Presbyterian Polity

Our Mission

Over the past several years, interest in the biblical rationale, organizational procedures, and growing historical record of the Presbyterian Church in America’s governance has spiked. Many new and veteran elders are eager to engage with the work of our Church beyond the congregational level (i.e., in presbyteries and the General Assembly). The mission of pcapolity.com is to serve Christ’s undershepherds in the PCA by gathering, producing, and publishing informative and instructional resources concerning our ecclesiastical government.

Our History

The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) was founded in 1973 as a denomination seeking to be Faithful to the Scriptures, True to the Reformed Faith, and Obedient to the Great Commission. By God’s grace, the PCA has grown to 378,389 members gathered in 1,593 particular congregations and 318 mission works as of the 49th General Assembly (2022). The 1,911 local churches (including mission works) are distributed among 88 regional presbyteries. At the national level, the PCA maintains special ministries focusing on foreign missions (MTW), domestic church planting and disaster relief (MNA), college ministry (RUF), Christian education (CTS, CC, CDM), stewardship (RBI, PCAF), administration (AC), and a retreat center (RH).

This website was launched in 2021 by a small group of PCA Elders passionate about doing all things “decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40) to the glory of God.

Our Content

This site maintains three kinds of content. The static content explains and illustrates aspects and components of the PCA’s historic and current polity. The dynamic content centers on a blog that serves as a platform for exploring specific issues and making editorial commentary. The focus here is occasional and issues-oriented. Members of the editorial team carefully review all articles appearing on the blog, but the views expressed in a given post are to be understood as belonging to the respective author alone. The “resources” content includes links to external sites of interest to the conscientious presbyter. For more information, read “Our Site Plan” (November 2021).

Editorial Board

RE Matt Fender (All Saints Reformed Presbyterian Church of Richmond, Virginia | James River Presbytery)

TE Jacob Gerber (Harvest Community Church of Omaha, Nebraska | Platte Valley Presbytery)

TE Zachary Groff (Antioch Presbyterian Church of Woodruff, South Carolina | Calvary Presbytery)

RE Brad Isbell (Covenant Presbyterian Church of Oak Ridge, Tennessee | Tennessee Valley Presbytery)

RE Rich Leino (Hope of Christ Presbyterian Church of Stafford, Virginia | James River Presbytery)

TE Jared Nelson (New Life Presbyterian Church of Hopewell Township, Pennsylvania | Ascension Presbytery)

RE Chris Shoemaker (Christ Our Hope Presbyterian Church of Charlestown, Rhode Island | Southern New England Presbytery)

TE Stephen Spinnenweber (Westminster Presbyterian Church of Jacksonville, Florida | Northwest Florida Presbytery)

TE Steve Tipton (Covenant Presbyterian Church of Panama City, Florida | Gulf Coast Presbytery)

Contact Us