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.]

The 86th General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church will convene this evening, Wednesday, 5 June, at 7 PM Central Time on the campus of the University of Texas in Richardson (Dallas), Texas. The meeting will conclude by noon on Tuesday, 11 June.

[UPDATE 2: The running daily updates are there now!] 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 watch this page 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 brand new OPC Twitter account (@OrthodoxPC) with all of two tweets, both from yesterday. You can also follow them on their official Facebook page. In addition, the OPC Home Missions (@opchomemissions) has an active feed. From here, I’ll just list the usual suspects and update once things get rolling.  The list would include Christopher Drew (@ChristopherDrew), and it is probably worth keeping an eye on the Reformed Forum (@ReformedForum) crew including Camden Bucey (@CamdenBucey) and Jim Cassidy (@jjcassidy). Early Twitter action suggests Forest Braden (@fbraden8) and Chris Dickason (@Cad_lib) will be tweeting. In addition, we might see comments on D. G. Hart’s feed (@oldlife), maybe The Daily Genevan (@TheDailyGenevan), and an autoretweeter tied to one of their denominational associations, NAPARC. UPDATE: After a day of business, I would add Jim Stevenson (@RevJimOPC) and Sean G. Morris (@mrseangmorris) to the follow list.

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.

And in light of recent developments, it should be mentioned that one topic that will be on many people’s minds is the April shooting at the Chabad Synagogue outside San Diego. If you are not aware, the shooter was a member of the nearby Escondido Orthodox Presbyterian Church. The OPC released a statement on the shooting. A response piece by OPC pastor and college professor Carl Trueman, “Who’s to blame when the shooter is one of our own?” got some wide distribution, and there are other related pieces from D. G. Hart, and Shane Anderson on the Daily Genevan.

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.

The 84th General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church will convene today, Wednesday, 31 May, in just a couple hours at Trinity Christian College, Palos Heights, Illinois. The meeting will conclude no later than noon next Tuesday, 6 June.

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 expecting the tradition to continue watch this page when the assembly gets under way.

The agenda and reports are not posted on-line 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 and it is possible that last year’s report on Republication might be the topic of some additional discussion this year.

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 let me list the usual suspects and update once things get rolling.  The list would include Ryan Cook (@ryanlawdawg), “Toad” (@oldprinceton), and Rachel Stevenson (@whatshewrote). It is probably worth keeping an eye on D. G. Hart’s feed (@oldlife), maybe The Daily Genevan (@TheDailyGenevan) will have more, and @chortlesweakly has been commenting in the lead-up to the meeting. Will also include one of their denominational associations, NAPARC.

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. I would simply pass along the blog post from Rev. Todd Smith at Faith Bible OPC, Brick, NJ, who mentions two items for his congregation to pray about. The first is a number of judicial cases and appeals that the Assembly will have to render judgement upon this week. As that is done in closed session we can expect to hear almost nothing further on that. The second is a concern for a denomination that they are in fraternal relations with which is considering changes to their ordination standards to include the ordination of women. I suspect we will hear more of that as the week progresses.

So 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.

The 83rd General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church got under way this past Wednesday, 8 June, at Sandy Cove Conference Center in North East, Maryland. The meeting will conclude no later than noon next Tuesday, 14 June.

This GA does not have live streaming but we have the next best thing: There is a tradition of very well done running daily reports for the OPC GA and the tradition continues this year so please follow along on the Running Report Page.

The agenda and reports are not posted on-line but you can access the Book of Church Order and the Standing Rules and Instructions of GA if you need background material.

The OPC has elected to keep a prepetual hashtag for their meeting (no sticking a year or GA number in there) so it is once again #OPCGA. And with the meeting off and running it is a fairly well used hashtag at that. First, Shane D. Anderson (@Shane_A7) has a very nice thread of Twitter updates going for the meeting. This is complimented nicely by, shall I say color commentary, by Ryan Cook (@ryanlawdawg), “Toad” (@oldprinceton), and Rachel Stevenson (@whatshewrote). (It is worth noting that Rachel has also posted a great article about the GA on her blog The Classy Counterculturalist and it is worth watching for more.)

A number of interesting items of business have already been transacted. To begin the business following opening worship, Ruling Elder Paul Tavares from Covenant OPC in Grove City, PA was nominated and elected the Moderator of the Assembly. The Assembly approved an overture to have the Committee on Christian Education study the possibility of producing a modern English study version of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. The Assembly also approved the contents of a new edition of the Trinity Psalter Hymnal and if it receives the approval of their partner, the United Reformed Churches of North America, in a couple weeks time it will begin production. In addition, the Assembly is marking the 80th anniversary of the founding of the denomination in a number of different ways.

So 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.