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Connie and I returned from Dallas on Friday afternoon after attending the PCA General Assembly (aka “GA”). This is the highest court in the denomination that met Tuesday through Thursday. I’m glad I was able to go. Here are some miscellaneous thoughts and observations on the week: The Moderator, Paul Kooistra, did a GREAT job- Dr. Paul Kooistra is the coordinator for Mission to the World. He was elected the Moderator of the GA for this year. This is a big deal and significant honor. He had to moderate one of the largest deliberative bodies in the world utilizing parliamentary procedure (think U.S. Congress, only 2 1/2 times as big). He handled it with great humility, grace, skill, and good humor. I think a lot of Dr. Kooistra. His wife, Jan, died of cancer just four weeks ago. The biggest issue of the Assembly was… - two Presbyteries requested that the PCA form a study committee on the issue of women serving as Deacons. There are churches that look to Romans 16:1, where Phoebe is referred to as a servant, or deacon, and to I Timothy 3:11 where the word translated for “wives” could also mean “women”, as Biblical support for the practice of Deaconesses. The proposal for such a study committee was rejected. This issue will certainly surface again in other forms. I must say the debate was very cordial and without rancor. This is a credit to the Assembly, the Overtures Committee who was tasked with giving a response to the request that was voted on by GA, and to Dr. Kooistra.
Did you know that two of the producers of the documentary “Expelled” are in the PCA?- I didn’t until this past week at GA. Covenant Seminary and Reformed Theological Seminary are having incredible impact via internet downloads- Both seminaries are offering free seminary lectures for a variety of courses on the web. Covenant Seminary, the denominational seminary, offers all of the Master of Divinity courses online. Reformed Theological Seminary, my alma mater that was key in the formation of the PCA, offers free course lectures through iTunes U. Both schools have experienced downloads in the millions. That’s great news for kingdom advancement, in my opinion. I hope we can send some of our own Ruling Elders next year- there were over 1,000 delegates to the Assembly. Over 800 were Teaching Elders (pastors) and the other 200+ were Ruling Elders. Next year’s GA will be in Orlando, Florida in June 2009. I hope we can send a Ruling Elder or two from HLPC. Two good overviews of GA- are given HERE by Ligon Duncan, pastor of First Presbyterian of Jackson, and HERE by Sean Lucas, Chief Academic Officer of Covenant Seminary.
Comments:
5 Comments posted on "GA observations"
Ed Eubanks on June 16th, 2008 at 4:29 pm #
Paul, I agree with your assessment utterly. I thought it was a great assembly, and I’m grateful to those who helped to make it so. (I would say that a large piece of the credit for the tone of the debate would go to Dr. Kooistra– which you implied above.) Two things: first, I thought there were three presbyteries which overtured in favor of a study committee of some form; did I misunderstand? Second: given the underlying basis of the rejection of the overture to form a study committee (i.e., that presbyteries already have the right to propose amendments to the BCO and don’t need a study committee to do so), how many overtures to amend the BCO about deacons and/or diaconal ministry do you suppose we’ll see next year?
JH on June 16th, 2008 at 4:30 pm #
four weeks after losing his wife? Who nominated him? I’m glad he did a great job, but I probably would have been shocked to hear his name called if I had been there and known the backstory. Whenever I think of GA I picture the senate meetings in StarWars Ep. 1
Paul Bankson on June 16th, 2008 at 5:07 pm #
Ed- you’re right, it was 3 presbyteries. I just had the Philly Presbytery in mind as the “lead” one on the issue. It will be interesting to see what happens next year. As if Orlando wouldn’t be a big enough draw for GA attendance! JH- I’m sure Kooistra had a heads up the nomination was coming and if he felt unable to do it would have said so. Your Star Wars imagery is right on!
Ryan on June 18th, 2008 at 1:17 pm #
Just as an aside, the SBC convention also recently passed an ordinance which promotes accurate church records and church discipline. Not a lot of teeth, but some good may come of this and open people’s eyes to what is going on in the SBC. The SBC has 16 million on its rolls, with only about 6 million attending regularly enough to count.
Paul Bankson on June 19th, 2008 at 3:01 pm #
That is a good move. I am encouraged by the Mark Devers, Al Mohlers, et al who are emerging leaders in the SBC and making positive contributions. We should all want a healthy SBC due to their great size and influence. Post a comment
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