Jesus.”
Inspired by these overtures, a minister proposed an additional motion which was later amended, encouraging seminaries to incorporate apologetics into the MDiv curriculums. Regardless of whether the seminaries would have been able to implement this, it sparked debates that exposed a syncretic leaning that implied a multiplicity of paths to God. Several commissioners expressed deep discomfort at the original minister’s context of seeking to evangelize those who are of other faiths. Yet, if Christians are not to proclaim Christ as the only way of salvation, then we make him to be a liar.
The verse that continuously came to mind during GA was 2 Timothy 4:3-4 – “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”
When the Church in our day and age becomes shaky in its belief in “the Truth,” and becomes convinced of having “a truth among many,” it kowtows in its stance on multiple worldly issues that have been buffeting and rocking the balance of the lives of Canadian Presbyterians. A faithful, Biblically-rooted response to issues such as assisted-suicide/euthanasia — lethal words now disguised in the veil of an acronym called MAiD — would provide a solid ground on which we can stand to properly shepherd the flock in the PCC’s care. Instead, our denomination’s highest court this year has chosen to further confuse itself in the guise of compassion, providing no clear doctrinal conclusion when it comes to physician-assisted killing.
Jesus Christ alone is the Sovereign and King of the Church. However, the GA in its prophetic role chose to not declare Christ as sovereign over life and death, ignoring the faithful work put in by the Church Doctrine Committee (CDC), which sought to settle the matter based on Scripture.
During the discussion on the CDC’s report (Recommendation CDC-001- Sederunt 7), the divide between those who embraced the recommendation, and those who rejected it on “pastoral” grounds became quite visible. The recommendation as a whole was referred to the LMA for them to produce a pastoral response about MAiD, which prevented further discussion. A few commissioners we spoke to mentioned that the referral of this report to the LMA was reminiscent of what happened with the CDC’s report on Human Sexuality. A familiar path chosen when progressives in the Assembly wish to become partners in sin.
One commissioner speaking against this remarked that “the Church either has a doctrine committee or it does not.” And another noted how it would be “putting the carriage before the horse.” There was significant dissent on the dismissal of this issue as it can be seen from the publicly available minutes of Sederunt 7 and 8.
Four times, commissioners of the Assembly attempted to push a motion that would use the CDC to develop a doctrinal position on the issue of MAiD (CDC-AD2 to CDC-AD5), and four times they were ruled out of order by the Moderator. Twice this ruling was challenged but defeated by a standing vote. There is great division on this issue but no further discussion was allowed. Procedure was tactically used to obfuscate proper discussion. The Assembly left the issue up to debate, by refusing to uphold its historic and scriptural position.
Is the Spirit still truly with GA?
When the GA meets, we claim as Presbyterians that the Holy Spirit is with the people of God, and when we the Church makes decisions together, that the decisions made by the Church are done in adherence to the will of the Holy Spirit. It is further said that the GA fulfills a prophetic role given to it by Jesus Christ, and that He is the sole King of the Church. When Samson’s hair was cut by Delilah, Samson did not realize that the Spirit of the Lord had left him. So when the Philistines came and bound him, only then did he know the truth.
Luckily, we have a denomination that is very eager to repent for things; it is our hope that we repent for the right things in due time.
Judges 16:20 (ESV) – And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him.
There seemed to be from not all, but a good number of commissioners, an allergic reaction to hearing things that they disagreed with, as Scriptural and true as they may be. There was plenty of energy being expended to stand up against the need for the Church to evangelize and protect God-given life, yet when UpperLVL Worship was promoting the Gospel, there appeared to be little energy for what should actually be life-giving and exciting for the GA to witness. It was a highlight to see UpperLVL’s ministry bear fruit in people professing faith in Christ and their lives truly being changed by him.
We pray that the Church will fully embrace Scripture as divinely inspired words of God, infallible and authoritative
Hearing the true Gospel shared in moments such as this, reminded us of who provides us with the remedy to spiritual lethargy. It is only in Jesus Christ, who is our physician and healer, whom the Church must profess as The Way, The Truth and The Life. Under him we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). Luckily, we have a denomination that is very eager to repent for things; it is our hope that we repent for the right things in due time.
We write this reflection with the hope that The Presbyterian Church in Canada will soon return to its Reformed confessional roots, repenting of its past sins of straying from God’s Word and refusing to clearly acknowledge Christ before others. We pray that the Church will fully embrace Scripture as divinely inspired words of God, infallible and authoritative over the lives of all Christians. We look forward to the day when we will be as the original motto goes, “Reformed and ever reforming, according to the Word of God”.
