By the grace of God, the minority report to introduce a deaconess study committee that I blogged about in the last installment failed on the floor of the PCA General Assembly.
Now that the General Assembly is over, here are a few personal observations -
The proposed "deaconess study committee" vote failed only by a narrow margin, and from where I was sitting it appeared that it had actually succeeded - although admittedly I was sitting in an area heavily populated by young men in favor of the study committee. That the vote was close was highly alarming, and certainly something of a preview of coming attractions. It also indicated that there more egalitarian views are beginning to prevail amongst our younger seminary graduates, particularly those ministering in urban settings.
The time allotted for debate was insufficient, and clearly deliberation has been made more difficult on the floor by the recent BCO and RAO rule changes. The overtures committee is now the only place were substantive deliberation can occur.
Giving credit where credit is due, Paul Kooistra did one of the best jobs of moderating the assembly I've yet seen. I don't think anyone could seriously have accused him of being partial. If anything my only complaint would have been that he was a little too nice at points and that when you are disciplining someone you shouldn't be apologizing for doing what is right. So while I'm still not happy about denominational employees nominating other denominational employees, I think he deserves credit for a job well done.
I strongly believe that the Permanent Committee infomercials and indeed at least 50% of the assembly could be cut. Our assembly is becoming a giant pork barrel and the things that really need deliberation and debate are getting short shrift.
As for the worship services, I agree that the preachers would do well to be preaching for reformation and revival. While I thought many of the points made were good, I was saddened that some made the gospel call to faith in Christ almost an afterthought. I believe that one specific comment made by a GA preacher was along the lines of "Lastly if it is possible in an assembly of this nature that some of you might not yet know Jesus Christ..." At that point I thought to myself, in a group this size it is well nigh inevitable that there are scores of people here who have never closed with Christ! Personally, I think they'd do well to start with that assumption and preach a sermon that convicts men of sin and passionately exhorts them to flee to Christ. As it is, I've never met a true saint who is offended by that kind of preaching in any event. Wouldn't it be nice if we went to a GA and a revival broke out?
Along those lines, I do want to relate one sad anecdote that I think says a lot about the real, core problems with our denomination. I only had lunch in the hotel once, but since our server that day was friendly and willing to talk I went ahead and started talking about the gospel. I said to her "I know you've probably heard this a lot because you've been serving a hotel full of pastors all week... " Her response was "You're all pastors? Really? No I didn't know that" and no apparently she hadn't heard this at all. Thursday afternoon, a hotel full of pastors, and our unsaved server hadn't even spotted a difference between us and all the other guests she waits on. We often hear that we are "failing to reach the culture" as a denomination, sadly I think the truth might be that we are the culture.
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