With all of the meetings of highest governing bodies of Presbyterian branches currently in progress one would think there would not be anyone left, but we need to add one more to the list…

The meeting of the 207th General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church began yesterday, June 7, at Bonclarken, near Flat Rock, NC, and it will adjourn tomorrow.

The Synod has combined most of the materials for the meeting available as a single large packet, but in three formats — Web, PDF, or ePub.  (Is that a first for an Assembly or Synod distributing an ePub of the reports?)  And as a single packet I will warn you that it is 191 pages long.  In my comments below I will refer to the page numbers in the PDF, trusting in the Grace of God that the ePub numbers are at least close.  (And the web version is one very long page)

Yes, there is Twitter activity for this meeting as well with the hashtag #ARPsynod11.  The major contributors to this stream are @ARStager and @jmcmanus76.  In addition, the official feeds @ARPMagazine and @ARPChurch are tweeting, usually without a hashtag.

As I looked through the packet a few things jumped out at me.

If I read Appendix E correctly (beginning on page 33) there are seven pages of unfinished business from last year’s General Synod which was the first item of business yesterday.

Beginning on page 41 of the packet is the preliminary report of the Strategic Planning Committee. The final report will be presented to the 2012 Synod. The Committee proposes the following Vision Statement for the ARP on which to base the Strategic Plan:

As sinners being saved by the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, Associate Reformed Presbyterians are compelled by His grace to give glory to God in worship, life and witness. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we aspire to be people gathered into churches, who are living obediently to the Word of God; growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ; loving one another as Christ has loved us; proclaiming joyfully the gospel of grace freely to all; making disciples among all the nations; and working in unity with all who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

From this the Committee says the Plan must 1) be gospel-centered and gospel-driven, 2) empower the people of God to accomplish God’s purposes in God’s way, and 3) marshal the resources of the church in a wise and prudent manner.

The Committee then gives a frank comment about where the ARP finds itself at the present time:

The shape of the emerging Strategic Plan is also conditioned by the peculiar circumstances of the ARP Church today. We are a small denomination with a preponderance of small churches, many of them located in rural areas and small towns. Because of this, humanly speaking, our resources are somewhat limited. As noted above, we continue to wrestle with identity issues and a lack of theological unity that complicate the task of ministry focus. We have also inherited a remarkable variety of denominational agencies and institutions with their own histories and traditions, and most of these agencies look to the General Synod for significant resources. Given that the ARP Church is but a small part of the Evangelical community and the church universal (see sec. I [“Where We Come From”] above), we must be mindful of duplicating the efforts of others who may be better positioned than we to carry on certain kingdom work, and open to creative partnerships with others where such efforts will advance the kingdom of God. As the 2007 “Report of the Vision Committee” identified, “the ARP Church is tolerant of mediocrity. Some have observed that we are ‘addicted to niceness,’ and that we tacitly condone a lack of excellence so that feelings will not be hurt.” These peculiar circumstances present both limitations and opportunities.

Based on all this they present a preliminary list of five things the church needs: 1) Powerful Gospel-centered preaching, 2) Church planting, 3) Christian education, 4) Multi-generational ministry, and 5) Culturally-responsive ministry.

Other branches are also considering what they will look like going forward and so I am looking forward to what this Committee brings back to the ARP next year.

Writing new Form of Government sections is another thing being done in other Presbyterian branches, and a Special Committee is bringing a new FOG to this Synod for a first read and for the church to consider this coming year.  If you are interested, the brief report begins on page 49 and the new FOG is available as a separate download. (If you want to see the current version that is available online as well.)  I simply mention this now and have put this on my list of possible topics for future writing.

A couple of other reports you might be interested in include ones on multi-cultural ministry and lay ministry.  I will conclude with the report on the topic that has garnered the most media attention over the last couple of years.

The report on the denomination’s schools, Erskine College and Erskine Theological Seminary, begins on page 75.  The report updates the progress in the schools and the denomination working together to ensure that the schools properly reflect the church’s doctrine while providing a strong education to their students.  The schools’ responses to four actions of the Synod are included, including an extensive response concerning the ways that the college board is restructuring to reflect the church’s concerns. There is also much more documentation about the changes in the college’s procedures and activities in consideration of the Synod’s actions.  Again, plenty there to reflect on if you are interested and with the high-profile nature of this issue there might be a variety of viewpoints expressed on this after the meeting.

So there are some things to be aware of regarding the General Synod meeting of the ARP.  However, having seen pictures of the Bonclarken center and having heard such great things about it, I sure admire the commissioners that can get work done while visiting such a beautiful area.  Our prayers are with you for your meeting.