Bestowing titles not found in the church order, especially when they are suspiciously adjacent or similar to the actual PCA officer titles, can be deceptive, unwise, unhelpful, and may undermine good order. Still, the lack of fixed definitions, standards, or processes for these non-standard, non-officer titles makes ruling on them a subjective matter. Who leads worship and the maintenance of properly ordained biblical officers are more important matters than titles for non-officers.

“I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.”

This is an old saw often deployed against the Reformed by revivalist evangelicals to imply that the Reformed don’t “do” evangelism at all (not true), and that even a sloppy and reckless kind of evangelism, replete with Finneyite “new measures,” is better than an alleged nothing.

Some are now using the quip in online discussions of what I will call the PCA’s “Essgate,” which concerns the use of titles for women who are called deaconesses and shepherdesses (and a few other related non-standard titles). If the “reporters” (most of whom appear to be non-PCA men or anons) can be believed, these titles are used in something less than 10% of PCA churches.

These issues are not new, and sometimes the use of such titles is disorderly or deceptive; sometimes this is not the case. No one has commented or written more on these issues in the last 10 years than yours truly. The work of churchmen in a denomination is quiet and largely invisible except when the problems are dire and existential, like Revoice and “Side B” were in the PCA in the last decade. Usually, reform and church discipline are frustratingly slow, and the “success” rate can seem painfully low. Yet the work must be done. And I know enough to say that things have been done and are being done

First of all, more than one PCA church that had women actually preaching in the church, or who had women members preaching outside the PCA church, has left the PCA in the last several years. Presbyteries got involved, or sessions were alarmed, not because of publicity, but because of privately communicated facts. In at least one case, writing to the erring PCA church seemed to be enough to cause the church to reconsider its affiliational options…and leave. I know of churches that have changed the way they identify certain females on their websites simply because of a phone call or email.

Most importantly, the PCA Book of Church Order (7-4) was amended in 2024 to clarify that no unordained person (which includes all women) can be called by the titles of ordained office—deacon, elder, and pastor. The effects of this new “church law” are slowly being felt.

Many in the PCA wish that language had been included (or retained) in the amendment outlawing the non-standard, non-office title “deaconess.” There is no consensus in the PCA about the advisability of the term’s use, or whether the amendment (as initially proposed or as passed) would actually outlaw the term.

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1 There is no definition in the PCA for “deaconess”—sometimes they are presented as equal to deacons, sometimes as BCO 9-7 assistants, sometimes as members of the “diaconate,” sometimes as a separate group. “Shepherdess” is the other main rub. Its use can range from “shadow” elders who appear to be non-voting session members to women who aid other women in crisis. It has absolutely no fixed meaning. Neither “deaconess” nor “shepherdess” is an office and should not be presented as such. In my opinion, neither should the election and training processes (if any) for any non-standard titled roles occur alongside or closely resemble those of actual officers.