NR #1995-054: For Immediate Release ANALYSIS: Dallas Gets Set for General Assembly of America's Second-Largest Presbyterian Denomination * Annual Meeting Slated to Convene Amidst Charged Atmosphere by Frank Smith, Editor, PCA News Distributed by United Reformed News Service (May 25, 1995) PCA/N - The General Assembly of the 242,000-member Presbyterian Church in America is scheduled to meet June 20 to 23 in Grapevine, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. This is the first time that the Assembly will have met in the Lone Star State, and only the third time west of the Mississippi River since its founding in 1973. The setting in a state that has been associated with cowboys, the frontier, rough-and-tumble politics, and even a modern prime-time soap opera may indeed be an appropriate one. The 23rd Assembly quite possibly will feature some old-fashioned "shootouts" - not with Colt 45's, and not over property rights as such, but with ideological barbs, and over the definition of what the church should be. Although there are relatively few overtures this year, they should make for an interesting Assembly. The direction of the denomination is the explicit subject of two overtures. Tennessee Valley Presbytery and Western Carolina Presbytery have called upon the body to establish a committee to study the theological orientation of the PCA. Tennessee Valley's overture mentions an "implied identity crisis," while Western Carolina's speaks of the "obvious unrest across the PCA regarding the bond of unity within the Westminster Confession and Catechisms Covenant Presbytery, responding to the "Proposed Statement of Identity for the Presbyterian Church in America," a document issued last fall over the signatures of a number of high-profile PCA leaders, overtured the Assembly stating that, in the presbytery's opinion, "the PCA's current Constitution [is] her statement of identity, her sufficiently clear basis for denominational unity, consensus and focus, and her satisfactory definition of fundamental commitments and mission." Covenant Presbytery also stated that it "is pleased with the PCA's current statement of identity but will communicate any suggested improvements through overtures asking the General Assembly to initiate the normal process for amending the Constitution." Further, "Covenant Presbytery is concerned that any additional statement of identity adopted by the General Assembly to be the official interpretation of the current Constitution could supersede the current Constitution in practical import and become the de facto constitutional authority of the PCA." The highest-profile subject on the agenda has to do with church discipline. May a church institute disciplinary proceedings when a member walks out and does not transfer to any other church? What happens when a member resigns his local church membership, especially when the member resigns to evade church discipline? Several presbyteries, Potomac, Northeast, and Ascension, are asking that the meaning of the PCA Book of Church Order (BCO) 46-5, which deals with the removal of members from the church roll, be discussed both at the Assembly level and in the lower courts as well. On the same issue, New River Presbytery has overtured the Assembly either to approve its interpretation of this constitutional paragraph, that the disputed paragraph allows for sessions to institute full disciplinary process when a "letter of resignation" is tendered, or to correct its understanding. Despite the pleas of many presbyters regarding the "Chen Case" last year in which the Assembly refused to allow a local church to discipline a man who had left his congregation but not yet transferred to another church, some in the denomination are determined that the principles underlying the decision not be freely discussed on the floor of the Assembly. Church discipline will also come to the Assembly's attention through the report of the Ad Interim Committee on Judicial Procedures. Rev. David Coffin, chairman of the committee and pastor of New Hope Presbyterian Church in Fairfax, Virginia, is prepared to argue for the need for significant changes in the way in which the high court deals with appeals and complaints. These modifications are necessary, Coffin believes, because of the enormous controversies that have surrounded recent Standing Judicial Commission (SJC) decisions. A complicating factor is that PCA procedural rules prevent discussion of judicial cases on the floor of the general assembly prior to the vote on approving the Standing Judicial Commission decisions. Even debate on non-judicial issues is strictly limited in the PCA: procedural rules provide a total of ten minutes for debate on each issue coming to the floor and only three minutes of debate per speaker. While standing PCA rules allow the speaker's time and the total time to be extended, Coffin is proposing a novel approach: that the PCA General Assembly meet as a "committee of the whole" for a one-hour discussion of the principles of church discipline to allow for a more extended presentation of the issue. Others, content with the status quo, are determined that these changes not be enacted. Many of these people have declared that they are concerned that any such moves would take the PCA in a direction not envisioned when it was founded in 1973. Interchurch relations could prove to be of interest for the third year in a row. Relations with the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the communion with which the PCA has perhaps the greatest affinity, appear strained because of certain declarations by the Interchurch Relations Committee (IRC). Its report on the November 1994 meeting of the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council (NAPARC) says, "Differences of approach have surfaced. PCA delegations have repeatedly been frustrated by a perceived unwillingness of some members to be sensitive to one another. The spirit of camaraderie that marked the earlier years has been strident [sic] by power plays and student [sic] language, particularly on the part of the OPC, and this has created tensions within NAPARC that we deplore. Our pleas to be temperate, to act with love, to be gentle with one another, have been rebuffed repeatedly." While the IRC has taken the OPC to task, it has high praise for the National Association of Evangelicals. Among its accomplishments cited are the encouragement of the participation of women, "while respecting conservative scruples." The IRC is recommending that the PCA not enter into fraternal relations with the Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS) and that it vote against admitting the RCUS to membership in NAPARC. Citing the NAPARC constitution which declares the organization to be a "fellowship that enables the constituent churches to advise, counsel, and cooperate in various matters with one another," the report states that "there is question whether the RCUS will do that in good faith, and whether it may not inject into NAPARC a spirit of divisiveness." The IRC's position on the RCUS would apparently isolate the PCA from the rest of the churches of NAPARC, including the Christian Reformed Church, whose Interchurch Relations Committee has recently reversed itself and now favors the RCUS application. An overture from Northeast Presbytery deals indirectly with interchurch relations in that it requests that last year's minutes be corrected with respect to three overtures that the PCA Stated Clerk left out of the minutes. Those overtures had to do with investigating the Interchurch Relations Committee to see if it had carried out its assignments and to recommend appropriate action if it had not. Last year's Assembly did not specifically answer those overtures, so they technically are before this year's Assembly for action. Two overtures call upon the Assembly to begin amending the Book of Church Order with regard to the authority of presbytery. Currently, a presbytery has the authority "to dissolve churches; to dismiss churches with their consent," but Southeast Alabama Presbytery and North Georgia Presbytery want the "with their consent" clause removed from the latter phrase and attached to the former. This emendation, as is evident from the overtures themselves, would continue to promote the notion of radical separation of civil and ecclesiastical power. A congregation of South Texas Presbytery, concerned that the Women in the Church regional conference held within the bounds of that presbytery conducted public worship on the Lord's Day morning separate from local PCA churches, persuaded that court to overture the Assembly on the matter. Pacific Northwest Presbytery has overtured the Assembly with regard to the recent concord between some evangelicals and Roman Catholics, and is asking for a reiteration of the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Other overtures include one from Illiana Presbytery proposing voting age restrictions for congregational meetings. Eastern Canada Presbytery submitted two overtures, the first asking that the Book of Church Order Preface include a Statement of Mission and the other asking for a new paragraph stating that "no court of the church may add any doctrinal requirement for office beyond those explicitly specified in the Confession and Catechisms." The Assembly will be called on to give final approval to several judicial cases. Of particular interest will be the following: John Philip Clark vs. Southwest (93-10), in which the case is remanded back to presbytery for retrial; Paul R. McDade vs. Susquehanna Valley (93-11), dealing with the doctrine of repentance; Steve Newton vs. Heartland (93-12), with regard to the meaning of contumacy; and Wheatley and Berry vs. Susquehanna Valley (94-7 and 94-8), in which the right of the defense to call witnesses was denied. Editor's Note: PCA News is an independent source of news on the Presbyterian Church in America operating under the auspices of Affirmation PCA, Somers, NY. Cross-References to Related Articles: #1994-058: NAPARC Admits New Denomination; Thanks God for Christian Reformed Decision Against Ordaining Women; Rev. Myung Doh Kim Becomes First Korean Chairman of North American Prebyterian and Reformed Council; Reformed Church in the United States Admitted Amidst Strong Criticism of Alliance of Reformed Churches #1995-033: Christian Reformed Interchurch Relations Committee Recommends Addition of German Reformed to NAPARC #1995-034: Retired PCA Stated Clerk Overtures General Assembly to Appoint Committee to Study Denominational Unrest #1995-038: Presbytery Rejects Overture by Concerned Presbyterians Chairman Urging Inquiry into Possible PCA Schism #1995-045: Top PCA Denominational Leaders Meet, Consider Strategy Against Concerned Presbyterians and other "TR's" #1995-047: Presbytery Reconsiders Ecclesiastical Charges Against Minister Following Multi-Million Dollar Civil Lawsuit Contact List: Dr. Don Argue, Director, National Association of Evangelicals 450 East Gunderson St., Carol Stream, IL 60188 * (708) 665-0500 Rev. David Coffin, Chairman, Interim Committee on Judicial Procedures 12622 Lake Normandy Lane, Fairfax, VA 22030 * O: (703) 354-9823 * H: (703) 631-0772 Rev. Donald Duff, Stated Clerk, North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council 614 Roberts Ave., Glenside PA 19038-3711 * O: (215) 956-0123 * H: (215) 887-4901 * FAX: (215) 957-6286 Dr. Paul Gilchrist, Stated Clerk * Presbyterian Church in America 1852 Century Place, Suite 190, Atlanta GA 30345 * O: (404) 320-3366 Rev. Norm Hoefflinger, NAPARC Observer, Reformed Church in the United States 625 - Judy Blvd., Harvey, ND 58341 * H/O: (701) 324-4923 Rev. K. Eric (Ric) Perrin, Chairman, PCA Interchurch Relations Committee 703 Woodcreek Ct., Columbia, SC 29212 * O: (803) 772-1000 * H: (803) 781-7520 * FAX: (803) 772-1003 Dr. Frank Smith, Editor, PCA News Box 47, Somers, NY 10589-0047 * O: (914) 232-0546 * H: (914) 248-8776 * E-Mail: AffirmPCA@aol.com ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr95-054.txt .