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.