Mr. Ball and Mr. Smith may be correct in asserting that the knowledge and commitment of the ministers and elders at the outset were less than ideal; however, I would assert that the second ordination vow and the enrollment record obligated the future members and courts of the PCA to a Thoroughly Reformed position.   ... Continue Reading

Clarity concerning the Triune God of Scripture as the Christian foundation would not automatically clear up all of these issues.  However, lack of clarity on the Trinity necessarily leads to lack of clarity in any number of other areas, including those related to the mission of the Church among Muslims.  The Minority Report 2014 is... Continue Reading

To answer the larger question the article poses, yes, the Insider Movement really is that bad.  IM undermines the Christian faith at a number of crucial points, and it should be denounced by orthodox denominations in the most unambiguous terms possible.  I would therefore urge my fellow PCA commissioners to vote for the committee’s report... Continue Reading

An overture was brought to the assembly by the Presbytery of the Northwest (PNW) asking the assembly to establish a study committee to examine and give its advice as to whether and in which particular sense the concept of the Mosaic Covenant as a republication of the Adamic Covenant is consistent with the doctrinal system... Continue Reading

The overture proposed an amendment to our Form of Government which sought to clarify the difference between examinations for licensure and those for ordination. The overture proposed that the exams for licensure be restricted to the Westminster Confession of Faith. While CCE was sympathetic with the aims of the overture, it argued that there was... Continue Reading

The candidate believed he could meet those standards. Cliff Smith, a spokesman for Erskine, declined to name the candidate, but said that he withdrew because, based on “the views of some board members and church members, he felt he would be in the position of creating tension or dissension and further conflict” at the college... Continue Reading

Biblically, the “vitals of religion” must include more than the five points of Calvinistic soteriology. This is no longer an issue of ecclesiastical power or of male chauvinism. We need a biblical cosmology, a clear statement of how the world is made that can answer both the feminist and LGBT dismissal of gender, behind which... Continue Reading

Should the General Assembly vote to receive the Minority Report, it would not be clear what we are actually recommending to our churches. In fact, the message would be inherently contradictory. The Minority Report is offered as a supplement to the Committee Report, affirming that “the majority has already done significant, able work with which... Continue Reading

There would be an eight-month delay on all cases decided at the SJC’s fall stated meeting each October.  In its report to the Houston GA this year, the SJC is reporting decisions in 10 cases and all were unanimous except one (and that one was 18-1).  Despite that unanimity, each of those cases would be... Continue Reading

The OPC is in its 39th year of partnership with the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) through Great Commission Publications (GCP). Recently, GCP appointed Mr. Marvin Padgett its executive director. Mr. Padgett addressed the assembly and outlined some of the changes happening at GCP, particularly its website redesign and a new curriculum based on John... Continue Reading