General Assembly 2009

Much of the initial work of the Assembly is done through the committees of commissioners who are nominated by the Presbytery to do the work of the Assembly and to oversee the work of our standing committees and agencies. This year I had the privilege of serving on the committee of commissioners for Ridge Haven, our conference center and campgrounds, near Brevard, NC. In God's good providence, I had the privilege of visiting Ridge Haven the week before. My wife, my two youngest children, and I enjoyed sightseeing and the beautiful and refreshing surroundings of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Teaching Elders in the PCA may receive two nights free at Ridge Haven. I would recommend especially to pastors that if you are in the area, you take the opportunity to visit Ridge Haven. It is a beautiful place, and it is a great encouragement to the people who live and work there to have visitors from other parts of the country.

We held our committee meeting on Tuesday morning. We took the full three hours scheduled to complete the work of the committee. I spent that afternoon helping with the minutes of the committee and visiting with old friends and new.

A Tuesday night worship always service begins the Assembly, and the previous year's Moderator always gives the first sermon. This year the sermon was from Paul Kooistra, the director of MTW. He gave a good sermon on 1 Cor. 1:26, emphasizing that each one of us is nothing in ourselves and that our only ground of boasting is in Christ.

One comment I would make is in light of the fact that all three speakers spoke about unity in the PCA. They were concerned about the disunity among us and urged patience and understanding. I certainly agree with those concerns. However, what I did not hear is that the ground of our unity is principally in our common confession about what we believe the Bible teaches about faith and life. The Westminster Confession is our statement about what we believe is important and what we need to stand on together. I did not hear any statement about how we need to hold fast to this Confession and exercise discipline when this is violated so that we may preserve the unity that we profess to have. When we allow a loose subscription and do not discipline when it is violated, then we disrupt the unity of the Church by establishing a different basis for unity than what we have agreed to.

On Wednesday morning, we always hear from the fraternal delegates and observers. I was especially pleased with the delegate from the RCUS. I wish we could have heard from the Korean delegates, but they were merely introduced. One highlight for me was hearing the delegate from the National Presbyterian Church of Brazil address the Assembly in Portuguese (with translation). It is exciting that we are now working with this body to advance the cause of Christ in Central and South America.

On Wednesday afternoon, we heard informational reports from our permanent committees and agencies. I went out for Supper that evening with my Grandparents who live in Florida. I do not see them very often, so it was a good opportunity for me.

We returned for worship that evening. I was rather disappointed with the worship service. We were "led" by excellent performers, but most of the people were not singing or participating. We can go to a performance almost anywhere, but when do most of us have the opportunity to hear over a thousand people sing the praises of God in unison? It seems that particularly on this night a great opportunity was missed.

I also was disappointed by the preaching. I think the temptation for some preaching at GA is try to solve the problems of the PCA in a sermon. I wish they would just preach Christ from the Scriptures because Christ is truly the answer to the problems of the PCA (and everyone else). I remember at my first GA, Sinclair Ferguson preached on excellent sermon on Rom. 8. He simply preached of the love of God in Christ and applied to our hearts. In my humble opinion, this would be more edifying to the whole congregation.

On Thursday, we dealt with the committee reports. They flew by. Many people have complained about this. I would make two comments on this point. First, this emphasizes the importance of being involved in the committees. Second, I think we should have more time to look over the reports and consider them before we vote. TE Daniel Jarfster did emphasize this last point from the floor, and I was grateful for that.

I thought all the decisions from the Overtures Committee were good, and all their recommendations were adopted except for one. The most controversial was the question of whether or not to study the question of deaconesses. A study committee for that purpose was defeated by a narrow margin of 19 votes.

Let me make a few comments on the study committee. I think that there are some who do not see the true nature of the committee that was proposed. One of the questions that the committee was to study was the roles that women can fill in the Church according to Scripture. The motion was for the Moderator to appoint a study committee representing the diversity of views within the PCA. This would include those who held that there should be deaconesses. Almost certainly, then, there would be a minority report or minority letter suggesting that the Constitution should be changed to allow for this practice.

Now, what would be the harm in that? I think the speaker for the study committee put it well. He said (if I'm not mistaken), "We may need to change the Constitution, but we have to begin somewhere." If we had a floor vote to ask for a change in the Constitution to allow deaconesses, I'm sure the vote would be overwhelmingly in the negative. So, if you want to have deaconesses, then you do need to start somewhere. I agree that a study committee is a good place to start. I just don't want to start. That's why I voted "no" to a study committee. I would urge my Brothers who do not want deaconesses to consider the points I have raised here and to vote against any future study committee, if they do not want to proceed toward deaconesses.

All in all, I enjoyed GA. It is always a great time of fellowship. It is truly the external bond of our unity. I'm thankful that we are blessed by God to have the freedom and ease with which to assemble like this. We have many issues in the PCA to deal with. We have many disagreements. Please pray for the PCA that we will maintain a unity based on the love of God, one another, and the truth.