1. Church lobbyist urges activists to ‘be vigilant’ 2. Mid Council committee begins with introductions, closed sessions 3. Mission Council gives GA bleak stats but hopeful plans 4. Do better in the 21st century

Since The Aquila Report has limited staff and budget, we are unable to cover the PCUSA General Assembly. Our good friends at The Layman are there in force, even adding a new writer just for the occasion. We will be providing daily 'teases' and links to many interesting stories, such as:

Plans are also moving forward to keep count of the new worshiping communities, but, he admitted, they are a "little bit messy." The Office of the General Assembly is helping to create a methodology that will keep count of what may or may not be a church, Dermondy said. "We are trying to create a baseline. We will start an official tally after the General Assembly.

“The vast majority of congregations and worshiping communities across the denomination can name individuals within their community who may be involved but will never end up on the rolls. I believe that they are the ones who can help teach us new ways in which religious institutions can serve God in this century.”

Currently, the PC(USA) allows Presbyterian ministers to bless same-gender unions, in services that do not use the same liturgy as marriage services and are not presented as being weddings. The denomination’s constitution defines Christian marriage as being between a man and a woman.

This is why so many Presbyterians treat the Westminster Divines the way most Americans regard the founders — these are the heroic founders of our religious and political institutions. Noting the problems and flaws that haunted these folks is not what most people want to hear. They’d rather contemplate the genius, commitment, and courage that led to the triumph of good over bad

Another key to watch will be the change in attitude of the Assembly now that the “fidelity and chastity” language is gone from our Book of Order. Will the commissioners work to find compromise language to stave off the rapid exodus of churches seeking dismissal, or will they aggressively pursue full inclusion in all aspects of denominational life – to the exclusion of minority voices?

Other business items deal with speeding up the call process (7-19), returning to minister and elder terminology (7-04), reassessing the effectiveness of ordination exams (7-07), clarifying that candidates for ministry must be examined (7-20), giving United Methodist Church clergy blanket approval to officiate at the Lord’s Table (7-15)…

The most important question of our day is ‘Where is the authority?’ ‘Sola Scriptura’ is dead in most places, and dying rapidly in others. So where do we lodge the authority of our faith? We’re not really arguing about LGBT inclusion, we’re arguing about how we read the Bible. As I mentioned here a few... Continue Reading

An open letter to the Covenant Network, et. al. (Editor’s note: This is the group in the PCUSA that supports LGBT issues.) The camel called the PCSUA is getting smaller and the load is getting heavier. Now is not the time to push or add to any more that load. At seminary, I started out... Continue Reading