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.