Dallas, Texas – The 36th PCA General Assembly, on Thursday, June 12, 2008, voted to reject an overture requesting the GA to form a committee to study the issue of women deacons.

Overture 9, submitted by the Philadelphia Presbytery, asked the General Assembly to erect a study committee on deaconesses to determine whether the election of women to the office of deacon is contrary to the Book of Church Order, and to determine the role of women in diaconal ministry.
The Overtures Committee recommended that the GA answer the overture in the negative. This committee, comprised of 80 ruling and teaching elders, debated the overture for five and a half hours earlier in the week before making its recommendation. The majority of the committee recommended that the church study the issues raised in the overture through the Presbyteries with the advice that it would be more appropriate to a propose amendments to the Book of Church Order.

There was a minority report that recommended the GA answer the overture in the affirmative. This report recommended that a committee comprised of theologians on both sides of the issue—including Tim Keller, Phil Ryken, Ligon Duncan, and Jimmy Agan—meet together over the coming year to come to a Scriptural understanding of deaconesses.

After a spirited debate on the floor of the GA, a majority of the Assembly voted to adopt the recommendation of the majority of Overtures Committee.

Overture 9 requested the following:

The Philadelphia Presbytery overtures the 36th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America to create an ad interim study committee whose members are representative of various positions within the PCA with respect to women’s involvement in Diaconal ministry, to study and report back to the 37th General Assembly, on the following:

1)Scriptural teaching bearing on women’s eligibility for election and ordination to the office of deacon and recommending, if necessary, changes to the BCOin keeping with any findings proceeding from the study of Scripture; and

2)Should no changes to the BCObe deemed necessary, clarifying an appropriate range of practices for the involvement of women in diaconal ministry and giving guidance regarding current differences in practice among PCA churches including but not limited to the following:

(a) may churches choose not to ordain any male deacons?
(b) may churches choose to commission but not to ordain male deacons?
(c) may women be commissioned as deaconesses without ordaining them as deacons?
(d) may the same constitutional questions, or similar questions, used to ordain deacons be used to commission deacons or deaconesses who are not ordained?
(e) may Presbyteries license and ordain men who submit themselves to the BCObut who also believe that women should serve as ordained deacons?
(f) may churches elect ordained men and commissioned women to serve together in the diaconate? and
(g) may churches use the title Deaconess for an elected position of ministry in the church or selected to serve according to BCO9-7?

To read the entire text of Overture 9 and the other Overtures submitted to the General Assembly, [Editors note: the original URL (link) referenced in this article is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]