Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 11:2 (Spring 1997)
Article: From The Trenches: Promise Keepers As An Example Of Category-Specific Discipleship
Author: Susan Finck-Lockhart

PP 11:2 (Spring 1997) p. 19

From The Trenches: Promise Keepers As An Example Of Category-Specific Discipleship

Susan Finck-Lockhart

The Rev. Susan Finck-Lockhart, a graduate of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, serves as part-time pastor of the Louisa Presbyterian Church, Louisa, VA. Prior to her current call, for seven years she served as pastor of the Kirkwood Presbyterian Church, Bridgeport, OH. Active in several PCUSA evangelical renewal organizations, she desires to empower more women who sense God’s call to consider the pastoral ministry. Susan and her husband, the Rev. William H. Lockhart, have three children.

The Bible study is over, and it’s time to share prayer concerns. The women’s discipleship group is made up of dedicated, newly-growing believers. There are years of pain behind the attentive eyes. Anne’s husband works all the time, and refuses to spend time alone with their daughter because he “can’t handle her.” Barb’s husband’s drinking and verbal abuse has gotten worse. Cara’s daughters are both in relationships with men who have “slept around” on them. One daughter has made a commitment to Christ. “Where are the Christian young men?” Cara asks. Anita’s husband has no interest in church, and now her son, age twelve, is refusing to go on Sundays. The Bible study leader has been hoping these women would begin to reach out to the unchurched, to pray for their communities, to catch a vision for missions or compassion ministry After three years of regular discipleship, the prayer requests are the same. The pain at home is just too great.

As an evangelical clergyperson who seeks to pastor these women and their families, I feel I have some insights about Promise Keepers that might broaden our perspective. Call it “a view from the trenches.” My evaluation is based on the “seven promises,” one year of reading New Man magazine, Promise Keepers’ promotional video, reports of the 1996 Pittsburgh conference, and my own experience in working with local Promise Keepers representatives.

I am not endorsing the views expressed in every book written for Promise Keepers, or those of every speaker. Undoubtedly, Promise Keepers is no different from other Christian organizations, with their share of wounded or strident people who interpret the movement according to their personal “axes to grind.” But I do believe that Promise Keepers is a move of God, and, like any other move of God, it features “redeemed-but-still-struggling-with-sin” people.

While my own experience with Promise Keepers has been overwhelmingly positive, one young man in a neighboring community alienated many women and men from Promise Keepers by his strident overbearing personality. He was personally threatened by women in leadership, and ...