General Assembly Of The Free Church Of Scotland 2022

As General Assembly week continues in Edinburgh, we move on to the next Assembly, the 179th General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland.

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The meeting began this evening, Monday 23 May, at 6 pm at St. Columba’s Free Church in Edinburgh with worship, the installation of the new Moderator, the Rev Iver Martin, and a few pieces of initial business.

To step back from the GA for a moment, I wanted to mention an article I saw over the weekend from the Anglican Network. It is an op-ed piece by John Hayward which looks at “Growth, Decline, and Extinction of U.K. Churches.” The prospects for many older denominations in the U.K. is not good, as he discusses, and early in the article he says this:

All [denominations] bar two of the pre-1900 churches in this set are declining. Only the Free Church of Scotland and Seventh Day Adventists are growing. By contrast, all the post-1900 churches are growing[5]. Have the older churches gone stale? Do the newer ones still retain some of the fire of their founders?

An interesting piece of context to contemplate as we move through GA season and relevant to this specific Assembly.

The meeting will be live-streamed for our viewing pleasure, both on the Free Church website and on their YouTube channel. The 2022 General Assembly Reports volume is available as a PDF document. And there is a schedule available.

For the polity wonks, the Acts of the Assembly can be found at the bottom of the General Assembly page and there is an online version of “Church Practice and Procedure – Free Church of Scotland.”

To follow along on social media you should be checking the official Free Church Facebook page as well as their Twitter feed @freechurchscot. The host church can be followed at @stcsfreechurch and the hashtag will be #fcga22, although sometimes tweets slip by with #fcga or #fcga2022. (At the time of writing none have.) The seminary, Edinburgh Theological Seminary (@ETS_Edinburgh). And I can add the Mission Initiative “Generation” which tweets occasionally at @GenerationM18. (Although this GA is requested to restructure their work for church planting and drop the Generation branding.)

And important happenings at the Assembly may have an article appear in the Newsfeed.

Regarding the business before the Assembly, there are a couple of interesting items that the Board of Trustees are bringing in their Supplementary Report. (Beginning on page 62.) One of these is a modification of the ordination and probationers questions and formula of subscription to “modernize the language and shorten the questions.” The Assembly will have to confirm that with the new wording the “fundamental principles” are not changed and if agreed to the new questions and formula will be sent to the presbyteries for their concurrence under the Barrier Act. The commissioners will also be asked to approve a process overview for the revision of the Church discipline to continue the process of revision. I note this in particular since the revision of church discipline will come up again in this GA season. For your information, here is the Process Overview flowchart from page 71 of the reports.

Church Discipline Process Overview from the 2022 Free Church of Scotland GA Reports

The other report that caught my attention was from the Board of Ministry (beginning on Page 72) and their work to clarify and define the training process for students. The deliverance contains an extensive list of definitions and a detailed list of expectations for those training for the ministry and the presbyteries and churches supporting them.

I would also note the report from the Committee on the Establishment Principle in the Twenty-First Century is an interim report and we can look forward to their more developed thoughts on this topic at a future Assembly.

So with that, we will keep this Assembly in our prayers and look forward to following along over the next few days. May your deliberations be guided by the Holy Spirit and the time productive for the advancement of The Kingdom. Best wishes to all.

Church of Scotland General Assembly 2022

It is General Assembly week in Edinburgh and the meetings are returning to a more in-person format than in the past couple of years. And Saturday the first of the GA’s kicked off with the usual ritual and pageantry.

Saturday morning 21 May the 2022 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland convened in Edinburgh in a hybrid format with some commissioners joining virtually from around the world.

And in both the early press coverage as well as in the afternoon business it became clear that there is plenty of important business to be discussed in the week ahead. But more on that in a minute.

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If you are interested in keeping track of the business and activities this year, here are the starting points:

  • There will be live streaming of the proceedings and you can connect to the stream appropriate for your device from the livestream page.
  • Most of the Documents pertaining to the Assembly are linked from the General Assembly Publications page. This includes the Assembly Reports and Order of Proceedings volumes, known as the Blue Book, in several different electronic formats including the traditional PDF as well as EPUB format for your readers. There is also a Dyslexia-friendly version. The Reports and Order of Proceedings are available separately on the Publications page in all those formats as well. The Daily Papers will contain late-breaking changes and worship material and the first for Saturday through Thursday is posted. We can expect a second concluding one later in the week.
  • Individual reports and some additional documents can be found on the Reports and Additional Documents Page.
  • If you need to refer to the documents about how they do this decently and in order most of those are linked from the Church Law page. This web page also used to have the useful “An Introduction to Practice and Procedure of the Church of Scotland” but it was being revised and seems to have disappeared. While dated, I have a copy of the 2009 Third Edition available from my Resources Site. There is also a Guide to the Assembly page that covers some of the basic actions and terminology.
  • There is a News Round up for the GA news items on the 2022 General Assembly Page.
  • There is an official photo gallery of the Assembly.

What we all want to know of course is how to follow along on social media and there will be no lack of that. You can begin with the Church of Scotland’s official Facebook page. There is also the Kirk’s Instagram feed and YouTube channel. And the YouTube channel is now the place to watch the proceedings after they have happened and they have the meeting broken up into individual reports.

On Twitter, the starting point is the Kirk’s main feed at @churchscotland and the official hashtag #ga2022. There is an official account for the Moderator of the General Assembly, @churchmoderator, but during the Assembly, we will have to see how many opportunities there will be to tweet. The church’s official publication, Life and Work, is also a good source for information on the website, on Facebook and on their Twitter feed @cofslifeandwork. In addition, there is the individual account of the editor, Lynne McNeil, at @LifeWorkEditor, who does the most comprehensive live-tweeting of the Assembly. (As always – Thank You Lynne)

In suggesting personal accounts to follow, let me start with past Moderators of the General Assembly: To lead off there is a recent Moderator, the Very Reverend Martin Fair (@wmartinfair). Others include the Very Reverend Lorna Hood who is always an interesting read at @revlornascot and has been very active the past few years with projects related to Srebrenica justice and remembrance and also serves with YouthLink Scotland. Another is the Very Reverend Derek Browning at @DerekBrowning2. I will conclude with three other former Moderators who have Twitter accounts but have not been as active recently: the Very Reverend Susan Brown (@VicarofDornach), the Very Reverend Albert Bogle at @italker and the Very Reverend Angus Morrison (@angusmorrison6).

As for others following along and Tweeting about the Assembly let me start with Paul Middleton (@ProfPMiddleton) who is present and actively tweeting. Others appearing in the Twitter feed include Doug Gay (@douggay), Sue Cord (@sue_cord),and Daren Philip (@darphilip). One interesting contributor is Daniel Scott (@ScottDdscott), the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Canada and an Ecumenical Delegate. And a commissioner is tweeting at Live Tweeting the General Assembly of the COS (@church_scotland).

Concerning the business before the Assembly there is a nice summary of each report on the Life and Work website.

With a day and a half of business completed following the formal convening Saturday morning, a number of high profile items have been decided. In the Saturday afternoon session in the Report of the Assembly Trustees some decisions related to the reform of the church and the realignment and funding of presbyteries were debated. Some of that has been put off to the Faith Nurture report tomorrow, Tuesday. In addition, in a motion from the floor the Assembly asked the Trustees to take action regarding ministers in manses who face the issue of fuel poverty for houses owned by the church and not by them. The headline report this morning was the final affirmation of the ability for Kirk ministers and churches to preform same-sex marriages. This action has been developing for several years and since the last GA the necessary changes were approved by 29 of the 41 presbyteries. The Legal Questions committee brought it back to the GA for the final action and the Assembly concurred 274 to 136.

This afternoon the Assembly, as part of the Ecumenical Relations Committee report, the Assembly overwhelmingly approved a Declaration of Friendship between The Church of Scotland and the Catholic Church in Scotland. It has been proposed and tentatively accepted by the Catholic Archbishop to call it the Saint Margaret Declaration. This report was followed by the main report of the Theological Forum who brought to the Assembly a proposal to supplement the Westminster Standards with additional subsidiary standards in a Book of Confessions. While the Scots Confession was mentioned as a possible part of the new confessional collection, the Assembly approved the next step to study what should be included in the book. The Assembly also approved the creation of resources to help the office holders and others in the Kirk understand the confessional nature of the Reformed Faith. The Theological Forum will return with another report related to Creation Care as part of the Faith Impact Report tomorrow.

As has already been mentioned, tomorrow, Tuesday, will be a day with major business for the Kirk. It has been labeled in the schedule as the “Faith Action Plan Day.” This will include more business related to the reorganization of the church, particularly at the presbytery level, as well as the social witness of the church. The Faith Nurture Forum report includes a new Code of Practice for ministers as well as adjustments to recruiting and preparation of individuals for the various forms of ministry. The Supplemental Report and actions from Saturday will deal with adjustments and corrections to the allocations of ministers to presbyteries. The Faith Impact Forum will be addressing business related to Creation Care, including getting the church to Net-Zero carbon emissions by 2030. There is also business related to refugees, including those from Ukraine, and encouraging the the UK Government to work to get COVID vaccines to areas of the world that have not gotten adequate supplies.

Further down the week Wednesday is titled “Witness and Service Day” with reports by the Chaplains, Social Care Council, the Guild, and the Safeguarding Committee among others. The GA concludes on Thursday and as it looks back and looks forward so in addition to the business traditionally transacted as the Assembly concludes, there will be a time of looking at “Life in the New Presbyteries.”

GA 2022 Logo - See, I make all things new

So here we go. It has been an interesting Assembly already and while the next few days may not grab the headlines we have had so far, the business still to come is no less important to the future of the Kirk. We watch and pray for the commissioners and all involved in the meeting.

2021 General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church In Ireland

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The General Assembly Season continues with a regular GA that has been delayed from the usual week in the Spring.

Tomorrow morning in Belfast the Presbyterian Church in Ireland will convene their 2021 General Assembly in Belfast with a worship service and the installation of the Moderator, the Right Rev David Bruce. If the name sounds familiar, he was installed as Moderator in 2020 but without an Assembly to preside over. It was the consensus of the church that he should serve a second term thus giving him the opportunity to preside over an Assembly.

The Assembly runs through Wednesday 6 June in an Assembly Hall and an overflow conference room with socially distanced seating. There will be no in-house gallery with observers.

Here is some info to help follow along:

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. Bruce tweets during GA. The official hashtag for the Assembly is #pciga21. 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).

My list of others to watch for interesting and useful updates always starts with outside reporter and insightful commentator Alan in Belfast (@alaninbelfast). 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. It is also worth watching the folks at PCIcast (@PCIcast) who do a podcast about the activities of the church. And so far David McCullagh (@wdsmccullagh) has popped up but others have been a bit quiet up to this point. I 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 the Clerk of the General Assembly, the Rev Trevor Gribben. In particular, Tuesday will be a particularly busy day and that specific preview is available as well.

A couple items coming up Tuesday are an extension, or maybe better termed “fallout”, from the 2018 Assembly. One of these is the adoption of language of membership that referred to “a credible confession of faith” for admission to the Sacraments and pastoral guidance in relation to homosexuality. This was a term that caused some confusion and was used without substantial guidance as to what it meant. A task group is bringing a report on this (found in General Council Report – Section 2) which includes two resources on these areas that have already been reviewed by the presbyteries and revised by the task force.

This Section of the General Council Report also includes a resource on Human Identity from another task group which will certainly be closely watched as well.

Another important report from a task group reporting under the General Council Report (this in Section 3) looked at how the General Assembly operates and how controversial items are handled, especially when they are so actively discussed leading up to the GA. Their report on “Decision Making and Dissent within the Presbyterian Church of Ireland” outlines some additional discussion that can occur on the Presbytery level leading up to the Assembly as well as Assembly procedures during the meeting.

To get the 10,000-meter overview you might want to check out the Executive Summary in Section 1. It is important to note that the General Council Report (in four sections) makes up almost one-half of the whole Blue Book.

There is more in the General Council Report so it should be a full day. One other item in the spotlight ahead of the Assembly is the Council on Global Mission’s report including recommendations for a “divest and engage” policy regarding fossil fuels as well as a statement about “Reviewing PCI’s Investment Policy” that talks about the importance of creation care in the how the church invests its money.

There will be lots going on in the next three days and this will be an Assembly to watch closely. Our prayers are with the commissioners and leadership of the Assembly and the church for this meeting and the year ahead.

87th General Assembly Of The Orthodox Presbyterian Church

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The 87th General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church will convene this evening, Wednesday, 7 July, at 7 PM Central Time on the campus of the Dordt University, Sioux Center, Iowa. The meeting will conclude by noon on Tuesday, 14 July. This represents the complete postponement of the 2020 Assembly.

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 see if this works 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 OPC Twitter account (@OrthodoxPC) and the OPC Home Missions account (@opchomemissions). You can also follow them on their official Facebook page. For individuals tweeting there are already a number warming up for the meeting. It seems the mantle of the lead live tweeter has been handed to Jim Stevenson (@RevJimOPC) and David Mahaffy (@davidmahaffy) is in the building as well. It is probably worth keeping an eye on the Reformed Forum (@ReformedForum) crew including Camden Bucey (@CamdenBucey) and Jim Cassidy (@jjcassidy). While Forest Braden (@fbraden8) is active he advises us his contributions will not be from on-site. And other OPC related accounts to keep an eye on include D. G. Hart’s feed (@oldlife), maybe The Daily Genevan (@TheDailyGenevan), and an autoretweeter tied to one of their denominational associations, NAPARC. A couple other possibilities include Christopher Drew (@ChristopherDrew), Zach Siggins (@zachsiggins) and David Chism (@chismville). As always I will update as the meeting progresses.

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. One tweet by Jim Stevenson does indicate that the GA “has 9 complaints on appeal and 4 appeals of judicial cases.”

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.

[Editorial note: I did not forget about the PCA GA but due to family commitments the week got away from me. I am working on a review and commentary and hope to have it posted in a few days.]

Abraham Clark Was Also There – Some Thoughts On July 4th

As Presbyterians, one of our major understandings is that we make decisions better in a group, usually in a deliberative body. All of the members of that body have equal voice and vote and need to be listened to.

While the Continental Congress of 1776 was not an ecclesiastical body, it is interesting to think of it as a similar deliberative body. There were 56 individuals that signed the Declaration of Independence. I know I can’t name more than a handful.

For American Presbyterians, the patron saint of the Declaration is John Witherspoon, the only active clergy member to sign the document. A few other Presbyterians of note might come to mind as well, like Benjamin Rush, Philip Livingston, and Richard Stockton. But by most lists, there were eight other Presbyterians that signed the Declaration of Independence at some point. (For example, George Taylor – another interesting figure – was a new appointment from Pennsylvania and had not taken his seat by July 4th but signed later.) In reading through many of the biographies it is clear that the signers were typically distinguished and public-minded individuals. In the years since a handful gained greater historical prominence.

Abraham Clark (image from the NPS website)

And so, I want to take a moment on this Independence Day weekend to mention Abraham Clark. His is not a name that readily comes to mind when thinking about the signers – at least not to me – but he was also in the room for the process. He was in that same delegation from New Jersey as Witherspoon and Stockton but does not have their historical prominence.

Abraham, and his wife Sarah, were members of the Presbyterian Church in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Sarah’s father was a ruling elder in the church and the pastor was the Rev James Caldwell, a notable figure in advocating for Independence and supporting the colonial army. It is certain that Clark when to Philadelphia as an advocate for independence in part from Caldwell’s preaching.

Professionally, Abraham began as a surveyor as he had an aptitude for math. Along the way, he taught himself law so he could help with property disputes. He was noted as the “poor man’s counselor” for his willingness to give free legal advice to those that could not afford it and generally helping out with such cases. He became active in civic affairs serving as the as high sheriff of Essex County as well as the clerk in the colonial legislature. Additional legislative positions followed including election to the Continental Congress.

During the war, Abraham remained in the Congress but two of his sons were officers in the Continental Army and were captured with at least one held on a British prison ship. While Clark did not call attention to their connection to him, it was found out by the British and one son received particularly harsh treatment until diplomatic connections protested the treatment.

He was almost constantly active in the Continental Congress up to his death in 1794, including his participation in starting to construct the new Constitution.

While a faithful Presbyterian, he had limited involvement in church governance and only in the last few years of his life did he serve as a trustee of his church.

Such is the nature of deliberative bodies. Many are there, many contribute, but while many may be prominent at the time, in the years following only a few of the individuals are really remembered. In the most famous painting of the event, John Trumbull’s Declaration of Independence in the US Capitol Rotunda, Abraham Clark is there, but barely. He is almost squeezed out by Paine and Hooper.

So on this day that we Americans remember the “Presbyterian Rebellion,” it is also worth remembering that a good deliberative body is made up of individuals, each with their own perspectives, knowledge and skills, each with voice and vote, and each one just as important and of equal worth to the others in the body.

Happy Presbyterian Rebellion Day!

Footnote: Material from William B. Miller, 1958, Presbyterian Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society, v 36, n 3, p 139-179.

41st General Assembly Of The Evangelical Presbyterian Church

The 41st General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church beginning today will be gathering at Second Presbyterian Church, in Memphis. Today, and most of Wednesday, there are workshops and classes as part of the annual Leadership Institute. Business sessions convene Wednesday afternoon, 23 June, and will continue through Friday afternoon, as needed.

Due to local capacity restrictions and COVID-19 protocols, the facility has a capacity for 400 commissioners, so the GA will be a hybrid event with both on-site and virtual participants. The Assembly will make the necessary adjustments to the Rules for Assembly to facilitate the arrangement.

The Assembly meeting will be live-streamed on the web and through the General Assembly app. This will include not just the business sessions but the plenary talks of the Leadership Institute.

There is a lot of information online, most linked through the Documents page and the GA 2021 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 (#epc2021ga) has sprung to life. There are other official but inactive Twitter accounts for EPC Student Ministries (@EPCStudentMin), EPC World Outreach (@EPCWO) and the Stated Clerk Jeff Jeremiah (@Jeff_Jeremiah ) so not much to follow there.

As for individuals, based on the lead-up to the GA we can expect coverage from Zach Hopkins (@Zhop59) and Joey Sherrard (@jhsherrard) has checked in as well. There is also activity from a former Moderator Case Thorp (@casethorp) and my friend Brandon Queen (@BQPhotos). There is an account from the host church that might provide helpful information (@2pcmemphis). And maybe we will see a bit more color and correction from Decent & In Order (@Decent_Orderly) although he has been quiet since the last EPC GA. I will update you here as the meeting progresses.

The theme of the Assembly is “God Will Restore,” based on Joel 2:25-27. The theme will be reflected in the worship services throughout the meetings.

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 Mid-Atlantic that it be divided into three new presbyteries. Another is a report by the Theology Committee that addresses the definition and meaning of the terms “connectional” and “connectionalism.” The report concludes with this statement:

“Perhaps the best definition of connectionalism in the EPC can be found in Book of Government 5-6A. In this section, any church seeking entry into the EPC must affirm that ‘[T]he congregation and its governing body have concurred in the request, and have agreed to walk together as a church, based upon the faith and government of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, to be faithful to one another, to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, to the support of the whole Church, to be obedient to the order and doctrines of our faith, submitting themselves to the government and discipline of the Church, and promising to promote its purity and peace‘ [emphasis added].”

It will be an interesting week and we wish the EPC commissioners well and we will be lifting them up in our prayers as they meet.

146th General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church In Canada

It is now the month of June and the General Assembly Season is about to get busy. First up, the 2021 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada is underway. It convened yesterday with worship and the installation of their new Moderator. And it is being held online this year after being canceled last year.

The meeting will continue through Wednesday 9 June 2021.

A few things to know to help follow along:

The theme for the meeting is “Do Not Fear, I Am With You”.

The Assembly can be followed on social media through the PCConnect Facebook page and through their official Twitter feed @PCConnect. The hastag for the meeting is #pccga2021. And maybe there will be pictures on the PC Connect Flickr feed although an online Assembly is not as photogenic as an in-person one.

The Twitter traffic is fairly light so far, but a bit of traffic including from Daniel Scott the new Moderator (@ScottDdscott). In addition, his congregation St John’s Bradford West Gwillimbury (@StJohnsBWG) and his son Jonathan Scott (@J_Scott_) have been tweeting. Pleased to see that another GA veteran John Borthwick (@jborthwik) is tweeting. And some commenting from Kristine O’Brian (@bloomingrev) and John Borthwick’s congregation St. Andrew’s Guelph (@standrewsguelph).

Over the last few years, the continuing discussion has been on human sexuality and what path the church is going to take. The process towards inclusion has been moving forward and there has been a team crisscrossing the country that has been listening to stories from those in the church. They will be reporting and it is anticipated that apologies will be adopted.

In related actions, the Bills and Overtures committee reports there are 30 overtures related to Gracious DIsmissal from churches concerned with the direction of the denomination. The recommendation from Bills and Overtures is that they be referred to the Assembly Council, in consultation with the Clerks of Assembly.

The other topic which is currently in the news is the history of the residential schools some of which were run by the Presbyterian Church. The Assembly will include times of apology and lament for that history.

So prayers and best wishes for the members of the 146th General Assembly and as they address issues so difficult, but so important to the future witness of the church. May you indeed be guided by the Holy Spirit in these substantive matters of witness and ministry.

Church of Scotland General Assembly 2021

It is General Assembly week in Edinburgh.. well, sort of in Edinburgh.

A few hours from now, on Saturday morning 22 May the 2021 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland will convene in Edinburgh and around the world virtually. The meeting will be “blended” with some activity in the Assembly Hall, primarily with the major players, and most of the commissioners attending online.

That being said, the meeting is no less significant as there are a couple of major items of business before the Assembly this year.

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If you are interested in keeping track of the business and activities this year, here are the starting points:

What we all want to know of course is how to follow along on social media and there will be no lack of that. You can begin with the Church of Scotland’s official Facebook page. There is also the Kirk’s Instagram feed and YouTube channel.

On Twitter, the starting point is the Kirk’s main feed at @churchscotland and the official hashtag #ga2021. (And be alert – there is an event called Gamers Assembly that is using the same hashtag so don’t be surprised at the first-person shooter video(s)) There is an official account for the Moderator of the General Assembly, @churchmoderator, but during the Assembly, we will have to see how many opportunities there will be to tweet. The church’s official publication, Life and Work, is also a good source for information on the website, on Facebook and on their Twitter feed @cofslifeandwork. In addition, there is the individual account of the editor, Lynne McNeil, at @LifeWorkEditor, who does the most comprehensive live-tweeting of the Assembly.

In suggesting personal accounts to follow, let me start with past Moderators of the General Assembly: To lead off there is the current Moderator who will shortly be the Very Reverend Martin Fair (@wmartinfair). Others include the Very Reverend Susan Brown (@VicarofDornach) as well as the Very Reverend Lorna Hood who is always an interesting read at @revlornascot and has been very active the past few years with projects related to Srebrenica justice and remembrance and also serves with YouthLink Scotland. Another is the Very Reverend Derek Browning at @DerekBrowning2. I will conclude with two other former Moderators who have Twitter accounts but have not been as active recently: the Very Reverend Albert Bogle at @italker and the Very Reverend Angus Morrison (@angusmorrison6).

As for others following along and Tweeting about the Assembly let me start with two of my regular recommendations, Peter Nimmo (@peternimmo1) and Doug Gay (@douggay). To that, I would add Paul Middleton (@ProfPMiddleton) and Daren Philip (@darphilip). Finally, for the moment, I will add Sue Cord (@sue_cord), Alistair May (@alistairmay), and Susan Pym (@susan_pym).

I should also note that this year the Queen’s representative to the Assembly, the Lord High Commissioner, is a member of the Royal Family and the first grandchild to hold the position – Prince William the Earl of Strathearn (his Scottish title). There is coverage of the appointment from the Church of Scotland and the Royal Family. He will be attending in person and addressing the Assembly from the Assembly Hall. He will also be undertaking the traditional tour of Scotland. No stranger to the area, he is a graduate of St. Andrews University. You can follow his work on the official Twitter account at @KensingtonRoyal and the account has already been covering his activities in Scotland.

Concerning the business before the Assembly there is a nice summary of each report on the Life and Work website. In addition, each of the conveners has recorded their speech for streaming during the Assembly.

And once again, Scott Paget is doing some heavy lifting for us. He has his series of posts on his blog Reading the Blue Book, now the 2021 edition.  He breaks down reports from the Blue Book individually with his comments. You can follow him on Twitter at @smpaget.

The challenge of how to reform the church to remain viable for the future has been an ongoing issue for the Kirk, especially over the last three years. One of the pieces of this has been the Special Commission on the Effectiveness of the Presbyterian Form of Church Government. As part of the restructuring of the Church of Scotland, they will be presenting their final report. It has discussion points regarding the local churches, presbyteries, and the national organization and the deliverance asks that the questions be sent out to all of them for discussion and feedback. There are no proposed changes to the form of government at this time, but a couple of interesting sections of the report:

[T]he Special Commission made a conscious decision not to undertake a detailed comparison of other ecclesial governance models. Contact with and experience of other forms of church government has shown that what is true of Presbyterianism is true of other ecclesiologies. All systems have strengths and weaknesses. Depending on the actions, attitudes and competencies of the people who work within them, all can foster innovation and creativity, and all can equally be prey to inertia and caution. Our task is not to reshape the Church of Scotland into the
likeness of another denomination.

Section 1.33

And the conclusion of the introduction:

The Special Commission wonders if a continuing preoccupation with fixing structures will detract from the work of mission and of being the Church in our communities, nation and world. Whether we tinker with our structures or take much more radical action, the ultimate proof of our effectiveness is not in the machinery of our governance (though to ignore that machinery entirely would be a mistake; we need structures that work). The ultimate proof of our effectiveness is the depth of our personal and corporate devotion to God, the provision of regular opportunity for meaningful worship and the promotion and supporting of mission, provided by local congregations, regional bodies, and the national Church. Our focus has to take into account the ‘what’ of our governance; but this must not take away from the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of what it means for us to be people of ‘The Way’ in the twenty-first century.

Section 1.38

The Special Commission report is scheduled for the first half of Monday afternoon.

Another report related to the restructuring is that of the General Trustees who are looking at the future of the church’s land and buildings. In one line it says ‘there can no longer be an assumption that any building can survive without a critical assessment of its contribution to the future mission of the Church’. Similarly, the report of the Assembly Business Committee talks about their work to streamline the General Assembly and they are proposing a change to reduce the number of commissioners to the Assembly, an action which must be approved by the presbyteries under the Barrier Act. The Assembly Business Committee reports on Saturday morning and the General Trustees on Thursday afternoon.

In one of the more closely watched business items the Legal Questions Committee is bringing an action, requiring presbytery concurrence, to permit a Minister of Word and Sacrament or a Deacon to apply to be authorized to officiate a same-sex marriage. (Polity note: for American readers the office of Deacon, while carrying the same description of one of caring and tending the flock, is a professional position like the position of pastor.) On another note, they outline their work on rewriting the polity of the church courts (i.e. governing bodies or judicatories) and give notice they will bring new material next year. The Legal Questions Committee is scheduled to report on Monday afternoon.

Finally, one of the items I have been keeping an eye on is the report of the Theological Forum. Three years ago there was an overture to examine the place of the Westminster Confession of Faith and the possibility of other subsidiary standards. The Forum put together a workshop on the topic and the papers were published in Theology in Scotland. This interim report presents discussion questions about options presented in the report for the church to give feedback to the Forum. They are scheduled to give their report on Tuesday afternoon.

So here we go. It will be an interesting week and among the questions the Assembly Business Committee is bringing is whether the use of videoconference technology should be used regularly for General Assemblies. We will see how this year goes.

So stay tuned…

General Assembly Season 2021

Celtic cross logo

May 1st is my official starting point for General Assembly Season and while I try to have this posted by then some commitments in other areas of my life made that difficult. At this point, as we continue through the GA Season my teaching responsibilities will be trailing off and I hope to be tracking everything more closely.

Looking at this GA season, for the meetings that we have good information on there is a mix of in-person, hybrid, and online meetings. It will be interesting to see how these all go.

So this is the line-up for General Assembly Season as I know it now. Please let me know if I have missed an announcement or a presbyterian branch.

PCT Logo

66th General Assembly
Presbyterian Church in Taiwan
Taipei
20-22 April 2021



Presbyterian Church of Trinidad and Tobago logo

61st Synod Annual General Meeting
Presbyterian Church of Trinidad and Tobago
Hybrid
22-24 April 2021



Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australian logo

Synod
The Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia
Hunter PCEA, Cardiff, NSW
5-7 May 2021



Korean Presbyterian Church Abroad logo


45th General Assembly
Korean Presbyterian Church Abroad
Hybrid, based at Atlanta Vision Church
11 May 2021




Presbyterian Church of Tasmania logo


General Assembly
Presbyterian Church of Tasmania
11 May 2021



Covenant Presbyterian Church logo

General Assembly & Family Camp
Covenant Presbyterian Church
Divide, Colorado
12-15 May 2021



Presbyterian Church of Malaysia logo


47th General Assembly
Christian Presbyterian Church of Malaysia
13-14 May 2021


Free Church of Scotland logo

General Assembly
Free Church of Scotland
17-19 May 2021
Videoconference


Korean-American Presbyterian Church of the Americas logo

45th General Assembly
Korean-American Presbyterian Church of the Americas
18-19 May 2021
Videoconference from World Hope Presbyterian Church, Los Angeles



Church of Scotland seal

General Assembly
Church of Scotland
22-27 May 2021
Blended, from the Assembly Hall, Edinburgh




Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) logo

General Assembly
Free Church of Scotland (Continuing)
24-26 May 2021
Videoconference


General Assembly
United Free Church of Scotland
26-28 May 2021
Hybrid
Milngavie United Free Church
Glasgow


146th General Assembly
Presbyterian Church in Canada
6-9 June 2021
Videoconference


Synod 2021
Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland
7-9 June 2021
Videoconference


217th Stated Meeting of the General Synod
Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church
8-10 June 2021
First Presbyterian Church
Columbia, South Carolina




2021 Synod
Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America
14-17 June 2021
Indiana Wesleyan University
Marion, Indiana



General Assembly
Presbyterian Church of Queensland
Including the Presbytery of South Australia
21-24 June 2021
Living Church, Carina


41st General Assembly
Evangelical Presbyterian Church
22-25 June 2021
Second Presbyterian Church
Memphis


145th General Assembly
Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America
27 June – 2 July 2021
Louisville, Kentucky
Concurrent with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church


190th General Assembly
Cumberland Presbyterian Church
27 June – 2 July 2021
Louisville, Kentucky
Concurrent with Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America



48th General Assembly
Presbyterian Church in America
28 June -2 June 2021
St. Louis


N.S.W. State Assembly
Presbyterian Church of Australia
in the State of New South Wales

5 July 2021 (begins)
Hybrid, from Presbyterian Ladies’ College
Croydon, N.S.W.


87th General Assembly
Orthodox Presbyterian Church
7-14 July 2021
Dordt University
Sioux Center, Iowa


General Assembly
United Reformed Church (UK)
9-12 July 2021
Online
Included as the successor to the English Presbyterian Church



Reformed Presbyterian International Conference
20-16 July 2021
Marion, Indiana
Rescheduled from 2020, Canceled. Next in 2024




84th General Synod
Bible Presbyterian Church
5-9 August 2021
Grace Presbyterian Church, Cape Canaveral, FL


General Assembly
Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand
29 September -3 October 2021
St. Andrews College
Christchurch
(biennial – but rescheduled from 2020)


General Assembly
Presbyterian Church of Victoria
4 – 7 October 2021



112th General Assembly
Presbyterian Church in Western Australia
29 October 2021 (begins)
St. Columba’s Church, Peppermint Grove




Presbyterian Church in Ireland logo


General Assembly
Presbyterian Church in Ireland
TBA


Other Branches
Traditionally I have listed only those branches with annual meetings described as synod or general assembly meetings. There are a number of branches with a single judicatory that form themselves as presbyteries. Some of these meet annually, some meet multiple times throughout the year. For information purposes, I am including a list here of some of those branches which I will update regularly as I track Presbyterian dynamics.

So that’s the list I am tracking at the moment. I will update as appropriate. If I have missed one, or have information wrong or incomplete, please provide the appropriate information and I will update the list.

I will again reference the series of articles I wrote as an introduction to Presbyterian General Assemblies nine years ago. My GA 101 series consists of the following

GA101: Preface
GA101: Introduction – Why in the world would anybody want to do it this way?
GA101: Connectionalism – The Presbyterian Big Picture
GA101: The Cast of Characters – A score card to identify the players
GA101: The Moderator – All Things In Moderation
GA101: Where does the GA business come from? – Incoming!
GA101: Doing the business of GA — Decently and in Order

So GA Junkies, this season continues to be a bit different with all combinations of in-person, hybrid or blended, and online meetings.

And it is nice to be back to a full GA season, even if this one is still a bit different. And as I know some denominations found, in finding alternate meeting styles last year the GA season my have been permanently changed. More on that later.

So stay decent and in order my friends.


Remembering The Saints 2020

For all the saints, who from their labours rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

It is another All Saints Day. As is my custom on this Day, I pause and give thanks – both privately and here on the blog – for those that I knew who were spiritual influences (small or large) for me and who passed from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant in the past 12 months.

Recent years have not been easy ones, and a month ago – as I note at the end – this became a very difficult year.

Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress and their Might;
Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

This year I remember and give thanks for the lives of:

  • Marge – One of those faithful, quiet workers, seldom out in front but frequently back behind
  • Ruth – A musician, and hard-working mother and wife
  • Jake – A hardworking and creative pastor who is gone far too soon
  • Dane – A talented pastor with a rich legacy and long history. A very close friend of our family who helped officiate three weddings, two infant baptisms (including mine), and a funeral. He ended up in academia and found that a good location for creative ministry.
  • Judy – A delightful and joyful soul who did not let infirmity get in the way of her joy or her small acts of ministry
  • Jane – Maybe the quietest of workers, but one of the most faithful and diligent
  • Ann – She had a very interesting and rich life, and was one of the warmest and most confident believers. She certainly had the gift of hospitality
  • Gerry – One of the quiet workers whose faith showed through in her way of life
  • Pete – A character with a rich life and many stories. His faith was evident in the many conversations I would have with him.
  • Larry – A pastor in many settings who led a rich and faithful life. The cognitive abilities he was painfully deprived of at the end of life have now been restored in his new life with Christ
  • Gordon – Another character who led a rich life and had many stories. His years were filled with community service and a life of church ministry.

O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

The last person on the list is my father Lowell “Ozzie” Salyards. He was a Presbyterian’s Presbyterian and his enthusiasm may contribute to this crazy stuff I am doing today. He was a ruling elder, a deacon, and served as a trustee for the church. We had a lot of discussions around church polity and theology. On some matters, we did not agree, but we knew within the framework of the Book of Order and the Confessions where each other stood.

He served in community organizations and supported all of us kids in our various endeavers. Professionally he was an analytical chemist and if you used Kodak slide film he spent years leading company groups perfecting the process to develop it. Spending much of the last month cleaning out his apartment was difficult and made more so by the distraction of a large number of items of Presbyterian history I found that he had been associated with. (I hope to post some of that in the coming months.) But one of his greatest examples to us kids was caring for mother in her decade-long battle with cancer. It truly was “To be thy loving and faithful husband; … In sickness and in health; As long as we both shall live.”

The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest;
Sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

As they have joined the mighty cloud of witnesses my life has been enriched by knowing and serving with each one of them. Well done good and faithful servants.

But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of glory passes on His way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
Singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!


[Editor’s note: In case it has not been obvious from the note above, there have been many demands on my life over the last couple of months. While I regret missing multiple Assembly and Synod meetings in that time, the need to put energies elsewhere has been unavoidable. But Presbyterianism goes on and over the next couple of months I will be working to get caught up on at least some of it. Thank you for your patience.]