‘Jesus Calling Foundation’ Gives $1M To PCA Amid Internal Investigation Book’s Theology
The 2024 Form 990 for the Jesus Calling Foundation is now available and shows that the foundation contributed over a million dollars from book royalties to the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) in a single year.
In 2024, the same year that the PCA Committee on Discipleship Ministries (CDM) was tasked to “assess the book’s appropriateness for Christians” and “provide recommendations (if needed) for remedial materials, advisory statements, or General Assembly actions concerning Jesus Calling, the PCA received $1,080,000 from the Jesus Calling Foundation.
The CDM’s 2025 follow-up report stated that “neither CDM nor its staff recommend Jesus Calling” but did not explain why. It shifted responsibility for recommending remedial materials to “local church elders” and declined to offer advisory statements or General Assembly actions concerning Jesus Calling.
Also in 2024, the same year that the PCA’s missionary organization, Mission to the World (MTW), was tasked to “examine MTW’s relationship with the book,” and “consider actions that MTW and the General Assembly should take in light of this study of the book,” MTW received $280,000 from the Jesus Calling Foundation.
MTW’s subsequent 2025 report claimed “no formal relationship with the book,” and gave “no recommendations regarding actions related to the book.”
Published in 2004, Jesus Calling has sold over 45 million copies, making it one of the most recognizable devotional books in recent history.
Sarah Young, a long-time PCA member whose husband, Stephen, is an ordained PCA minister, authored the devotional all the while eschewing public appearances and interviews throughout her career.
The franchise has expanded to include spin-offs such as Jesus Always, Jesus Today, Jesus Lives, Dear Jesus, Jesus Calling for Little Ones, Jesus Calling Bible Storybook, Jesus Calling: 365 Devotions for Kids, Jesus Always: 365 Devotions for Kids, and Peace in His Presence, alongside phone apps, podcasts, and other media.
It is also one of the most dangerous books released in the last twenty years for its espousal of blatant mysticism, Montanism, Theoeroticism, speaking for God, extra-biblical assertions, automatic writing, and rejection of the sufficiency of the scriptures.
Put another way, Sarah Young’s life’s work was a demonic deception, but the PCA is reaping the fruit of that poisoned labor.
