The State of the PCUSA

I am speaking as an outsider. I have close connections to the PCA, which is the major conservative Presbyterian body in the US. The PCUSA is gathering for its biannual General Assembly in Birmingham amidst a decline in membership that now extends for 40 consecutive years. I wrote an op-ed on this in the Layman (remember when I said I was anti-tekkie; that includes the ability to link stuff. Hey man, I wasn't kidding; I really am incompetent!) in which I suggested that the Stated Clerk of the denomination, Clifton Kirkpatrick, should step down. I argued that whatever the theological/spiritual reasons for the slow death of the denomination, the national headquarters simply doesn't know why most people have abandoned the PCUSA. And for a denomination that loves reflection through committee and analysis through statistics, their inability to attach any statistical confidence to the reasons behind their own death is a textbook case of bad leadership. If we were dying, and our doctor replied to our 'why?' question with, "I don't know", something tells me we would seriously question the ability of this doctor to help cure us. This is the state of the PCUSA, yet most of its members stick with the status-quo, to their own demise.