by Guy Prentiss Waters | September 8, 2023 Most Presbyterians have attended an ordination service, but many Presbyterians don’t fully understand what they are witnessing. What exactly is (not) happening when men are ordained to office in the church? What are the benefits and blessings of ordination to the church’s officers? The PCA’s Book of … More The Benefits & Blessings of Ordination
By Scott Edburg | August 17, 2023 I may not be King Theoden from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and we are not on the verge of the Battle of Helm’s Deep, but I would like to make the observation that we in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) are beginning another significant event … More And So It Begins…
by Joshua Torrey | June 8, 2023 Please note that the Editorial Board of Presbyterian Polity does not necessarily endorse all views expressed on the blog of this site, but the editors are pleased to present well-crafted position papers on issues facing Presbyterian churches and denominations. What follows is one such paper for our readers’ … More Should the PCA Require Background Checks
by Zachary Groff | June 7, 2023 Please note that the Editorial Board of Presbyterian Polity does not necessarily endorse all views expressed on the blog of this site, but the editors are pleased to present well-crafted position papers on issues facing Presbyterian churches and denominations. What follows is one such paper for our readers’ … More Crafting Sexuality Criteria for Church Officers
By Brad Isbell | May 31, 2023 Dozens of congregations of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) communicate to the church and to the world that ordination is not essential to the holding of church office or to bearing the titles thereof. The two-office polity of the PCA is simple and clear; its on-the-ground manifestation … More PCA Officers & Their Pronouns
By Brad Isbell | April 27, 2023 The Presbyterian Church in America’s (PCA) Book of Church Order (BCO) contains no glossary, but maybe it needs one. This is not to fault the BCO’s early-70’s authors — no previous generation of Presbyterians had trouble figuring out what most of the words meant, including those words that … More An Overture on Titles & Ordination
by Zachary Groff | April 24, 2023 Whenever people gather as a group to accomplish certain tasks and to achieve shared goals, they must operate according to rules held in common. The more formal the group, the more formal the expression of said rules must be. However formal or informal, these rules direct the group … More What Can the BCO Teach Us?
By Brad Isbell | February 28, 2023 In the Presbyterian Church in America, there are but two offices: elder and deacon. All officers in the PCA are ordained; both offices (by definition) are filled by (and only by) ordained persons. Officers are essential in many kinds of organizations inasmuch as they are legally required or … More The Church’s Two Laws
By Philip Ryan | February 24, 2023 “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18 For the second year in a row, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) has sent down overtures regarding the sexuality of ministers to the presbyteries. Overture 29 presented to the 49th … More Mainline Presbyterianism & the LGBTQ Movement
By Zachary Garris | September 17, 2022 It is no secret that Overture 15 (O15) barely passed the 49th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). The Overtures Committee recommended rejecting it, but RE Matt Fender delivered a minority report that convinced the Assembly to make a substitute motion in favor of the … More Why the PCA Needs Overture 15