PCA assembly votes against anti-public school proposal
The Layman Online, June 22, 2005
The Presbyterian Church in America, a denomination that was established in 1972 by 261 congregations with 41,000 members who left the mainline Presbyterian Church U.S., held its 33rd General Assembly in Chattanooga, Tenn., June 14-17.
More than 1,000 commissioners attended the meeting from more than 1,500 congregations in the U.S. and Canada. Many were accompanied by their families, and total attendance in conjunction with the PCA assembly was more than 5,000.
The PCA, which has grown rapidly, currently has more than 350,000 members and 800 full-time missionaries. The PCUSA, after a loss of 43,175 members in 2004, has a total membership of 2,362,136 and 300 foreign missionaries.
PUBLIC SCHOOL RESOLUTION – The PCA commissioners voted to reject a resolution that would encourage Christian parents to remove their children from public schools. The personal resolution was offered by the Rev. Steve Warhurst, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Kingsport, Tenn.
The Bills and Overtures Committee voted 35-10 to send it back to the General Assembly with a negative recommendation. The resolution stated:
- Whereas, The Bible commands fathers to bring up their children in the training and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4), and all parents who have had a child baptized in the Presbyterian Church in America have taken a vow to strive by all the means of God’s appointment to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (BCO 56-5), and
- A truly Christian education begins with the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 9:10), and teaches children to think biblically about all of life (2 Corinthians 10:5; Romans 12:2; Deuteronomy 6:6-9), and
- Whereas, The public school system does not offer a Christian education, but officially claims to be “neutral” with regard to Christ, a position that Christ Himself said was impossible (Luke 11:23), and
- Whereas, The public schools are by law humanistic and secular in their instruction, and as a result the attending children receive an education without positive reference to the Triune God, and
- Whereas, Some courageous teachers in our congregations disregard this law. Obeying God rather than men, they try to give their students a truly Christian education (Acts 4:18-20). This resolution should not be construed to discourage these adult believers who faithfully labor as missionaries to unbelieving colleagues and students. However, these rare exceptions should not lead anyone to believe the public schools are regularly giving children a truly Christian education.
- Whereas, Sending thousands of PCA children as “missionaries” to their unbelieving teachers and classmates has failed to contribute to increasing holiness in the public schools. On the contrary, the Nehemiah Institute documents growing evidence that the public schools are successfully converting covenant children to secular humanism, and
- Whereas, We are squandering a great opportunity to instruct these children in the truth of God’s word and its application to all of life;
- Therefore, be it resolved that the 33rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America encourages all her officers and members to remove their children from the public schools and see to it that they receive a thoroughly Christian education, for the glory of God and the good of Christ’s church.
NEW MODERATOR – Howard Q. Davis, a ruling elder at First Presbyterian Church in Indianola, Miss., has been elected moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America. Davis is a lawyer and a former state circuit court judge. He has served as moderator of Covenant Presbytery a number of times. On the General Assembly level, he has served on the Administrative Committee, Mission to North America and the Board of Directors of the PCA.
NEW PRESBYTERIES – The assembly approved establishing five new Presbyteries to accommodate denominational growth. Northern Illinois will be divided into three Presbyteries; Philadelphia will be divided into three Presbyteries; and Pacific-Northwest will be divided into two Presbyteries (Pacific-Northwest and Western Canada). Once all of the new Presbyteries are formally organized there will be 73 PCA Presbyteries.
THEOLOGICAL UNITY – Leaders of the PCA see “agreement on theology” as the most important factor in determining denominational health, and not cooperative ministry. “That,” according to Will Barker, vice chairman of the PCA’s Strategic Planning Committee (SPC), “may be the key finding” from a recent survey fielded by the SPC.
PROFESSORS’ SEMINARS – Several faculty members from Covenant Seminary offered seminars for ruling elders. The theme of the assembly was “The Year of the Ruling Elder.”
This year’s goal was “strengthen and encourage the men who stand alongside full-time ministers in the pastoral work of those called by God to serve as overseers in His church.”