In summary: This proposed amendment to require a quorum of 50% of the local congregation’s resident members effectively restricts a congregation’s rights to “remain in association with any court of this body only so long as they themselves so desire” (BCO 25-11).  As such, it effectively violates the “solemn covenant” between local churches and the... Continue Reading

Such action by the Permanent Judicial Commission led to a crisis for all of those pastors and elders who held to the traditional views on this question [the ordination of women to all church offices] and who were now considered heretics. Accordingly, to uphold the peace, unity and purity of the church, most of the... Continue Reading

Third, it removes unnecessary controversy from the recommendation. The last clause in the original recommendation inexplicably includes a reference to deaconesses. This inclusion is inexplicable because it is not a recommendation, but a statement. The Assembly deleted this clause in order to remove any potential controversy that including such a statement might produce. The revised... Continue Reading

So what is the biblical role of women in the worship of the church? As with all God’s people, women participate in the songs of the congregation. They lift up their prayers to God Almighty by their assent to the prayers the elders lead the congregation in. They are fed through the instruction of God’s... Continue Reading

However, we’re not talking about “preferences” any more than an Anglican is who expects to worship with the Prayer Book. Prayer Book worship is what Anglicans do, and have done, since 1549. When one goes to Dodger Stadium, is it wrong to expect to see a baseball game? When one orders a hamburger at McDonalds,... Continue Reading

By removing everything except the first sentence of this recommendation, the Assembly made it possible that exactly nothing will change in the congregations where refusing to ordain is the current practice. Basically, the churches of the PCA are urged to ordain deacons “if possible.” It is far too easy to say something is not possible,... Continue Reading

In the PCA’s Book of Church Order 29-1 this claim is made: “The Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms of the Westminster Assembly, together with the formularies of government, discipline, and worship are accepted by the Presbyterian Church in America as standard expositions of the teachings of Scripture in relation to both... Continue Reading

If the guide is what is “best,” then worship becomes a matter of preference. Why must we choose what is best and by what criteria are we to judge it? If I don’t care for The Metropolitan Opera, why not allow me my preference for the Grand Old Opry? Isn’t that’s what best for me?... Continue Reading

Recommendation 7 of the PCA’s study committee on Women Serving in the Ministry of the Church states: “That presbyteries and the General Assembly consider an overture that would 21 establish formally the right of sessions, presbyteries, and the General Assembly to 22 establish the position of commissioned church worker within the PCA for qualified 23... Continue Reading

Seminary president Jerry O’Neill plans to retire next year and will be succeeded by Prof. Barry York, but Dr. O’Neill will continue to work part-time in development and academic administration. Prof. C.J. Williams recently published a commentary on Job, and Prof. Rick Gamble recently finished the second of three volumes of his work, The Whole... Continue Reading