Category Archives: GA business

224th General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

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One of the few General Assemblies to be held on schedule this year will be gavelled to order about this time tomorrow and it will be an interesting experience in a number of respects. First, it will be virtual with all business and events happening online. Second, it will be significantly shortened, both in daily schedule and in the length of business meetings. So with the time limitations, a lot of business is getting pushed off to the next Assembly two years from now.

And so, we welcome the 224th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), set to convene at 7 PM Eastern Time tomorrow, Friday, June 19. While the formal business will then take a break for a week there are other events that will be included in the general program during that hiatus. To accommodate time zones the two days of formal business will run from 11 AM to 6 or 6:30 PM EDT. The plan is to do business in two-hour time slots followed by a one-hour break.

The site of the meeting was supposed to be in Baltimore before it got transferred to the ether. Instead, the Presbytery of Baltimore will now be the online host for the meeting

As usual, the source for information on all this business is the on-line PC-Biz system. It is important to remember that with the condensed meeting schedule there will be no committee action this year. The one actual Assembly committee, the Assembly Committee on Business Referrals, has acted upon a recommendation of the standing Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA) that has divided all business into three parts: Information (received, no action), items of a critical or necessary nature (to be acted on this year), and everything else (which gets pushed to the 225th General Assembly). Changes to these lists can be made from the floor so keep an eye on that on opening night.

Other items of note on the docket include the election of the Co-Moderators from the three teams standing for the position on Friday night beginning at 9 PM EDT (new time from a meeting today) and the vote to renew the call of the Stated Clerk for another 4-year term on Saturday, June 27, at 11 AM EDT.

The schedule, including the docket and the other events, can be found on PC-Biz under Resources. There is also the Manual Of The General Assembly available there but also a recommendation from COGA for suspension of most of the standing rules and adoption of special rules to apply to this assembly, including that there shall be no new business. Finally, the information booklet on the Moderatorial Candidates can be found there as well.

For the doctrine and polity documents, you can get the Book of Confessions and the Book of Order as free downloads from the PC(USA) Store, or you can find them at this handy website.

The commissioners will be operating using videoconferencing technology, and for the rest of us who want to follow along the proceedings will be streamed on the GA website and on the Spirit of GA Facebook page.

The theme for this Assembly is “From Lament to Hope” based upon Lamentations 5:20-21. To go along with the theme a Bible study will be offered online on Wednesday. There are two sessions on Wednesday June 24 at 7 and 10 PM EDT. The study will be led by James Elisha Taneti and Mary Florence Taneti.

In addition, there are a series of video testimonials related to the theme posted on the GA website where various people from around the PC(USA) talk about the GA theme and their experience.

And just a note that before the pandemic, the chosen theme was “Called to a Movement Beyond Institution,” based upon Romans 12:2.

Another event that will be happening between the business sessions is the Poor People’s Campaign event that was to be a march on Washington but is now a digital rally at 10 AM EDT on Saturday, June 20th. The Stated Clerk, J. Herbert Nelson, will be one of the speakers. Note that there is a registration link, but not clear if registration is required.

There is also the Youth Rising Coalition event at 3 PM EDT on Tuesday, June 23. This is a group in Baltimore that is joining with the GA participants “To hear the voices and stories of Baltimore area youth who have compelling ideas about creating a more just and opportune environment for young people.”

To follow the action on official Twitter feeds the PC(USA) does have a general Twitter account (@Presbyterian). Usually, during the Assembly, the General Assembly feed (@presbyGA) provides more play-by-play, but it has not been active for six months. There is also the Presbyterian News Service on Twitter (@PresbyNews). The hashtag for the meeting is #ga224.

News items will also appear on the GA224 news feed as well as the Presbyterian News Service feed. There are also updates on the Facebook page.

For individuals of note let me start with the accounts for the Co-Moderators (@GAModerators) and for the Stated Clerk (@PCUSAstatedclrk) as well as J. Herbert Nelson’s individual account (@jherbertnelson) which seems to be fresher. Watch the #GA224 hashtag and we will see who else is active for the meeting. (And I will update here.)

Out in the press corps, keep an eye on the Presbyterian Outlook on their website (pres-outlook.org) and Twitter (@presoutlook) as well as their special correspondent Leslie Scanlon (@lscanlon).

I plan to be on all the live-streamed events and tweeting (@ga_junkie) and maybe some live blogging. The Outlook printed one article I wrote for them on business coming to the Assembly related to overtures concerning Constitutional changes but all those items have been referred to the 225th GA. One of the controversial items for this Assembly will be how the Committee on Theological Education has reclassified the San Francisco Theological Seminary following their merger with the University of Redlands. My article for the Outlook on that business looks at the situation, at least at the time of publication. It is an evolving situation and it will be interesting to see how it evolves further in the hands of the GA. I will have a bit more to say on that in a couple of days as well as a couple of other evolving items before the Assembly. I would also mention my Outlook article “GA or Not GA? That is the Question” where I mused about what a virtual GA would look like. Personally, I think I got pretty close.

Finally, I expect this summary to be a living document over the next week and I will update at various points throughout the week as systems and patterns develop. I also hope to get out a modified GA Bingo card appropriately modified for a virtual GA.

So it will be an interesting week in the virtual assembly hall. We pray for patience for all involved as new technology is navigated and technical glitches are confronted. And there is some very important business, like the Way Forward Commission and the Vision 2020 group, that did not make the cut and have had their reports referred to the 225th General Assembly. It will be interesting to see if some other items docketed to be referred do creep back into the agenda for this meeting.

With all that going on we offer our prayers for the commissioners and for the leadership of this meeting. May they be guided by the Holy Spirit, particularly to discern God’s will as a body while not actually gathered in one physical space. It will certainly be an interesting GA week. Blessings upon you.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:17

General Assembly Of The Free Church Of Scotland (Continuing) 2020

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As we Presbyterians say, we value doing our business “decently and in order.”

So, in that spirit and for the sake of completeness I will honor the trifecta and bring you a brief note about the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) and their General Assembly.

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The General Assembly of the Free Church (Continuing) will convene tomorrow, Monday 18 May, as scheduled and directed by the 2019 General Assembly. But, in light of the Covid-19 restrictions and recommendations here is their plan quoted from their news article:

The Assembly should be constituted, as indicted, in Edinburgh on Monday 18th May 2020, with the meeting taking place mainly by teleconference.

At the meeting on 18th May, subject to the agreement of the Assembly, the Assembly will, after a few preliminaries, consider only at that time a Report by the AAN [Assembly Arrangements and Nominations] Committee. The Assembly will then suspend to meet in Inverness on Tuesday 6th October. The fact it is being suspended rather than adjourning to meet will give a degree of flexibility, should it be impossible to meet on the said date.

In an update from last week, there are more details about the meeting, including that it will be preceded by a one-hour prayer meeting with remarks by the 2019 Moderator. From there the business portion of the meeting will convene. The meeting will be public and the Zoom meeting information is included in that update.

Based on these updates it must be presumed that the induction of the Moderator-designate the Rev. John MacLeod as the Moderator of the 2020 General Assembly is postponed until at least the indicated October date when the Assembly hopes to re-convene.

We look forward to an update following tomorrow’s teleconference. Our prayers are with them for their meeting.

In a normal year, this is an interesting and active week in Edinburgh with three General Assemblies in session at the same time in the early part of the week. Not so this year. We will see what God has in His Providence for us going forward.

General Assembly Of The Free Church Of Scotland 2020

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In this unique year of General Assembly and Synod meetings, there are a small handful of branches that will be meeting by video conference to consider a limited number of items of business that are considered essential, urgent, or time-critical.

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One of those meetings is the 2020 General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland which will meet tomorrow evening, Monday 18 May, at 6 pm Edinburgh time. The Assembly will consider a limited docket of business and intends to suspend the meeting with hopes to resume the meeting in October for a more traditional in-person meeting.

In light of the unique circumstances and limited business at this meeting, the Moderator-Designate Rev Neil MacMillan will not be installed. As the news article says “it is expected that a delay on the new appointment will be put in place until a formal service appointment can be conducted.” It is recommended to the Assembly that the 2019 Moderator, Rev. Donnie G. Macdonald, will continue as the 2020 Moderator to run the meetings this year and that Mr MacMillan’s appointment be deferred to the 2021 General Assembly.

The meeting will be live-streamed. The 2020 General Assembly Reports volume is available as well.

There are five reports which contain business considered “urgent and time-critical.”

  • Assembly Business Committee – approving the arrangements, the programme (agenda), and the handling of documents related to the meeting.
  • The Assembly Clerk’s Office – proposing nominations, alternate arrangements for required annual general meetings of certain groups within the church, and approving “Arrangements for Exceptional Circumstances” to help the various bodies within the church as a whole operate during these exceptional times.
  • Edinburgh Theological Seminary – In addition to the usual thanks to all those involved with the operation of the Seminary there are items to act upon to resolve inconsistencies within the ETS governing documents.
  • Mission Board – two actions, one to change the pastoral staffing arrangement at a church and an action to change the status of a church plant to “a fully sanctioned charge.”
  • Board of Ministry – Seven varied actions including thanks to the Board, noting with sadness the death of a former Clerk to the Board, an appointment to the Board, and asking the church to continue to pray for God to raise up more Gospel workers. There is also an item to note the ongoing review of the Board and action to make changes to the composition of the Board.
  • There will be a private session related to the Board of Ministry as a minister wishing to transfer to the Free Church is introduced and examined. As there is confidential information involved those documents are not distributed in the reports and will be read by the chair of the Board in the private session.

It will be interesting to see how this meeting goes, both in terms of limited business and technology. If there is Twitter activity we can expect to see tweets from the official church account @freechurchscot. The customary hashtag would be #fcga20 although the hashtag #fcos is typically in use as well.

We keep this Assembly in our prayers and look forward to joining you tomorrow evening. May your deliberations be guided by the Holy Spirit and the time productive for the advancement of The Kingdom. Best wishes to all.

47th General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church In America

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The next General Assembly is ramping up with the committees of commissioners hard at work, particularly the Overtures Committee which has overtures related to a couple of important issues to make recommendations on.

So here we go, the 47th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America is starting to get rolling in Dallas, Texas. (As a side note, interesting to see both the OPC and PCA General Assemblies there this year.) The Assembly convenes in plenary session this afternoon, Wednesday 26 June, at 1:30 PM CDT, and adjourns at noon on Friday. The theme of the Assembly is “Press on for God’s Glory.” The meeting will be live streamed and there is a schedule of what will be streamed live. There is also the GA app available for several platforms to follow along, and a ShareFile! app on that page for registered commissioners to download reports and other documents.

While the full volume of reports is available only to commissioners, the docket, schedule, and overtures are available online. There is a nice page with links to all the forms and schedules for the meeting.

To track the polity of the PCA you can access the Book of Church Order (BCO) online, which also contains the Rules of Assembly Operations (RAO). For the hardcore polity wonks there is Morton Smith’s Commentary on the Book of Church Order of the Presbyterian Church in America which is only available in a print edition. (Similar to what some branches call the Annotated Book of (Church) Order.)

News updates will be posted through the official news website and online publication byFaith, including the update from yesterday’s Overtures Committee action. Update: Article with all Overtures Committee recommendations is now posted.

Turning to social media, you will probably want to keep an eye on the byFaith Magazine Facebook page. There are numerous opportunities to follow the meeting on Twitter including the official feed from byFaith (@PCAbyFaith). The hashtag for the Assembly is #pcaga, although #pcaga2019 is floating around as well. For pictures, keep an eye on the PCA Flickr site.

Other related Twitter accounts include Reformed University Fellowship (@RUFnational), PCA Discipleship Ministry (@PCACDM), Mission to the World (@mtwglobal), and the Mission to North America (@pcamna). I would also include in this group the denomination’s schools, Covenant College (@CovenantCollege) and Covenant Seminary (@covseminary).

As for individuals to watch – round-up the usual suspects. Some who will be at the meeting and are, or will probably be tweeting include Irwyn Ince (@Irwyn) the retiring Moderator, Fred Greco (@fredgreco), Ligon Duncan (@LigonDuncan), Sean Michael Lucas (@SeanMLucas) who has a high-profile job as chair of the Overtures Committee this year, and Melton L. Duncan (@MeltonDuncan). For organizations, I will mention Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing (@prpbooks), Greenville Seminary (@GPTseminary) and Reformed Theological Seminary (@ReformTheoSem) and their local Dallas campus (@RTS_Dallas). (And as a note, there are other Twitter accounts for the different RTS campuses.)

There is a long list of people tweeting (check out the #pcaga hashtag) but I will mention a few of the early active ones now. Derek Radney (@DerekRadney) is doing us a great service with the detailed tweeting from the Overtures Committee meeting. Others with active accounts at this time include Scott Swain (@scottrswain), Jessica Fore (@forejessica), Robert M. Phillips (@AceAdvocate), and Mark Horne (@purify_elevate). There are also three accounts that have some overlap: More in PCA (@MoreinPCA) – a grassroots organization of REs, Chortles Weakly (@ChortlesWeakly) and Presbycast (@Presbycast). I will add Allan Edwards (@edwardsae1) who is actively tweeting from the meeting, and has given us a new Bingo Card to go along with his past Bingo Card and the Selfie Scavenger Hunt. And for a Twitter feed that is posted decently and in order there is the @PCAPresbyter himself. And don’t forget Joey Pipa’s Mustache (@jpipasmustache), PCA Logo (@PCALogo), and GA Famous (@GA_Famous).

As usual, the overtures to this Assembly reflect where the PCA is today and what it is concerned about. This business will provide a lot of opportunity for discussion, debate and discerning God’s will for the church. The Overtures Committee is the last item of business on Thursday docketed to begin their report at 4:15 PM. If it is not concluded by the dinner recess 45 minutes later (anyone want to give odds on that?), the report will resume at 9:00 PM after worship. I do not see a single article from byFaith with a summary of all 48 overtures, but their GA News feed has a number of articles covering all the overtures grouped by theme.

The topic with the most overtures is human sexuality with eleven of them. This is a timely response to the 2018 Revoice Conference held at a PCA church in St. Louis last August. That conference, and the upcoming one this year, address the Revoice mission: “To support and encourage gay, lesbian, bisexual, and other same-sex attracted Christians—as well as those who love them—so that all in the Church might be empowered to live in gospel unity while observing the historic Christian doctrine of marriage and sexuality.” The theology of this mission statement is under active debate in the PCA and will be significant at this GA. The Overtures Committee is recommending that the Assembly accept Overture 4 affirming the Nashville Statement and there will be a minority report on that. Overture 11 asked that the Assembly commend and distribute the RPCNA’s statement ‘Contemporary Perspectives on Sexual Orientation: A Theological and Pastoral Analysis.’ The Overtures Committee did a major rewrite on the Therefore’s and instead, it now recommends the publication The Gospel & Sexual Orientation. There were also overtures to establish a study committee on Sexuality and the Overtures Committee is recommending these be answered with Overture 42 as amended. The amendments increase the size from four to six teaching and ruling elders, and include in its purview two presbytery studies of the Revoice Conference, one from Central Carolina Presbytery and the other from Missouri Presbytery. We will see how these and the other nine overtures fare as they are handled on the floor.

Another major topic is domestic abuse and sexual assault with nine overtures addressing that topic. The Overtures Committee is recommending that they are answered by Overture 7 which calls for an “Ad Interim Committee to Address Matters Related to Domestic Abuse, Domestic Oppression, and Sexual Assault.” The Committee is recommending that this be answered in the affirmative but it has been amended. In the committee there was discussion as to the makeup of the committee as only men can be ordained officers and a more diverse representation on this committee would be desirable so non-ordained members would be beneficial. I will add the link to the amended version when it becomes available.

And in a related action, and part of a continuing discussion, Overture 8, and related overtures that would allow non-ordained persons to serve on committees and boards, are recommended to be answered in the negative. Overture 29, which would have allowed local option in whether to ordain women as deacons, was withdrawn before the Assembly.

And there are lots of smaller items – like an overture to withdraw from the National Association of Evangelicals and a proposal to study remote voting at General Assembly – that will also be considered.

As I mentioned earlier the Overtures Committee report begins at 4:30 PM on Thursday. One of the polity features of the PCA General Assembly is the role of the OC as a gatekeeper and manager of how the overtures reach the floor. As the GA Stated Clerk, Roy Taylor, quipped yesterday – “We have a convention surrounding a delegated assembly — the Overtures Committee”. There may be more truth in that than many want to admit.

There’s lots on the docket this week and multiple items that are sure to provide a spirited, and hopefully Spirit-filled, discussion among the commissioners. I have seen enough GA’s to know that predicting the outcome of these debates is difficult, but for a couple items of business, certain outcomes could make this a milepost year in the history of the PCA.

Our best wishes and prayers to the commissioners and leaders of the PCA General Assembly for this important meeting and prayers for your discernment the next few days. May the Spirit guide you in your work.

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39th General Assembly Of The Evangelical Presbyterian Church

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The 39th General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church has just begun gathering at Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church, near Denver. Today, and most of tomorrow, there are workshops and classes as part of the annual Leadership Institute. Business sessions convene tomorrow afternoon, Wednesday 19 June, and will continue through Friday afternoon, as needed.

The Assembly meeting will be live streamed on the web and through the General Assembly app.

There is a lot of information online, most linked through the Documents page and the GA 2019 page. Here are some of the links for information about Assembly business and operation:

As for social media, there is a bit of that out there. There is a Facebook page for the EPC that is currently being updated regularly with Leadership Institute and Assembly items. The official EPC Twitter feed is @EPChurch and the active official hashtag (#epc2019ga) has sprung to life. There is also a feed for EPC Student Ministries (@EPCStudentMin), EPC World Outreach (@EPCWO) and the Stated Clerk Jeff Jeremiah (@Jeff_Jeremiah ) -but none have been active for a while. However, the Moderator-elect, Case Thorp (@casethorp), has been actively tweeting leading up to the meeting.

As for individuals, strong live tweeting going from Matthew Everhard (@matt_everhard) and Zach Hopkins (@Zhop59). There are initial, promising tweets from Brandon M. Queen (@BQPHOTOS) and Andrew J. Winter (@TheAndrewWinter). And maybe we will see a bit more color and correction from Decent & In Order (@Decent_Orderly).

The theme of the Assembly is “Unstoppable: Keep on Asking, Keep on Seeking, Keep on Knocking,” based on Mathew 7:7.

One of the highlights of the Assembly will be the Wednesday morning and Thursday evening [corrected – regret the error] speaker, EPC Teaching Elder Andrew Brunson, who was released from detainment in Turkey last October after being held there for two years on charges of support of terrorism and espionage. According to the website, they expect an overflow crowd for worship that evening.

Another item of interest is the search for a new Stated Clerk to fill that position when Dr. Jeremiah steps down after his current term ends in 2021. The National Leadership Team is asking for authorization to form a search committee made up of one member from each of the EPC’s 14 presbyteries and to have it begin its work.

There is a good summary of all the action items coming to the Assembly this year. A couple of items of business stand out. One that caught my eye was an overture from the Presbytery of the Pacific Northwest that requests adding language to the Book of Order that clarifies that candidates being examined for ordination are being examined to be ordained by an EPC presbytery. The Permanent Judicial Commission (PJC) recommends approving this change. Another overture from the Presbytery of the East would add as voting members of a presbytery those ruling elders who were elected to leadership positions other than the officers of the presbytery. The PJC recommends it be disapproved as it does not meet “the requirements for clarity, consistency of language, and compatibility.”

Looking to the future the NLT is recommending the Moderator appoint an ad interim committee “composed of five REs or TEs from diverse, strongly-supporting churches across multiple presbyteries to address how to improve our churches’ long-term culture of giving to the EPC” and to evaluate the Per-Member Asking formula. On another front, the Next Generation Ministries Council is asking that presbyteries be encouraged “in creation of Next Generation Networks for children, youth, and college workers in collaboration with the Next Generation Ministries Council.”

For the polity wonks, there is a proposed amendment to the Book of Government section of the Book of Order brought forward by the National Leadership Team (NLT) that would make explicit in the constitution a policy that has been voiced for many years that the EPC does not have the called position of co-pastor. The paragraph from the NLT report captures this well:

Since 1985, when the Fifth General Assembly approved the Permanent Judicial Commission’s ruling that the office of “Co-Pastor” is “non-existent,” it has been the official position of the EPC that this office is prohibited. However, this position is not explicitly declared in the Book of Government. A number of EPC churches that came from another denomination in the past ten years were familiar with or had used the “co-pastor” model in their past. Some of these churches have questioned the “constitutionality” of the prohibition of co-pastor. The NLT recommended amendment to the Book of Government makes explicit constitutionally the position of the EPC since 1985.

A lot going on this week. I wish the EPC commissioners well and we will be lifting them up in our prayers as they meet.

215th Stated Meeting Of The General Synod Of The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church

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Having introduced the Synod meeting of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, it would be appropriate to turn our attention to the 215th Stated Meeting of the General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. As mentioned previously, these are concurrent meetings with joint worship, workshops and some plenary meetings that began this morning at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.

The basic documents for the meeting are posted. First, there is a schedule for the meeting with a general business agenda. The ARP News is posting many of the other items associated with the meeting, including the pages of the metrical psalms to be sung during the joint worship services. Commissioner-specific material was distributed to registered commissioners ahead of the meeting and unlike some previous years is not publically available online.

For the doctrinal and polity standards of the ARPC you can check out their Governing Documents page which has all of those, plus links to some other interesting information.

While there is no live stream, the ARP’s official media outlet takes up the challenge nicely. ARP Magazine will be extensively covering the meeting on their news feed, Facebook page and on Instagram. The news feed will also be the place to look for daily updates every evening. They are also the official Twitter feed for the meeting as well (@arpmagazine) and the usual hashtag is #arpsynod2019 although this year #arpsynod is clearly in the mix. While there is the official main @ARPChurch feed it has been quiet for a while. World Witness (@theworldwitness), and Erskine Seminary (@ErskineSeminary) are active, however.

Looking at the initial Twitter action I would recommend Benjamin Glaser (@WVPitt), and Mark James (@GeraldMarkJames). And since these are concurrent meetings, you might want to keep an eye in the other hashtag, #RPSynod.

Without the reports, it is tough to preview the business of this meeting, but one of the reports that caught my attention is tomorrow morning related to Homosexual Orientation. While I don’t know the content of the report, or if any recommendations are being presented, I have a degree of curiosity if it is at all related to a significant discussion that has developed in the PCA over orientation, above and beyond homosexual practice. We will see what the reports on the Synod let us know after this business.

So, in the midst of this General Synod, we pray for their deliberations and the fellowship with the RPCNA, and look forward to hearing how they are guided by the Holy Spirit in their business.

188th Synod Of The Reformed Presbyterian Church In North America

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This is an interesting week in GA Junkie Land as there are two sets of concurrent meetings happening at this moment. While I may get a chance to look in on the joint meetings of the Cumberland Presbyterians and the Cumberland Presbyterians in America, I first want to look in on the other set of meetings.

This morning the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America convened their 188th Synod while the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church began their Synod as well, both on the campus of Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. This is college associated with the RPCNA and this joint synod is the reciprocal gathering to the concurrent meeting of these two branches four years ago at Bonclarken, the ARPC conference center in North Carolina.

And if I may take a minute, this is your regular reminder that while the RPCNA and the ARPC have their own sets of unions and divisions over the years, ultimately they are their own streams – the Covenanters and the Seceders respectively – that came over from Scotland and Ireland independent of the branch we now consider the American Presbyterian mainline and the many branches off of that.

OK, on to what is happening this week.

This is not a meeting with a live stream so we are out of luck there, but regular updates are appearing on the RPCNA Synod Facebook page and that appears to be the best point to follow along. The main RPCNA web page also points us to updates at the site of their denominational magazine, RP Witness, where there are daily updates, so we will keep an eye on that as well. For completeness, I would mention that they also have a general RPCNA Facebook page, but that points you to the Synod page for updates. Photos are being posted on a gallery site that appears to require an email address to access.

So far there is a bit of Twitter chatter, but more saying that it is happening than updates from the floor. We will see if that changes as the meeting progresses. The hastag is #RPSynod but worth keeping an eye on #RPCNA and #ARPSynod as well. Three Twitter accounts with official connections are RP Witness Magazine (@RPWitnessMag), the publishing arm Crown & Covenant (@crowncovenant), and their seminary @RPTSeminary. For individuals, I would mention Nathan Eshelman (@pastoreshelman), Allan Edwards (@edwardsae1), and Jules’ Diner (@julesdiner). I plan to have the ARPC preview up later today with a list of a few more from that side who will be commenting on the combined sessions as well.

Dockets, schedules or reports are usually not posted. The Constitution is available for download to see their confessional and polity standards.

I looked but could not find the usual Synod preview article from RP Witness magazine so I can’t point you to a good source of the business coming up. Yesterday there was a pre-Synod workship on Psalmody with an article from PR Witness. A number of years ago the Home Mission Board began a 20/20 Vision initiative with goals for new church plants and mission churches leading up to having 100 bodies – congregations and mission churches – in the RPCNA but the year 2020. The church has exceeded every goal and now has 104 worshipping groups or churches, exceeding the goal a year early. There is also an indication that a Study Committee on Divorce will be making their report.

Finally, a little levity is in order. Allan Edwards, who I mentioned above, has provided us not one, but two Bingo cards for these meetings, depending on what you want to track. As hinted above by the Psalmody workshop, while the ARP has leanings in that direction, the RPCNA is an RPW denomination that worships with exclusive unaccompanied Psalm singing. So, card 1 is the sung Psalms bingo card. And for the polity wonks, card 2 is the business session bingo card.

In closing, our best wishes to Andy McCracken who was chosen as the Moderator this morning. Our prayers are with him, and both synods, as the meet over the next four days. May your deliberations be guided by the Holy Spirit.

86th General Assembly Of The Orthodox Presbyterian Church

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The 86th General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church will convene this evening, Wednesday, 5 June, at 7 PM Central Time on the campus of the University of Texas in Richardson (Dallas), Texas. The meeting will conclude by noon on Tuesday, 11 June.

[UPDATE 2: The running daily updates are there now!] This GA does not have live streaming but we usually have the next best thing: There is a tradition of very well done running daily reports for the OPC GA and in expecting the tradition to continue watch this page when the assembly gets underway.

The agenda and reports are not posted online but you can access the Book of Church Order and the Standing Rules and Instruments of GA if you need background material. There is also a collection of reports from previous GA’s that have become guidance for the church.

The OPC has elected to keep a perpetual hashtag for their meeting (no sticking a year or GA number in there) so it should once again be #OPCGA. In terms of who to follow, I can start with the brand new OPC Twitter account (@OrthodoxPC) with all of two tweets, both from yesterday. You can also follow them on their official Facebook page. In addition, the OPC Home Missions (@opchomemissions) has an active feed. From here, I’ll just list the usual suspects and update once things get rolling.  The list would include Christopher Drew (@ChristopherDrew), and it is probably worth keeping an eye on the Reformed Forum (@ReformedForum) crew including Camden Bucey (@CamdenBucey) and Jim Cassidy (@jjcassidy). Early Twitter action suggests Forest Braden (@fbraden8) and Chris Dickason (@Cad_lib) will be tweeting. In addition, we might see comments on D. G. Hart’s feed (@oldlife), maybe The Daily Genevan (@TheDailyGenevan), and an autoretweeter tied to one of their denominational associations, NAPARC. UPDATE: After a day of business, I would add Jim Stevenson (@RevJimOPC) and Sean G. Morris (@mrseangmorris) to the follow list.

Since reports and detailed agendas are not available to anyone but the commissioners, it is difficult to highlight any particular business items that will be coming to the Assembly in advance of it being considered on the floor. Keep an eye on the running report and maybe Twitter for info on what is being discussed.

And in light of recent developments, it should be mentioned that one topic that will be on many people’s minds is the April shooting at the Chabad Synagogue outside San Diego. If you are not aware, the shooter was a member of the nearby Escondido Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The OPC released a statement on the shooting. A response piece by OPC pastor and college professor Carl Trueman, “Who’s to blame when the shooter is one of our own?” got some wide distribution, and there are other related pieces from D. G. Hart, and Shane Anderson on the Daily Genevan.

So as this General Assembly gets underway, our prayers for the teaching and ruling elders of the OPC as they spend a week reflecting on what the Spirit is doing in their branch and their discernment of the future. May you indeed discern God’s will in your decision making.

Today’s Presbyterian Church In Canada General Assembly Business – Choosing A Path Towards Inclusion

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With all due respects to my friends in Ireland, for me, today was about the Presbyterian Church in Canada General Assembly.

As I mentioned in my preview piece, one of the big items on the agenda today was for the GA to discern a path forward in the on-going discussion regarding same-sex marriage and partnered LGBTQI individuals’ involvement in the denomination.

So spoiler alert: Through the process today the GA chose a pathway towards an inclusive stand for the church. Caveats: It was acknowledged that it was not “full inclusion” as there are still unanswered details – like expecting active LGBTQI individuals to be in relationship within marriage; It is not a done-deal as aspects of this need to be approved by presbyteries under the Barrier Act; and details of churches wanting to leave the denomination with resources and property are to be addressed later.

To briefly review, a blue-ribbon panel of 14 former moderators made up a Special Committee that returned with a process and four pathways forward to be considered in the process. The process was to have the Assembly descend into a committee of the whole to first ask questions, then have large-group time when people could speak to their preferred pathway, and sometimes a second choice they could live with. This was followed by small group discussion and finally preferential (ranked) voting on the four pathways. The four pathways are quickly described as Current Practice, Inclusive, One Denomination – Three Streams, and Pastoral Accommodation.

As the business began there were a series of parliamentary/polity motions, most of which were defeated or ruled out of order. The first was to count the Young Adult Representatives’ (YARs) votes with the commissioners. That was ruled out of order because they are not commissioned by their presbyteries and don’t have the standing to speak for them. It was granted to the YARs to have their voting preference recorded. Another motion was to have the live stream turned off. I was ready for this as this does sometimes happen with sensitive topics. It turns out the stated objective was not privacy but to keep commissioners from being coached by observers from afar. While defeated the request was made for those in the room to turn off their phones and put needed devices on airplane mode. While a bit heated at times, and at some points confused by the parliamentary differences between committee of the whole and assembly, the GA did not descend very far into the first “polity circle of Hell.”

From there on out the discussion was similar to what long-term observers of these discussions have heard before. One of the big differences was hearing speakers say “I favour A but could live with C” or “I really want B, but will speak in favour of D because I think it has a better chance of passing.” The debate was civil and I was impressed with the high number of commissioners that stuck to the rule and spoke only positively about their preference(s). But, the full-group time did drag out and had to be continued after lunch, with the length of speeches cut to 90 seconds.

At the end of the committee of the whole time both YARs and commissioners voted for Pathway B and rising from the committee of the whole back to the full Assembly there were immediately a number of amendments including change B to C (three streams) which was defeated, and adding language about departing churches – which was ruled out of order as that will be considered in a later report.

As for the vote, it was not originally going to be announced but pressed by the Assembly I thought I heard that 121 votes were for Pathway B and 91 dissents were filed after the vote. Will update when the minutes are posted.

One of the interesting points in the discussion related to churches leaving is that many commissioners were using the phrase used in the PC(USA) – “gracious dismissal.” In one of those “you keep using that word…” moments, in the PC(USA) the dismissals are being viewed as less gracious where the denomination – be it the presbytery or the national church – has obtained a legal judgement. Here, I sensed that the speakers were looking for a fairly cost-free dismissal. Stay tuned for more on this later in the week.

So what the PCC has is a pathway forward. The Special Committee was clear that they were providing frameworks to chose from and not planned out scripts for moving forward. The details will be in the hands of an Implementation Committee, a committee which will not include one of the former moderators. (This would be much like the PC(USA)’s Way Forward Commission passed the work off to the Moving Forward Implementation Commission.) The members of the Committee on Pathway Implications were elected in the evening sederunt with the need for a re-do in the sederunt with concerns about the diversity of the members of the committee.

And one of the interesting points about the Inclusive Pathway was discussed and acknowledged in the Assembly – while there will be liberty of conscience for teaching elders already ordained, and any ruling elder, teaching elders ordained in the future will not have that liberty and would be “expected to affirm same-sex marriage and to participate in the ordinations and inductions of LGBTQI clergy who are in same-sex marriages.” This seemed to leave at least one student in the room thinking “I better finish up, find a call, and get ordained soon.”

The full report with English, French, and Korean versions is available. I have extracted the one page with the Pathway B: Inclusion info if you want the bare minimum. And there is the official update on this business from the PCC.

So that is what happened today at the Presbyterian Church in Canada GA. And yes, that was about all the business that was handled today – a bit of other business was squeezed into the evening session. There is much to be worked out so we will see what happens in the days, weeks and months ahead with all the details that need to be worked out and approvals that need to happen. Stay tuned…

And if you want a commissioner’s perspective on today’s process check out Scott McAndless’ piece on his blog.

2019 General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church In Ireland

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So with one live stream going in the background as I write, we turn to get ready for the next one of this busy week and month.

Shortly before I post this, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland will convene their 2019 General Assembly in Belfast with a worship service and the installation of the new Moderator, the Right Rev William Henry. The Assembly runs through Friday 7 June. Here is some info to help follow along:

  • The live stream is embedded in the 2019 Assembly Overview page along with links to other resources.
  • The 2019 General Assembly Page has a summary docket of report dates and times. And one of these two pages will probably have video clips of highlights of the Assembly.
  • The special Wednesday evening program is themed “Enjoying God” – the new Moderator’s theme for the year – and will be live streamed. The special speaker for the evening is the Rev Glen Scrivener, the Director of the charity Speak Life.
  • Wednesday evening before the worship service, the PCI Youth Assembly will be holding a Fringe Event around the theme of “Developing and building unity, within congregations and beyond.” In addition, following the Assembly’s adjournment there will be the traditional Youth Night on Saturday evening, which will probably be live streamed. The theme is “CALLED – Hearing God’s Voice. Bearing God’s Name.”
  • Most of the resources for the Assembly be found on, or linked from, the Assembly Overview page. The Blue Book reports and Supplementary reports will be posted there on Tuesday morning. The Daily Minutes will also be posted there along with daily previews. There is a detailed list of business that is posted on its own page.
  • The polity documents include the main document, The Code, as well as the helpful A Guide to Assembly Procedure.
  • The News page will carry official press releases and news items including the pre-Assembly press release which contains a rundown of the major moments and business at the Assembly this year.

There are plenty of social media contact points for the Assembly, beginning with the official Twitter account @PCIAssembly which always provides a detailed and comprehensive report of the Assembly. Please note the comprehensive part, because the level of detail can make the feed very busy. This is generally a good thing but you have been warned that the number of tweets will be very high. (Don’t say I didn’t warn you.) The official moderator’s feed at @PCIModerator has become a great source as well, but don’t count on a lot during the Assembly itself. We will see if Mr. Henry tweets during GA and how much he shares in his moderatorial year. The official hashtag for the Assembly is #pciga19. And it is worth keeping an eye on the PCI Facebook page as well. I would add at this point the church’s divinity school, Union Theological College (@UnionTCollege).

Other ministries of the church that have Twitter accounts are Presbyterian Women (@PWinIreland), Mission Ireland (@MissionIreland) and PCI Global Missions (@PCIOverseas). I include these for the sake of completeness, but they all have been pretty quiet for a while.

The other set of social media contacts to keep an eye on are those related to the Youth Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. Following them on their Facebook page is probably the best, although they do have the Youth and Children’s Ministry account @PCIYAC. on Twitter, but that has not been active for a while.

My list of others to watch for interesting and useful updates always starts with outside reporter and insightful commentator Alan in Belfast (@alaninbelfast). He has already published on his blog an interesting piece on his blog “Browsing a Bygone Blue Book – a look back at the Presbyterian Church in Ireland in 1927” which is a great snapshot of where the church was then, and how some things don’t seem to change. For following some of the active leadership of the church, I would point to former Moderator Rob Craig (@RobCraig54) and Cheryl Meban (@cherylmeban) who is a university chaplain and has been active on church committees. Others have been a bit quiet up to this point and will be updating over the next day as things get rolling.

The business of the Assembly this year is extensive and for a better review, I would point you to the GA preview news article and the comments there by Clerk of the General Assembly, the Rev Trevor Gribben. I will highlight a few items that I have been following in the past year and the lead-up to the Assembly.

The first of these is the doctrinal stand that the Assembly has been reaffirming the past few years and which was stated very strongly last year: A divided Assembly affirmed the traditional view of marriage between a man and a woman and carried that over not just to the standards for ordination but to some rights of membership as well. This led to breaking ties with other churches who were moving away from this position, notably the Church of Scotland. The relationship with the Church of Scotland will be reviewed this year and it will be interesting to hear how the body’s thought has aged in the past year. This stand was also widely publicized in the public media and led to some significant protest so this Assembly is being widely watched for that. This position has also resulted in the dismissal of the Rev. Prof. Laurence Kirkpatrick from the faculty of Union Theological College, another action which hit the mainstream media. (BBC, Belfast Telegraph, Irish Times).

Speaking of Union Theological College, over the last year Queens University, Belfast, the institution that hosted Union and three other smaller religious schools in its Institute of Theology, decided to close the Institute and break the ties with the churches. The estimate of the shortfall for the PCI from lost fees is £250,000 by 2022. As Mr. Gribben says in the preview article, “The Assembly will be taking time to reflect on that change, but will also be looking forward to hearing of the emerging plans for a new and potentially exciting future for the College.”

One of the major moments in the Assembly will be an Alternative Presentation on Thursday titled Life Always Matters. As the preview article says:

[I]t seeks to speak into the professional world and public square on the dignity of human life. Through specially commissioned video, a presentation and an informal panel discussion involving three Presbyterian elected representatives, the General Assembly will be looking at dementia care, end of life care and child and adolescent mental health services.

And one more item of the many – The report by the Dealing with the Past Task Group. This group, which has been working for three years, is looking at how Presbyterians responded to the Troubles. From the preview article:

The aim of this significant undertaking is to tell a wider story than has been available to date. The stories of ordinary Presbyterians that have emerged from the 100-plus interviews will be published in a book towards the end of the year, and the Church will be seeking to learn from this significant project.

In the article, Mr. Gribben says of this report, “There are, however, occasions when substantial pieces of work, like that of the Dealing with the Past Task Group, can have positive impact beyond the doors of the denomination itself.” One reason it caught my attention is that in conversations I have had about the PCI and its actions, I have been advised that the Troubles are one of the lenses that must be considered when analyzing even current actions.

So much I could mention, but time is limited. I am looking forward to the significant discussions ahead of the PCI in this Assembly. As always, our prayers are with the Assembly and the Moderator for the work ahead and their discernment and guidance by the Holy Spirit. We look forward to following their work.