How Things Work in our Denomination
(The following is a summary of this year’s national meeting of the PCA written by Rev. Dr. Ben Shaw).
River Oaks Church (local) is part of the Central Florida Presbytery (of over 20 churches), which is, in turn, part of the national organization known as the General Assembly.
The PCA General Assembly functions very much like the US government, in that it has three branches—executive, judicial and legislative.
The executive branch consists of the Stated Clerk and the committees and agencies of the denomination.
- The committees are: Administrative Committee, Committee on Discipleship Ministries, Committee on Mission to North America, Committee on Mission to the World, and Committee on Reformed University Fellowship.
- The agencies are: PCA Foundation, PCA Retirement & Benefits (now Geneva Benefits Group), Covenant College, Covenant Theological Seminary, Ridge Haven Conference Center
The denomination carries out its work through these committees and agencies.
The judicial branch is the Standing Judicial Commission. It rules on cases that have come up to it through the lower courts. This year the SJC pronounced on five cases. The full report will appear in the minutes of the GA when they become available later this summer.
The legislative branch is the General Assembly itself. Every year the committees and agencies of the PCA submit reports of the past year’s activities and proposals for the year ahead. These reports are reviewed by committees of commissioners (CoCs). These CoCs then recommend approval to the GA as a whole, sometimes with amendments to the proposals. In addition, the GA considers overtures proposed by presbyteries (and sometimes local sessions).
These overtures can be considered the equivalent of legislative bills. These overtures may propose, among other things, changes to the BCO, changes in presbytery boundaries, statements on current issues, etc. The overtures are all reviewed by the Overtures Committee (OC), which will then bring them to the Assembly, usually with amendments or changes. In addition, the OC will recommend to the Assembly whether to approve the overture. If the overture proposes a change to the BCO, there is a three-step process to bring that change into effect. The overture must have majority approval when it is first submitted. Then it must be approved by 2/3 of the presbyteries. It then must receive majority approval at the following GA. A failure at any of these points kills the proposed change. Any changes to the BCO proposed at one year’s GA cannot go into effect until the next year’s GA.
2022 General Assembly
The most significant overtures approved at this year’s GA (a full listing can be found here: https://byfaithonline.com/byfaith-report-actions-of-the-49th-pca-general-assembly/):
Overtures 15, 29, and 31, which all deal with how the PCA should deal with men with same-sex attraction who seek ordination in the PCA. The language that was approved in each case is:
- Overture 15: BCO 7-4 “Men who describe themselves as homosexual, even those who describe themselves as homosexual and claim to practice celibacy by refraining from homosexual conduct, are disqualified from holding office in the Presbyterian Church in America.”
- Overture 29: BCO 16-4 “Officers in the Presbyterian Church in America must be above reproach in their walk and Christlike in their character. While office bearers will see spiritual perfection only in glory, they will continue in this life to confess and to mortify remaining sins in light of God’s work of progressive sanctification. Therefore, to be qualified for office, they must affirm the sinfulness of fallen desires, the reality and hope of progressive sanctification, and be committed to the pursuit of Spirit-empowered victory over their sinful temptations, inclinations, and actions.”
- Overture 31: 21-4. “Ordination Requirements and Procedures. In the examination of the candidate’s personal character, the presbytery shall give specific attention to potential notorious concerns. Careful attention must be given to his practical struggle against sinful actions, as well as to persistent sinful desires. The candidate must give clear testimony of reliance upon his union with Christ and the benefits thereof by the Holy Spirit, depending on this work of grace to make progress over sin (Psalm 103:2-5, Romans 8:29) and to bear fruit (Psalm 1:3, Gal. 5:22-23). While imperfection will remain, when confessing sins and sinful temptations publicly, the candidate must exercise great care not to diminish the seriousness of those sins in the eyes of the congregation, as though they were matters of little consequence, but rather should testify to the work of the Holy Spirit in his progress in holiness (1 Cor. 6:9-11).”
Overture 13 petitioned the US government to end abortion. This overture included the following language: “We who love our nation, in the name of God who alone is sovereign, call upon you to renounce the sin of abortion, to repent of the complicity in the mass slaughter of innocent unborn children, who are persons in the sight of God, and to reverse the ruinous direction of both law and practice in this area.”
In addition, the GA voted to withdraw from the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) of which the PCA had been a member since 1986. The rationale for the withdrawal was two-fold: the PCA is capable of making its own statement on issues of public concern, and the NAE in some of recent pronouncements appears to be moving in a direction that does not fit with our Confession of Faith.
The GA also received the report of the Ad Interim (temporary) Committee on Domestic Abuse and Sexual Assault. Links to the full report can be found here: https://byfaithonline.com/byfaith-report-actions-of-the-49th-pca-general-assembly/. Though this report does not become part of the constitution of the PCA, it is a useful source of information and recommendations on the issues.
Other items and a fuller discussion appear at the By Faith link above.
Definition of Key Terms to Understand Presbyterianism
BCO: Book of Church Order, the book of regulations by which the PCA runs. (Read)
Church courts: Session, Presbytery, and GA.
Commissioner: A Ruling Elder or Teaching Elder who is attending GA.
Committee: A body selected from the whole that investigates and reports to the main body.
Commission: A body selected from the whole that acts on behalf of the whole.
Constitution of the PCA: “The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in America, which is subject to and subordinate to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, the inerrant Word of God, consists of its doctrinal standards set forth in the Westminster Confession of Faith, together with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, and the Book of Church Order, comprising the Form of Government, the Rules of Discipline and the Directory for Worship; all as adopted by the Church.” (BCO Preface.III)
General Assembly (GA): The ruling body of the denomination, made up of teaching and ruling elders. Theoretically, more than 8,000 elders could attend GA. This year, the attendance was 1,634 teaching elders (TEs) and 751 ruling elders (REs), total 2,385. (BCO 14)
Presbytery: The ruling body overseeing the local churches in a specified geographical area. (BCO 13)
RAO: Rules of Assembly Operations, the book of regulations that governs the running of the Assembly itself. (Read)
Session: The ruling body of a local church, made up of teaching and ruling elders. (BCO 12)
