I have been a little behind the curve on one more General Assembly currently meeting.  So with apologies for the delay, let’s have a look at the 78th General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

J. Gresham Machen (from Wikimedia Commons)

This denomination was formed on June 11, 1936 when the first General Assembly convened in Philadelphia.  J. Gresham Machen, the first Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of America (as it was know at that time) wrote of that meeting in the Presbyterian Guardian: “On Thursday, June 11, 1936, the hopes of many long years were realized. We became members, at last, of a true Presbyterian Church; we recovered, at last, the blessing of true Christian fellowship. What a joyous moment it was! How the long years of struggle seemed to sink into nothingness compared with the peace and joy that filled our hearts!”

This year’s Assembly took time yesterday to mark the 75th Anniversary of that event. An afternoon special program, hosted by the Committee on Christian Education, included comments from one of the founders, the Rev. John P. Galbraith, author of the well known 1939 paper Why the Orthodox Presbyterian Church?  In the summary of yesterday’s session, it is reported that Mr. Galbraith emphasized “that adherence to and proclamation of the Word of God is central to the task of the church.” The celebration includes events all weekend and was highlighted by a banquet last night. And for more on the anniversary there is a Facebook page.

As for the business meeting itself, it convened Wednesday evening, June 8 at the Sandy Cove Retreat Center in Maryland and will adjourn no later than noon on Tuesday June 14.  Most of the background information you will need, like the Standing Rules, Book of Church Order, and GA papers giving denominational stands on particular topics, can be accessed through the regular General Assembly Page.

The web page specific to the 78th GA has links to the Daily Summary page and the Photo Album. I have not found a docket or reports to the Assembly available online.

There is a Twitter presence for the meeting and while small they are yet faithful.  You can get info from the meeting from @dlwelliver and @camdenbucey with a few others commenting using the hashtag #opcga. One of the more amusing comments to come down the line this year, in a play on the nickname “Machen’s Warrior Children,” the GA has been going so smoothly and harmoniously this year that Moderator has referred to them as “Machen’s cuddly children.”

Speaking of the Moderator, from the three nominees from the floor, the Rev. Danny E. Olinger was selected as the Moderator of this General Assembly. He has been serving as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education and is the editor of an anthology of writings by Geerhardus Vos. (Side note: if you are not familiar with Vos, he was the first professor of Biblical Theology at Princeton Seminary.)

Other business already heard includes the report of the Statistician, Mr. Luke E. Brown, who was pleased to report the continued steady membership growth of 1.51% so that the denomination ended 2010 with 29.842 total members. The Assembly also approved the request of the Psalter-Hymnal Special Committee to work together with the United Reformed Churches of North America Songbook Committee to produce a joint OPC/URC
Psalter-Hymnal. The Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension reported that although only four new churches were planted in 2010, there have already been ten new ones planted in 2011 with four more that will probably open this year.  And there was an unusually brief report from the Committee on Appeals and Complaints, a circumstance that possibly contributed to the “cuddly children” comment.

Finally, the annual census of the Assembly regarding the decade of ordination of the commissioners:

With nine minutes until the order of the day, the moderator took the
annual survey of when each commissioner was ordained. This is not merely
a matter of trivia but, rather, it shows the Lord’s faithfulness in
working through men at the Assembly from a wide age range. The older
commissioners often set the tone and exemplify good churchmanship, while
the younger men add a bit of energy to the Assembly. The results from
the poll:

2010s — 9
2000s — 45
1990s — 19
1980s — 18
1970s — 21
1960s — 18
1950s — 3

I am impressed with the relative uniform distribution of numbers ordained in the 1960’s to the 1990’s range.

The Assembly left much of Saturday to presentations and celebration and the Lord’s Day is left free for worship and fellowship.  Business will resume at 8:30 AM local time tomorrow.  We pray for the Assembly and its remaining work.