This year’s General Assembly (GA) marked the 50^th anniversary of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), and, fittingly, it was less contentious in comparison with those of the past few years.  The overall spirit of this year’s GA was upbeat, despite the shadows of the past couple months created by the shootings in March at The Covenant School in Nashville (which is affiliated with Covenant Presbyterian Church, a PCA church) and the deaths in May of leading PCA pastors Tim Keller, Harry Reeder, and Steve Smallman.

A Jubilee Anniversary

One of the overtures (O.28) passed this year was a republication of the PCA’s “Message to All Nations,” which was the initial declaration of the PCA at its founding and definitely worth a read.  That said, while a 50^th anniversary is definitely worth celebrating, I do have to say at the outset that it was hard for me to get behind rhetoric from some quarters (latched onto by vendors in the Exhibit Hall) to talk in optimistic terms about “the next 50 years” for the PCA.  To be sure, I admit that this may be due to my inherently pessimistic nature, but part of it is also a reflection of the reality that, as Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho wrote, “The future belongs to God, and it is only He who reveals it, under extraordinary circumstances.”  We do not know if the PCA will even exist in 50 years, let alone that it will be thriving then.  The example of the mainline Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) should be a sobering one for us.

Consider that in 1973, when the PCA was formed, the northern PCUSA and the southern Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS) had a combined membership of 3.72 million people; those two denominations would formally merge together in 1983.  Although membership in both the PCUSA and the PCUS had been declining somewhat since 1966, an observer at the time probably would still have been optimistic about the future for them.  By the time of their union in 1983, the PCUSA was one of the leading mainline denominations in the United States, had already absorbed some of the smaller Presbyterian denominations in a series of church mergers, had changed its doctrinal standards to be more attractive to modern culture, and could boast of having had members in influential places, including presidents like Dwight Eisenhower.  The title of Presbyterian historian Lefferts Loetscher’s 1954 book, The Broadening Church, captured the vector of the church in the 1950s and 1960s.  Today, however, the membership of the PCUSA is now 1.14 million, a decline of about 31 percent.  In fact, the PCUSA has declined every year since 1966 and since 2012 that decline has accelerated to an average of at least 5 percent a year.  The PCUSA is badly hemorrhaging.

By contrast, when it started in 1973 the PCA had about 41,000 members; few people at that time would have put any optimistic bets on the PCA’s future.  Fifty years later, the PCA has increased to nearly 400,000 members, and—in contrast to the PCUSA and other mainline denominations, continues to grow—albeit only slightly in the past few years because of the pandemic.  For the PCA, that is something certainly worth praising our Lord for.  The PCA’s motto is “to be faithful to the Scriptures, true to the Reformed tradition, and obedient to the Great Commission,” and while the Lord is ultimately the One who has brought this about this growth, I do think He has honored the PCA’s commitment in this regard.  If the PCA is to have a future, let alone a blessed future, then it needs to hold fast to the Lord in maintaining faithful adherence to this commitment in the future.

Bringing Some Closure the Sexuality Issue

Since 2018, the issue of same sex attraction has been the dominating topic of General Assemblies, spurred by Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Louis hosting the Revoice conference there that year.  Revoice purported to support Christians who identify as same sex attracted but want to be celibate (“Side B gay Christianity”), in contradistinction to Christians who do not believe that homosexuality is sinful or incompatible with the Bible, who openly identify as LGBT+ oriented and who engage in homosexual behavior (“Side A gay Christianity”).  In practice, the line between Side B and Side A was always vague, since both accepted same sex sexual orientation as de facto immutable and both either heavily qualify or outright reject biblical testimony on the issue.  Both positions are contrary to the historic biblical position, namely, that homosexuality is a sin in both thought and deed and that there can be progress in the Christian’s life in mortifying such sin through our relational union with Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and His sanctifying work.  As the debate has been carried out, it has gone beyond merely articulating the biblical ethic on sexuality to include issues of how Christians ought to identify themselves (i.e., whether primarily through their union with Christ or by identification with their sin), the necessity and efficacy of sanctification in the believer’s life, and the purity expected of ministers of the Gospel as well.

This issue was present at the 50^th GA, although I think that the intensity of the controversy has probably peaked for a variety of reasons.  Most obviously, Memorial Presbyterian Church and its pastor, Teaching Elder (TE) Greg Johnson, left the PCA late last year, thus removing the lightning rod for criticism.  Even before that, however, other actions by Memorial and Johnson were increasingly alienating even their defenders within the PCA.  In addition to their departure, there was the failure of Overture 15 in the presbyteries.  The 49^th GA passed Overture 15, which would have changed the PCA’s Book of Church Order (BCO) to disqualify any pastor or church officer from holding office if they identified themselves as gay or even as gay celibates (as Greg Johnson had done).  That particular overture was the most direct statement on the issue to that point.  Because the BCO is the denomination’s constitution, changing it requires a high threshold: a resolution would need to first pass the General Assembly by a majority vote, be approved in two-thirds of all the presbyteries, and then be re-passed by the General Assembly.  While Overture 15 was accepted by a majority of presbyteries it did not reach the two-thirds threshold, thus effectively failing.  Lest anyone think that the failure of Overture 15 is a sign that the denomination is going wobbly on biblical teaching about sexuality, it is worth recounting for a moment the steps the PCA has taken over the last five years to affirm biblical sexuality:

1. In 2018, the GA elevated Chapter 59 of the BCO on “The Solemnization of Marriage” to have full constitutional authority and stipulated that PCA ministers can only perform marriages between a man and woman.  As I noted in my GA readout last year, this was to give clear guidance to PCA military chaplains and others, given the legalization of same sex marriage following the US Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell decision.
2. In 2019, the GA commended the Nashville Statement, drafted by the evangelical Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, to be a biblically faithful statement on sexuality; this included a section denying that homosexuality and transgenderism are consistent with God’s purposes.  That same year, the GA authorized a study committee on human sexuality which produced a thoroughly researched, carefully nuanced, and overwhelmingly well-received report in 2021, which has since become the PCA’s definitive statement on the topic.
3. In 2021 and 2022, the GA has wrestled with how to apply these standards to ministerial and other officer candidates.  It is important to be clear as to what the PCA is and is not trying to do.  While PCA has come out strongly in favor of the orthodox formulation of biblical sexuality morality, it is not excluding people who may struggle with same sex orientation; such individuals, like all of us, are sinners in need of the Gospel.  What it is trying to do is hold its officers to a higher standard of moral and sexual purity and affirm that the Gospel and the inward work of the Holy Spirit can and does free people from besetting sin.

The sexuality-related overtures in 2021 tried to both establish a requirement that presbyteries and sessions examine the moral character of ministerial and officer candidates and singled out same sex attraction as a disqualifying criterion.  Although these overtures passed General Assembly, they failed in presbyteries, partly because of language issues in how they were worded and partly because they singled out sexual sins more so than other moral failings.  In 2022, the sexuality-related overtures which the General Assembly passed tried to separate out these different elements, with Overtures 29 and 31 focusing on the need for examining the moral character of candidates and Overture 15 focused on same sex attraction as a disqualifying criterion.  The former two passed the presbyteries (and have subsequently become constitutional thanks to this year’s GA), while the latter did not. 

This year there were five overtures related to ministerial and officer qualifications, all aimed at succeeding where last year’s Overture 15 failed.  Like Overture 15 of 2022, four of those overtures (O.9, O.16, O.17, O.24) focused on same sex attraction as a disqualifying factor.  One overture, Overture 23, took a different approach, focusing on chastity and sexual purity as a qualifying requirement for office.  The operative section reads as follows (underlining indicates language to be added to the existing BCO:

8-2. He that fills this office should possess a competency of human learning and be blameless in life, sound in the faith and apt to teach. He should exhibit a sobriety and holiness of life becoming the Gospel.  He should conform to the biblical requirement of chastity and sexual purity in his descriptions of himself, and in his convictions, character, and conduct. He should rule his own house well and should have a good report of them that are outside the Church.

A parallel change is made in BCO 9-3 regarding diaconal candidates.  The Overtures Committee recommended that all the other overtures related to officer qualifications and sexuality be answered in reference to this Overture, as amended, and that passed GA overwhelmingly (1673 in favor, 223 opposed, and 15 abstaining).  I think there is a strong likelihood that this may make it through the presbyteries, given its more positive formulation, its simplicity, and the fact that it is broader than just zeroing in on same sex attraction.  If it does pass the presbyteries, then I assess that that is probably going to be as far as the PCA will go on this issue.  Still, what has been accomplished is not inconsequential.  While the process has been long, the PCA has shown a clear biblical witness on this issue: it has affirmed same sex attraction as a sin, put forward pastoral guidance in how to address this with those wrestling with this issue, established requirements for the moral examination of officer candidates, and set a higher bar for them in terms of moral qualifications.  To my thinking, that is pretty thorough.

Trying to Improve Judicial Procedures

Although the sexuality-related issues have typically received more attention in the PCA, a plurality of this year’s overtures (O.8, O.10, O.11, O.13, O.14, O.21, O.25, and O.27) were aimed at trying to amend judicial procedures in the BCO.  Such changes are typically complex and thus, unsurprisingly, got little traction at GA.  Two overtures (O.8 and O.25) were referred back to presbyteries for further work and all others were voted down, save one overture (O.27), which aimed at bringing clarity to the integrity, accuracy, and sufficiency of voluntary confessions offered to church courts.

Two overtures (O.13 and O.41 from 2021 referred to this GA) proposed amending BCO 35-1 to expand who would be eligible to be witnesses in church courts.  Overture 13 actually generated what I thought was the best debate of the entire General Assembly in terms of the quality of the arguments put forward by both sides and the generally temperate nature of the debate.  Currently under BCO 35-1, “All persons of proper age and intelligence are competent witnesses, except such as to not believe in the existence of God, or a future state of rewards or punishments.”  According to 35-6, in giving testimony in a church court, one has to take an oath to God to tell the truth, although it does allow one to swear or affirm in other manners should he or she have conscientious objections to swearing an oath.  The changes proposed would minimize the requirement for believing in God or in an afterlife in which there will be rewards and punishments. The motivation for this change was spurred by the study committee report that was accepted at last year’s GA on Domestic Abuse and Sexual Assault.  The purpose behind the overture was to expand the eligibility of who could be a witness for cases such as sexual abuse within the church; the oath and the BCO qualification were perceived as unnecessarily excluding testimony of non-believers which could be relevant.

Those favoring the change argued that we must use all means to pursue the truth; that this would help elders have a good report with those outside the church; that it would be consistent with what other NAPARC denominations already do; and that there would be an inconsistency in accepting the testimony of idolaters but not of medical or other professionals who might be atheists.  Moreover, they further argued that the existing BCO qualification would prohibit testimony of people who have been abused by church members or officers who are now non-believers to testify in their own defense.  On the other hand, the Overtures Committee and others supporting that position argued that under existing interpretations of the BCO, testimony from non-religious third parties (e.g., police reports, rape kit results, etc.), can already be entered into evidence, and testimony from victims who are now non-believers could be entered into church court proceedings on their behalf by elders.  So, in that regard, much of what the proponents are trying to gain through the overture is already or conceivably permissible except for open atheists.  Moreover, the proposed changes to BCO 35-1, would introduce ambiguities that confuse who is competent to testify with the credibility of testimony.  They would also confuse what is appropriate in the jurisdiction of church courts with what is properly handled by secular courts, the ends of the former being spiritual and the latter criminal.  The General Assembly sided with the Overtures Committee by a vote of 1091 in favor, 751 against and 41 abstentions.

Two overtures (O.10 and O.14) would have effectively denied the participation of professional lawyers in cases of church discipline.  These overtures were intended to keep a level playing field among participants within a case of church discipline, but the Overtures Committee judged that this was a solution to a matter that has not been shown to be a problem and would unnecessarily bar those church officers who are also lawyers by profession from actually taking part in proceeding of church courts.  The GA upheld the Overtures Committee judgement on these overtures.

Minimal Attention, However, to Socio-Cultural Issues

Unlike previous years, there were only two overtures (O.12, O.18) addressing socio-cultural issues, the fewest in recent memory, which probably reflects general fatigue with these kind of overtures.  One overture (O.18) would have affirmed that Critical Race Theory incompatible with biblical understanding and inimical to racial reconciliation.  The Overtures Committee recommended that it be voted down given that the PCA’s study committee report on Racial Reconciliation is the PCA’s definitive word on the matter, and the Assembly overwhelmingly agreed (1136 against the overture to 38 in favor, with 19 abstentions).  Another overture (O.12) proposed petitioning the Federal Government to end sex-change procedures to minors.  The PCA is committed to the Spirituality Doctrine of the Church, which sets a high bar in terms of what political issues should be raised by the church.  This particular issue was one seen as affecting families, churches and communities, given efforts—often in public schools—to encourage minors to adopt damaging and even irreversible sex change procedures without parental consent.  This overture was phrased as a “humble petition” to the Federal Government (per Westminster Confession of Faith 31.5) and passed GA with only minimal debate.

Other Issues

This year was the first year that I had an opportunity to serve on the Committee of Commissioners, and specifically on the committee overseeing the Mission to North America (MNA).  The Committee of Commissioners is a uniquely PCA entity.  The PCA prides itself on being a “grassroots” denomination, which means that there tends to be a deference to giving presbyteries latitude and to holding centralized bodies to greater accountability.  This comes out of the experience that the PCUS and PCUSA had historically, in which centralized committees could and did act with a fair degree of autonomy and lack of accountability, which allowed them to drive the denominations in a more liberal direction.  The PCA has several Permanent Committees (MNA, Mission to the World, the Committee on Discipleship Ministries, etc.) that run the major programs of the denomination, prepare budgets, hire staff, develop policies, and propose recommendations.  In the PCA, these Permanent Committees are subject to oversight from the Committees of Commissioners at General Assembly, who review their minutes and recommendations, either concurring, non-concurring, or proposing changes.  The Committees’ recommendations are then advanced to the General Assembly to be voted upon.  The most significant item before the MNA Committee that I was on was Overture (O.5) regarding the status of civilian and military chaplains.  The details of this are complex but suffice it to say that there was general agreement among the Overtures Committee, the Committee on Constitutional Business and the MNA Committee that the overture made assumptions about what chaplains can and cannot do that were not realistic and, as a result, all three recommended referring it back to the originating presbytery without prejudice to be reworked.

A few other items are worth noting.  One overture (O.20) authorized the PCA’s standing Administrative Committee (AC) to research how we would use electronic records for denominational purposes.  Yes, it is surprising that fifty years along and the PCA still has an official record management system that has not evolved appreciably since the 1970s and is still based on hard copy.  I am pleased that not only did our presbytery (Potomac Presbytery) propose this, but also that the committee I serve on in our presbytery (the Committee for the Review of Session Records) proposed it, since it is long overdue.  At General Assembly, it was approved as part of a larger package that the Administrative Committee put forward.  The AC also aggressively pushed commissioners this year to use electronic versions of the documents, so as to minimize the significant costs incurred in terms of money and paper for using hard copies.  These are definitely steps in the right direction toward greater administrative efficiency in how our denomination functions.

Lastly, one overture (O.26) that may not get much attention but which I think is more significant that it might appear on first glance was to amend BCO 7-3 to specifically prohibit unordained people from using the titles of ordained offices (i.e., “pastor,” “elder,” “deacon”).  Ordained offices within the PCA come with specific rights and responsibilities, but there has been a growing practice over the years to use these titles to cover unordained individuals.  That is having the effect of confusing the distinction between ordained and unordained positions and undermining the authority of the ordained offices, and, as a result, fostering controversy within the denomination.  To be charitable, I think this probably reflects the general evangelical culture in which we live and is being done with little reflection about the implications.  This overture was somewhat amended by the Overtures Committee and passed General Assembly by a significant margin (1427 in favor, 481 against, and 20 abstaining).  This should help bring clarity to the issue of church offices and hopefully greater respect for officer positions.

General Atmospherics

General Assemblies are essentially a combination of trade convention, business meeting, and networking event. This year’s General Assembly was held in the Renasant Convention Center in downtown Memphis. The downtown section of Memphis was quite walkable, with many good restaurants and sights within easy walking distance. The famous Beale Street was not too far away from where I stayed, and there were several sites important to the 1960s Civil Rights movement, throughout the downtown area. On my first day in Memphis I visited the National Civil Rights Museum, which I would highly commend. The Museum is built on/around the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in April 1968. I have been to other Civil Rights museums, and this is one of the best.

General Assembly is a good opportunity to meet new contacts and renew existing relationships. There has been a concerted effort over the last few years by MORE in the PCA and the Ruler Elder Network to increase the participation of Ruling Elders at General Assembly. Teaching Elders (TEs, that is, pastors) typically do not have to take time off to go to GA and they get their churches to pay for it; Ruling Elders, however, have to take vacation time to attend and may or may not get their churches to offset some of the costs. Greater Ruling Elder involvement, however, is good for the health of the denomination because Ruling Elders often bring a hands-on, practical perspective that can help ground discussions and debate. This year, there was a Ruling Elders social event at Charles Verago’s Rendezvous BBQ restaurant, which I attended. I found my conversations with other Ruling Elders to be stimulating, but for me, the highlight of the evening was hearing Zach Groff perform a parody rendition of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” with the lyrics rewritten as “God Bless the PCA.” It was a hoot! (You can listen to it here on YouTube).