The past two days the Ovetures Committee has been at work to bring clarity to a number of proposed amendments to our Book of Church Order. Most of Monday's schedule involved a re-writing of BCO chapter 5 which concerns the formation of mission churches and the eventual transition to 'particular church' status. I made a minor amendment that was approved by the committee. It now goes to the floor of General Assembly for approval. If it receives the required majority vote it will be sent to the presbyteries for their approval.
Yesterday the committee spent considerable time debating 'assistants to the deacons' (i.e. deaconesses) sorting through the language of no less than five different overtures. On the 'deaconess' question I offered two amendments at two separate times. During our long debate the discussion changed direction several times. In the end neither one of my amendments stood.
It should be noted that our committee was comprised of about 100 ruling and teaching elders from across the denomination. Our debates were characterized by brotherly love not rancor. Our moderator Rev. John MacRae, did a superb job directing the committee and he received a standing ovation when we adjourned.
The link below summarizes our debate and includes the final language we are sending to the floor of General Assembly for approval.
The View from the Visitor’s Section – Watching the PCA Overtures Committee at work
No comments:
Post a Comment