Why You Should Care about General Assembly (And Know What It Is)
If you’ve never heard of General Assembly, you’re in the majority. And if you don’t care about General Assembly, you’re also in the majority. In this little article, I hope to make you a blessed member of the minority. You might even be cool like me and view the live stream from the comfort of your home.
General Assembly is the annual gathering of our church’s denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). General Assembly won’t make much sense unless you understand the basics of Presbyterianism, so let’s start there.
Presbyterianism
Our church is called Presbyterian because of its polity—that is, how authority is structured and exercised. Presbyterian polity has scriptural precedent and arose as a rejection of church governance by hierarchies of single bishops, in favor of a plurality of elders (Gk. presbuteros, from where we get “presbyter”). Presbyterianism is also to be distinguished from Congregationalism, where each congregation is independent and governed directly by its members, usually by democratic majority. In Presbyterian churches, each local church is governed by a body of elders called a session. This is similar to a board of directors in other churches or non-profits, but elders have pastoral responsibilities as well.
What happens at General Assembly affects every member of the PCA.
But wait, there’s more. The PCA is actually a system of churches—think local, regional, and national. Groups of local churches are governed by a higher assembly of elders known as the presbytery, a regional gathering of PCA churches. Presbyteries consist of the pastors (teaching elders, or TEs) and elders (ruling elders, or REs) of each local church in whatever region. Presbyteries are responsible for caring for pastors and candidates for ordination, examining men for licensure to preach or ordination as reaching elders, addressing complaints made by members of the local churches, authorizing the planting and particularization of new churches, dissolving particular churches, and doing other presbytery business. Often presbyteries meet three or more times a year.
The next and highest level of governance above presbytery is the General Assembly (GA)—the national gathering of TEs and REs, called commissioners when they come to GA. This is the highest court and, in contrast to governance by bishops, does not operate by governing top-down. Instead, its members are elected by the local churches, and its leaders are elected from among the members of the assembly—it is governed from the bottom up. In contrast to congregational forms of church government, it is representative in nature, and its judgments are binding on the lower courts (i.e., presbyteries and local churches).
An informed church membership will be effective in ensuring that the denominational decisions are in line with the values of the members it represents.
In my experience, the average church member in a PCA church does not pay attention to or know much about the happenings at the presbytery or denominational level. I think this is quite unfortunate, for two reasons: (1) church members are an important part of Presbyterian polity since they elect the elders who weigh in on denomination-wide decisions, and (2) what happens at General Assembly affects every member of the PCA. In other words, members both influence and are influenced by the happenings of General Assembly.
What Is the General Assembly?
General Assembly is an annual meeting for our denomination, the PCA. Each year, teaching elders (think Nate and Matt) and ruling elders (think Art, Chris, Keith, etc.) from across our denomination gather together for worship and prayer, as well as to study, discuss, debate, and decide biblical and ministry issues. Functionally, the General Assembly is the highest level of ecclesiastical government in our denomination, similar to a congress or parliament. As the highest level of ecclesiastical government, General Assembly votes each year on various overtures (written proposals from a lower church body to a higher body, requesting a specific action) that are binding on lower church governments (i.e., presbyteries and sessions of particular congregations). Often, various overtures make changes to the Book of Church Order (BCO), which is part of the constitution of the PCA—the governing documents by which our churches and ministers are required to operate and abide by. So, in brief, decisions and changes are made that directly affect our churches.
Additionally, committees of the General Assembly do important work to expedite various matters. For example, the Standing Judicial Commission (SJC) handles church discipline cases appealed from the presbytery level. The Review of Presbytery Records Committee (RPR) reviews and approves the minutes of presbyteries, finding when things may not have been done properly. There are other various Permanent Committees and Agencies that oversee areas of ministry, such as church planting (MNA), missionary work (MTW), college ministry (RUF), or financial responsibilities (the PCA Foundation). The General Assembly also selects the boards for its two institutions, Covenant College and Covenant Theological Seminary.
Why Does This Matter?
While I acknowledge some of this sounds boring to the average church member, it is important for church members to understand the kinds of decisions that are made at General Assembly. They signal broader movements in evangelicalism in America, but more importantly, they affect the way our pastors pastor, our elders rule, and our ministries do ministry. And so, they affect you.
Probably the best way I could get you to care is to share examples of decisions made this year. I followed GA pretty closely by watching the live stream (which you can watch reruns of here), and here are some highlights:
Officer titles and requirements
These are two BCO amendments voted on at the 50th GA last year. They were then ratified by over 2/3rds of the 88 presbyteries of the PCA between then and now, and at the 51st GA this June, they received final approval:
Restrict titles of elder and deacon only to men ordained to these offices:
Amend BCO 7-3, regarding titling of unordained people, by the addition of a sentence (underlined).
BCO 7-3 now reads: No one who holds office in the Church ought to usurp authority therein, or receive official titles of spiritual preeminence, except such as are employed in the Scripture. Furthermore, unordained people shall not be referred to as, or given the titles of, the ordained offices of pastor/elder, or deacon.
Forbid ordained church officers (elders and deacons) from identifying themselves as identifying with a sexual orientation outside of a biblical sexual ethic:
Amend BCO 8-2 and 9-3, to require officers’ conformity to biblical standards for chastity and sexual purity in self-description, by the addition of the underlined wording.
BCO 8-2 now reads: He that fills this office should possess a competency of human learning and be blameless in life, sound in the faith, and apt to teach. He should exhibit a sobriety and holiness of life becoming the gospel. He should conform to the biblical requirement of chastity and sexual purity in his descriptions of himself, and in his convictions, character, and conduct. He should rule his own house well and should have a good report of them that are outside the Church.
These two overtures both impact the kinds of officers who can be elected and ordained in local churches and are great examples of the important work of the General Assembly to promote the purity and peace of the Church.
Why Should the Average Church Member Pay Attention to General Assembly?
As stated above, the “average” church member in the PCA is an important member of the polity of the PCA. According to our polity, our elders are elected from our ranks. Our ministers are called by our congregations (either directly by the congregation or by an elected session). It is vital to the health and well-being of our denomination that our church members are aware of the important work of our elders at both the presbytery and General Assembly.
While in the PCA it is the elected and ordained ruling elders and teaching elders (ministers) who have standing to vote at their respective presbyteries and at the General Assembly, ultimately, these leaders are accountable to the membership of the churches they represent. An informed church membership will be effective in ensuring that the denominational decisions are in line with the values of the members it represents. It is therefore a duty for church members to pay attention to what is happening in their church, their presbytery, and their denomination, just as it is their duty to submit to the elders who are ordained to care for and watch over their souls.
Helpful Resources for Church Members
Below are links that would be helpful to PCA church members, both in our church and our presbytery, for staying informed regarding the issues being discussed in the PCA: