PCA General Assembly

In June our denomination (Presbyterian Church in America) held its 38th annual General Assembly (GA) meeting in Nashville, Tenn. About 3,500 people descended upon Nashville’s Convention Center for the weeklong activities. Mary and I consider ourselves very blessed to have been able to attend, and came home last Friday evening very tired, but very encouraged as well.

As a way of allaying any concerns some of you might have about the perils of denominations, I want to make it clear that we at New Life rejoice that God is at work through all kinds of denominations to advance his kingdom and to gather in his elect. We affirm and support any church or denomination that proclaims the risen Christ as God’s sole provision for the salvation of sinners.

At the same time, it is good to be part of a denomination like the PCA that is committed to be “faithful to the Scriptures, true to the Reformed faith, and obedient to the Great Commission.” The PCA is far from perfect, but I was reminded at GA what an honor it is to labor alongside so many godly and faithful people who love Jesus, who fight for truth, and who sacrificially serve the church.

Regarding the business of the denomination, here are some of the highlights of what transpired at GA:

• The Assembly approved a letter to be sent to President Obama and other federal officials regarding the possible repeal of the U.S. military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy (See ”General Assembly” p. 5)regarding homosexuals in the military. You can read the content of that letter by going to page 4 of this issue of Lifeline. (I personally was able to participate on the committee of commissioners that discussed, revised and recommended the letter.)
• The issue of women serving as deaconesses has been a controversial issue in the denomination for the last several years. There is a paragraph in our Book of Church Order (9.7) that allows men and women to serve as assistants to the deacons. Because of concerns about some churches taking liberties with this language, the Assembly this year approved the addition of the following language to that paragraph of the BCO: “These assistants to the deacons are not officers of the church and, as such, are not subjects for ordination.” There was little debate on the floor about this, and the vote was strongly in support, so I take this as a positive step in the direction of unity on an issue that has threatened to create much dissension in our midst.
• The most controversial issue at GA was the proposed 2010 PCA Strategic Plan. We continued debate until midnight Thursday as we considered each point of the plan item by item. One portion of the plan was voted down, but the rest was approved. I did notice, however, that the votes on some portions of the plan were very close, which suggests some division of opinion as to where the denomination is headed.

One of the high points at each General Assembly is the large number of breakout workshops that are offered, most of which take place
before the assembly actually starts doing business.

Doug Coyle, a PCA pastor in Las Cruces, Calif., gave a stimulating lecture on the way the writings of 19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche have profoundly influenced the thinking of 21st century postmodern people. Nietzsche is famous for coining the phrase, “God is dead,” and it was amazing to observe  how far ahead of his time Nietzsche was. Pastor Coyle encouraged us pastors to be aware that many sitting in our pews might be heavily influenced by Nietzsche’s thought, whether they realize it or not.

I also attended a workshop given by Randy Pope, senior pastor of Perimeter Church in North Atlanta. Elders, pay attention here: the workshop was titled, “Making Session Meetings the Best Night of the Month.” I’m not sure the seminar lived up to its title, but it was good to be reminded that elder meetings should be more like family gatherings than a session of Congress.

The most memorable workshop was given by Skip Ryan, former pastor of Park Cities PCA in Dallas, who shared what he has learned from his experience of being dismissed from his pastorate after it was discovered that he had developed an addiction to prescription drugs. He told us that he developed his addiction by wearing himself out over the course of 30 years of ministry in an attempt to prove his worth and gain the approval of other people.

The turning point for Skip was during a counseling session with a counselor who was not even a believer. The counselor asked him, “Who is your God?” Skip was bewildered by the question, thinking the answer was obvious. “The God of the Bible,” he said in response. “Oh no,” the counselor said. “Your god is drugs.”

By the grace of God, Skip came to realize that “it’s not wrong to not be exceptional.” Eventually he came to be honest with himself. He quoted St. Thomas as saying, “If you do not bring out the truth about yourself, it will kill you; if you do bring out the truth about yourself, it will heal you.”

In all of his busy ministry, Skip had “let Jesus slip away.” Jesus no longer was enough for him, and he became enslaved to finding fulfillment in other things. He went on to realize that his fundamental calling as a pastor was not to know how to preach, or to know how to lead, or to know how to counsel, but to know how much Jesus loves him.

Currently, Skip serves as chancellor and professor at Redeemer Seminary in Dallas. He is a testimony to the fact that God continues to use his broken servants to encourage and build up the church. In fact, the only servants he uses are those who are broken.

You can hear Skip’s message, as well as other workshops from General Assembly, by going to barkerproductions.net  Click on “PCA General Assembly” in the left column, and then click on the icon for 2010 General Assembly MP3s.

My love to you in Christ,
Bob