Each summer, Protestant denominations in America hold their annual meeting. Depending on the polity (church government) of each, different types of representation from local churches gather to review how their bodies are carrying out the Great Commission. This includes addressing such things as expanding the effectiveness of missions abroad and church planting at home, responding to doctrinal challenges that threaten their biblical integrity, overseeing their educational ministries in colleges and seminaries, overseeing the work of local congregations and regional bodies, and managing printing of educational and training resources.
These assemblies range from delegated meetings of just a few hundred to thousands of delegates coming from every church across the nation, from 150 to 15,000 commissioners. Secondarily, these assemblies are occasions of fellowship as friendships of colleagues are renewed, training in specialized areas of ministry are provided, and perhaps best of all there is corporate worship with great singing, focused prayer, celebrations of the Lord’s Supper, and of course excellent preaching from some of the best pastors in the land.
But among the denominations that will meet, there are significant branches of the church today that have embraced such serious heresies as to be legitimately considered apostate, having become no longer a true church of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the most blatant examples of this is the way too many have capitulated to cultural pressures in the area of sexuality. Whether it’s abortion, so-called same sex marriage, homosexual clergy and lifestyle, or the absurd woke ideologies of the transgender movement, those of us who love the Lord, the Word, and the gospel, weep to see this widespread abandonment of the truth, something Al Mohler has called theological treason.