Liberal/Progressive Theology & the Death of Missions

Living in the Southern Baptist subculture of western Christianity as I have has led me to take for granted many things in church. What I knew as a child, being a member of various SBC churches in our nation due to my father’s frequent transfers as an active duty member of the Air Force, were terms and names such as Lottie Moon, Annie Armstrong, Bold Mission Thrust, Cooperative Program, Foreign Mission Board, Home Mission Board, Royal Ambassadors, Girls in Action, and more. These terms may be familiar to some. In fact, they may bring back a sense of Baptist nostalgia. However, for many more, these terms hold no meaning because they have never heard them.

I cannot help but notice a missing element of knowledge among many faithful church members today. Even with the advent of media on demand and websites full of information only a click away, it seems that for many an understanding of missionary work, missions education, and the potential calling of the next generation to live on mission here or abroad has been reduced to short-term mission trips.

To be clear, I believe short-term mission trips are valuable and helpful. I have led many over the years.

Knowing all the terms I mentioned earlier are not essential (some of those terms have been retired and have been replaced in our SBC lexicon). Yet, it is detrimental to simply ignore the mission work that has defined much of what we have done as Southern Baptists for over a century.

Recently, a story has made the religious news services and even some mainstream news outlets regarding the Presbyterian Church (USA) (PCUSA). Just as there are various Baptist groups, there are numerous Presbyterian denominations. The PCUSA defines itself as the more progressive, or theologically liberal of the Presbyterian denominations. This is evidenced by the denomination’s public stances on cultural issues, the lean into what some call woke theology, and their commitment and affirmation of LGBTQIA+ identity among other things.[1] The PCUSA is a mainline American Protestant denominations known as one of the Seven Sisters of Liberal Protestantism.[2] The Seven Sisters are historically known as the United Methodist Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Episcopal Church, PCUSA, American Baptist Churches, United Church of Christ, and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).[3]

In April 2025, the PCUSA announced the merger of their Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency. This means the PCUSA, by their own statement, has begun to transition to a new model of global mission engagement.[4] What it practically means is that this denomination has shuttered its missions’ arm. The missionaries have been fired, and the mission agency is now history. This ends a 200-year tradition of sending foreign missionaries, more recently called mission “co-workers,” to spread the faith in other countries, according to denominational sources.[5]

While some, even in my church and denomination may initially lament this reality, perhaps this should be viewed from a different perspective. There has been much written about American evangelicalism over the last century and a half. Hindsight gives a unique perspective, and terms have come to be used as quick identifiers, categorizers, and even insults. However, we would be wise to look back at some significant shifts that ultimately led to where we are now so as to ensure we, as conservative, biblically confessional Baptists make wise choices today.

In the 1920s and 1930s numerous denominational disputes came to a head. This is now collectively called the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy.[6] There is much to this controversy, and it did not end in the mid-twentieth century. In fact, in some ways it continues today. At the core were beliefs regarding biblical inspiration, inerrancy, human sinfulness, the person of Jesus Christ, and salvation.[7]

Over time, with the influence of German higher criticism and other teachings, denominational elitism grew and theological liberals gradually took control of seminaries, denominational offices, and ultimately local church pulpits. This was the modernist drive and has also been called progressive and eventually liberal.

On the other end of the spectrum were those who resisted this movement and sought to conserve the teachings of biblical fidelity, inerrancy, and other teachings, believing the world did not need a revised theology, but to simply hold to the fundamentals of faith as given in the Word. Thus, those holding to biblical conservatism came to be known as fundamentalists.

There were two major fronts in this war of theological integrity. One was the seminaries where pastors and ministers were trained. The other were mission agencies, intent on sending men and women across the globe to evangelize the lost and to proclaim the gospel. However, since the battle centered on biblical truth, the questions regarding what is true in the Bible came to the forefront. Eventually self-proclaimed liberal pastors began preaching a social gospel that minimized or ignored the doctrine of personal sin and need for salvation.[8] When a denomination denies the veracity of the virgin birth along with other key doctrines, the foundation of faith crumbles.

The Presbyterians divided decades ago. This divide was led by the conservative confessional Presbyterian pastor J. Gresham Machen. Machen led to the founding of the Westminster Theological Seminary and the strengthening of biblical conservatism among the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.[9]

In his 1923 book Christianity and Liberalism, Machen argued that modernism was not an updated form of Christianity but was an entirely different religion that rivaled biblical Christianity.[10]

What has occurred in the PCUSA this spring was inevitable. There is no getting around this truth. Within most mainline denominations, those members who personally held to more conservative theological beliefs remained as long as possible, but eventually left or died, and have not been replaced. When mission work becomes the church equivalent to Peace Corps efforts or simply humanitarian aid without a convictional gospel-driven motivation or calling, the need for the work (or the pool of prospective missionaries) dries up.

To my Baptist family, a word to the wise is sufficient. Whether it feels like an insult from some or not, holding to the fundamentals of faith as expressed in the inerrant, immutable Word of God is vital.

It’s been said that people do not drift toward conservative theology but are drawn to such through conviction and the work of the Holy Spirit. This is more than simply finding a lane of conservative vs. liberal. It is about remaining biblical. While even in our Southern Baptist tribe things arise that cause concern, I am thankful for a history of convictional mission work, and for what has been termed the conservative resurgence (or fundamentalist takeover from those who were self-proclaimed moderates) among Southern Baptists. While the demise of the PCUSA mission agency does not directly affect my church or me, I believe God can use the short history lesson and analysis of this event to provide wisdom to pastors, seminary leaders, missionaries, mission agency leaders, and the faithful members of our many churches serving in friendly cooperation.

I am thankful when I read reports from our mission agencies of new missionaries being commissioned and sent. May these men and women be strengthened as they go to serve and help others while clearly proclaiming the truth of the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the meantime, perhaps our churches will revitalize a form of mission education as well.

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[1] Pc(Usa). “LGBTQIA+ Ministry.” PC(USA), 14 May 2025, pcusa.org/how-we-serve/inclusion-equity/lgbtqia-ministry.

[2] Mohler, R. Albert. “Friday, April 25, 2025.” AlbertMohler.Com, 25 Apr. 2025, albertmohler.com/2025/04/25/briefing-4-25-25 .

[3] Taranowski, Dominic. “The Mainline Seven Sisters.” First Congregational Church in Melrose, UCC, 6 Feb. 2020, fccmelrose.org/2020/02/11/the-mainline-seven-sisters/.

[4] Pc(Usa), Doug Dicks. “End of an Era.” PC(USA), pcusa.org/end-era. Accessed 27 May 2025.

[5] Garrison, Greg. “Presbyterian Church (USA) Fires Missionaries, Ends Mission Agency.” AL.com, 17 Apr. 2025, www.al.com/news/2025/04/presbyterian-church-usa-fires-missionaries-ends-mission-agency.html.

[6] Finn, Nathan A. “Nathan Finn: A Crisis of Theology.” WORLD, 20 May 2025, wng.org/podcasts/nathan-finn-a-crisis-of-theology-1747681369.

[7] Finn.

[8] Finn.

[9] Mohler.

[10] Machen, J. Gresham. Christianity and Liberalism: 100th Anniversary Edition (Glenside, PA: Westminster Seminary Press, 2023,) 6.