While I haven’t written very prolifically lately, it’s time for the annual update following our denomination’s annual meeting-convention.

This year’s PCA General Assembly was held in Richmond, Va., and wrapped up in record time. After a few years where the PCA had to navigate issues of human sexuality (and did so in a way that was faithful to the scriptures), this year’s Assembly was noticeably more calm and less contentious. That doesn’t mean no one disagreed with each other, of course. As one of my former pastors from seminary would say: our goal as Presbyterians is to disagree without being disagreeable.

For details of all the business discussed, I would recommend visiting byfaithonline.com, the PCA’s online magazine. I’ll highlight a few items of possible interest:

On the opening night, we approved a measure to add clearer language about the chastity and purity required for officers (deacons and elders, including pastors or teaching elders) in our denomination. It passed with no objection in a voice vote. (In others words, no controversy, no long debate, and no need for our electronic clickers that allow for quick numerical tallies of votes.)
That same night, we also passed a measure clarifying that the titles deacon and elder/pastor are only for ordained officers.
We approved a statement for strong encouragement of background checks for officers. Some wanted to make this required by our Book of Church Order, but we didn’t do so because of the difficulty of applying a one-size-fits-all mandate for background checks that would apply to the 50 States and Canada.
We commended a letter that our past moderator (with help from a commission) wrote to the US Government to end the practice of sex change operations.
Our Stated Clerk reported on the PCA’s growth. While our growth is modest, we are one of only two growing denominations in the USA even as church attendance continues to decline significantly.
Other measures we approved included various measures to clarify or simplify our Book of Church Order and related documents and a request for a report on the book Jesus Calling - which was written by a PCA missionary.
We also elected many men to the PCA’s various permanent Committees and Agencies, including Bruce Harrington, inactive elder of Forestgate, who will be serving another term on the Board of Trustees for Covenant Theological Seminary.
Pastor Josh and I attended several luncheons or dinners and other gatherings to see old friends, including a talk by Rosaria Butterfield, whose book on hospitality has been read recently Forestgate’s Engagement MinistryTeam (EMT) and others. Her conversion after years as an LGBT activist is well known in the Church, and at one point she described it like this: “The God who made the mountains and told them where to stand now reigned over my feelings and the affections of my heart.” As one friend said to me afterwards: “That was an eloquent statement about the power of progressive sanctification.”
I served on the Overtures Committee, and the Nominating Committee this week. If you want to know what that means, just ask me. Pastor Josh and I did not attempt to speak at one of the microphones on the floor of the Assembly in front of 2,000 people, but we did occasionally say, “yes”, “no”, and “second.”

Lastly, in addition to many friends, I saw three different PCA missionaries supported by Forestgate. I’ll close with pictures and brief descriptions. (Pardon my lackluster selfie skills.)