By the end of this third Chattanooga Assembly, many of the PCA founding cultural interests and efforts to avoid centralization were distant memories. With strong efforts, the conservatives who sought to bring the high-level officers more in line with certain notions had some success. Moreover, the progressive wing seemed more determined and efficient than ever to control the seats at the table.

The PCA was uncharacteristically quiet during the second half of 2024, but prior to the convening of this third Assembly in Chattanooga (previously hosted in that city in 2005, 2015), a few small culture wars re-appeared.

MNA drew the spotlight in the first month of the new year, with three public faux pas. Similar to the controversy over inviting David French to address the Assembly the previous year, this year it was MNA in the limelight at first. Shortly after President Trump’s 2025 inauguration, an employee of MNA signed a parachurch relief statement, calling for the welcome of immigrants (contrary to the new administration’s trajectory). That signatory was represented as a ‘Coordinator’ of MNA, bringing embarrassment to the Coordinator Irwyn Ince, who promptly refuted that as a position of the PCA and corrected the record. However, a few weeks later, an MNA web page was found to be giving advice to immigrants on how to avoid the civil laws. That drew a sincere and masterful apology from Ince, admitting that it gave erroneous advice and urged all citizens to obey the civil laws. (https://byfaithonline.com/statement-from-mission-to-north-america/) Wisely, the Coordinator stated that “MNA does not engage in providing legal advice, political campaigning or partisan positions. The information we post going forward will provide ecclesiastical resources in line with our Confession for guidance on the matter.”

However, on the heels of this, Coordinator Ince was a featured speaker at a segregated meeting at a PCA church in Oakland as part of Black History month. It was clear that, even with a masterclass retraction, some staffers felt freer than others to act outside of Assembly-approved positions.

In the months prior to the Assembly, various overtures were sent up, and the caucus groups held their meetings—the former National Partners holding a meeting in Florida in late February to re-emphasize the Great Commission, and the continuing Gospel Reformation Network in early May, emphasized the need for ruling elder involvement.

In late May, however, another top Coordinator became the subject of controversy. In a filmed interview, Stated Clerk Bryan Chapell revealed a list of “scandalizers” that he’d kept for some time. While his point was intended to warn against losing one’s ministerial focus by becoming a constant critic, nevertheless, the list of names was published, and the clerk apologized, also believing it necessary to resign from the clerk’s position. His resignation was accepted by the Administrative Committee on June 6, 2025, and former Moderator RE John Bice from Huntsville, Alabama, was tapped to serve as provisional clerk for an interim. This calmed the waters, but an unforced error brought the spotlight once again on acts of the top leaders of the PCA.

Over 50 overtures had been tendered to this Assembly. About 1/5^th of those were concerned with Presbytery boundaries and would be routed to MNA. Six overtures called for study committees, but studies on better use of the financial resources of the PCA committees, the rise of AI (artificial intelligence), and others would not be approved. The Overtures Committee of Commissioners convened the day before Assembly opened and elected RE Mel Duncan from Greenville, SC, to serve as chairman. To the credit of this committee, even without a clerk in the weeks leading up to the Assembly, the heavy business was processed smoothly.

Following the opening worship service, a sermon by retiring Moderator Steve Dowling on Revelation 3, urged the church to avoid lukewarmness. TE Kevin DeYoung was elected Moderator, without challenge, becoming the first GA Moderator born after the 1973 founding of the PCA. His calm, centrist demeanor would serve the Assembly well the entire week, as did interim clerk Bice. Bryan Chapell requested opportunity to apologize to the Assembly and did so after the opening service. A few routine matters were handled before the Assembly adjourned for the opening evening. The enrollment of 2,214 commissioners (still with a 2:1 TE to RE ratio, 1609-605) was one of the highest enrollments to date.

Most of the Wednesday morning session acted on recommendations from the Review of Presbytery Records (RPR) committee. Of RPR’s nearly 200 pages of detailed material, a few instances out of the voluminous records of 88 presbyteries drew debate from the floor. In one case that was a harbinger, Northwest Georgia Presbytery had allowed a candidate to transfer even though he viewed that women reading Scripture in a worship service was not an exception (cf. WLC #157 ff). The RPR recommendation, upholding the presbytery, was that such was, indeed, an exception of substance. That issue would continue to be debated within the presbyteries and throughout the church. With most of the morning spent on this detailed review, however, nearly all of the work of the RPR committee was ultimately upheld.

Progress was made in this year’s RPR report, moreover, in discouraging misuse of the section of the BCO that had been abused in recent years and was proliferating. All four such requests were curbed, having been found by the committee “not [to be] a report of an ‘important delinquency or grossly unconstitutional proceedings.’” The misuse of BCO 40-5 was clogging the courts, duplicating many complaints (contra BCO 40-3), and costing many needless man hours. Accordingly, RPR called the church’s attention to this recent tactic and urged against such in this warning: “The General Assembly remind the brethren that the appropriate course of action for dealing with alleged unconstitutional proceedings is ordinarily through appeals (BCO 42) and complaints (BCO 43), rather than invoking the standard required under BCO 40-5. (61-0-0; Handbook, p. 1260)” Furthermore, by their GA-approved actions of not condoning such questionable tactics, the committee seemed designed to disincentivize this unhelpful trend.

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