The PCA Earns Millions of Dollars From ‘Jesus Calling’ Royalties, Is This Why They Turn a Blind Eye?
As the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) kicks off its 2025 General Assembly, questions have emerged regarding a potential conflict of interest surrounding the failure of two PCA agencies to truly and impartially investigate the book Jesus Calling by the late Sarah Young, as mandated last year. Furthermore, speculation has arisen about whether the significant royalties generated by the book influenced the agencies’ inaction.
In 2024, PCA members at the denomination’s annual convention passed a resolution with 947 votes in favor and 834 opposed, calling for an investigation into the impact and influence of Jesus Calling. The resolution aimed to evaluate the book’s theological appropriateness and raised the possibility of a denominational ban.
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 resolution tasked the Committee on Discipleship Ministries (CDM), responsible for equipping and discipling PCA churches, with examining the book’s “appropriateness for Christians in general with special regard for its doctrine and methods” and reporting back to the General Assembly. Additionally, Mission to the World (MTW), a PCA missions agency closely tied to both Sarah and Stephen Young, was directed to investigate the book’s influence on the group and determine what sorts of actions/steps the General Assembly should take “in light of this study of the book and of the agency’s relationship to it.”
And why wouldn’t they?
Published in 2004, Jesus Calling has sold over 45 million copies, making it one of the most recognizable devotional books in recent history. 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.
Yet despite the General Assembly’s clear directive, neither the CDM nor MTW has fulfilled its directive. Dr. Benjamin T. Inman & Mr. Andrew Branch, writing for the the PCA Policy, argue:
The reports, published together at byFaith, are deficient replies to the specific questions from the 2024 GA. Mission to the World (MTW) omitted its apparent administration over some Jesus Calling royalties (brought to light at the 2025 particularization service of a MTW missionary’s church plant). The Committee on Discipleship Ministries (CDM) discreetly omitted the evaluation of the book’s “doctrine and method” mandated by the 51st GA.
And:
They are the Assembly’s independent scrutiny of the Jesus Calling reports. They are not there to hold up the train of a report’s long dress as it enters the ballroom. MTW’s silent pretense that involvement with the royalties is not part of the agency’s history with the book—is farcical. CDM’s mild modesty about tasks not assigned to them, combined with its unwritten omission of the analysis required by the 51st GA—is pious defiance.
Given the tremendous success of books, media, merch, and spin-offs, royalties accrued over the last 20 years since the book’s publication would almost certainly be in the tens of millions of dollars.
Undeniably, they have been exceedingly generous with their wealth, yet the authors want to know:
- If the Assembly actually assesses Jesus Calling, how much money is at stake for MTW, and the rest of the GA-Apparatus?
- If CDM’s “we don’t recommend” equals the 51st GA’s “assess the doctrine and method,” what mystery X was added to the equation on the GA-Apparatus’ side?
- If the GA-Apparatus assumed the PCA’s ignorance, but public information exposes this, then can a convened Assembly accept empty reports that look like damage control?
In 2023 alone, the Jesus Calling Foundation, a new foundation established in 2022 which dispenses monies intended to further the kingdom of God, reported $2,216,294 in revenue in ‘book royalties.’
Of this, they dispersed $1,255,732, including $582,000 to PCA entities, such as $177,000 to Mission to the World, which represents their single largest reported donation, along with $160,000 to Mission to North America, $125,000 to Covenant College, and $120,000 to Covenant Theological Seminary.
All of this lead the authors to insist:
The 2025 Assembly is bursting with business. Jesus Calling is in danger of being ignored—like the last 20 years. The 51st GA’s mandate has not been carried out—omission by pretense, and omission by defiance. The appearance of financial conflict of interest is the undisclosed context. Two Committees of Commissioners stand in the gap; the issues will come to the Assembly floor.
“Deference to committees” will be the refrain. “They” can tell you what is prudent. The Assembly may be lulled along by the bureaucracy’s demeanor. Trust is actually fundamental. Don’t ask what is on their little list. It’s probably just some numbers. Undisclosed Jesus Calling royalties are a slap to attention.
The pre-prepared paperwork declares MTW cleared of any material involvement in Jesus Calling. MTW’s “good faith investigation” ceded credibility by omission of the royalties. That only came to light from a fortuitous video on the internet and an unexpected IRS filing. That their history with the book omits so much as a mention of thanks for, perhaps discretely expressed, “significant donations” from the royalties is offensive. MTW’s report is vitiated, and underlines the apparent conflict of interest for the GA-Apparatus.
The other paperwork sent down from upstairs? CDM’s omission keeps it simple. It barely needs to be read; only the ink is fresh. It notes CDM’s actions in 2013 and 2014. CDM does not sell the book, and CDM does not recommend the book. “The devotional life and spiritual maturity of each person are unique;” thus the mandate from the 51st GA can be ignored. The staff did not even deign to note their refusal. CDM’s defiant formalization of the status quo resembles what you would expect of an apparent financial conflict of interest by the GA-Apparatus.
The least expensive tool in Presbyterianism is a rubber stamp. The proper tool is The Rules of Assembly Operations. For the convened Assembly’s oversight, Committees of Commissioners report exceptions “which in substance appear . . . to be out of accord with the deliverances of the General Assembly” (RAO XIV.11.d.2). The MTW and CDM reports are both exceptional in this sense. The Committees of Commissioners for both MTW and CDM ought not accept on the one hand a failure of forthrightness, on the other hand a failure of compliance.
Their reports to the Assembly ought to be informed forthrightly by possible financial incentive for giving Jesus Calling and the PCA a pass. The omissions supply a vividness to the apparent financial conflict of interest for the GA-Apparatus. To fulfill the mandate of the 51st GA submissively, the 52nd GA needs somehow to hedge the business of Jesus Calling from the GA-Apparatus.
And conclude:
Whatever action the 52nd GA takes, it will not change the scandal: Jesus Calling is the PCA’s largest legacy. It is not advertised, but it is true. Through Jesus Calling, the consequences of the PCA’s jurisdiction touch more people than any other PCA initiative—in excess of 45 million copies, a diversified, far-flung virtual presence, translated into 37 languages.
That is how the royalties piled up and continue to increase. There is risk to confidence in the competence (not the intention) for fidelity on the part of the flagship evangelical and Reformed denomination in the United States. Neither the public facts nor common sense distrust can fit under the rug with the book.
The PCA has not recognized—nor queried—the true nature of Jesus Calling. According to both textual analysis and the observations of converted former New Age practitioners, Jesus Calling exemplifies New Age spiritualism. More than money or public standing is at stake. If there is a conflict of interest preventing a rigorous examination of Jesus Calling, there is also a conflict of interest with the PCA’s mission beyond its own members, both domestically and internationally.
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