(Tim) Philadelphia Presbytery will be meeting in May, just prior to General Assembly. Whether the presbytery will put back on the table its commitment to allowing woman deacons within its bounds remains to be seen. Meanwhile, back in March, Philadelphia Presbytery (PCA) rejected the following overture submitted by the Session of Crossroads Community Church (PCA). The overture was presented to presbytery by Crossroads' pastor, Timothy Witmer.
After the moderator declared the overture defeated, Crossroads' commissioners moved that a roll call vote be taken. Roll call votes are the means by which the members of a presbytery record their votes personally, name by name, for public scrutinty and an historical record. In this case, a roll call vote would have provided a way for the members or officers of a congregation to know how their pastor(s) or commissioner elder(s) voted.
The presbytery then went on to vote on the text of two other documents promoting woman deacons...
one submitted and promoted by Pastors Phil Ryken and Steve Smallman and the other submitted and promoted by Pastor Tuck Bartholomew. (Bartholomew simply presented the text of the proposal now adopted by three other presbyteries--Northern California, Metro NY, and Atlanta.)
The vote was 23 in favor of the Smallman/Ryken proposal and 19 in favor of Bartholomew's NCal/MetroNY/Atlanta proposal. Having received the largest support, it was then time for the Ryken/Smallman proposal to be perfected and adopted. Instead, the matter was tabled.
Here then is the overture containing the doctrine and polity that the presbyters of Philadelphia Presbytery voted down, then declined to allow their names to be recorded with their votes.
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The Office of Deacon: Perpetual, Ordained and for Men Only
Whereas "A particular church consists of a number of professing Christians, with their children, associated together for divine worship and godly living, agreeable to the Scriptures, and submitting to the lawful government of Christ's kingdom" (BCO 4-1); and
Whereas, "The officers of the Church, by whom all its powers are administered, are, according to the Scriptures, teaching and ruling elders and deacons” (BCO 1:4); and
Whereas, the officers of a particular church "are its teaching and ruling elders and its deacons" (BCO 4-2); and
Whereas, "The ordinary and perpetual classes of office in the Church are elders and deacons" (BCO 7-2); and
Whereas, "The office of deacon is set forth in the Scriptures as ordinary and perpetual in the Church" (BCO 9-1); and
Whereas, the Book of Church Order clearly affirms: "In accord with Scripture, these offices [elder and deacon] are open to men only" (BCO 7-2); and, "To the office of deacon, which is spiritual in nature, shall be chosen men of spiritual character, honest repute, exemplary lives, brotherly spirit, warm sympathies, and sound judgment' (BCO 9-3); and
Whereas, the Book of Church Order states that "every church shall elect persons to the offices of ruling elder and deacon … keeping in mind that each prospective officer should be an active male member who meets the qualifications set forth in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1” (BCO 24-1); and
Whereas, the Book of Church Order is explicit that ordination to the offices of elder and deacon is required after a man’s election: “Upon those whom God calls to bear office in His Church He bestows suitable gifts for the discharge of their various duties. And it is indispensable that, besides possessing the necessary gifts and abilities, natural and acquired, every one admitted to an office should be sound in the faith, and his life be according to godliness. Wherefore every candidate for office is to be approved by the court by which he is to be ordained” (BCO 16-3); and “Those who have been called to office in the Church are to be inducted by the ordination of a court” (BCO 17-1); and
Whereas, there have been some teaching elders transferring into PCA Presbyteries and candidates for ordination and licensure who have indicated that they have adopted the position that their congregations can elect men and women as deacons contrary to the provisions of the BCO that deacons "should be an active male member…" (BCO 7-2, 9-3 and 24-1); and
Whereas, some of these teaching elders transferring into Presbyteries and candidates for ordination and licensure have indicated that they will not ordain the men who have been elected as deacons; and
Whereas, this practice of electing men and women as deacons or/and deaconesses and not ordaining either one, or ordaining the men and commissioning the women and then allowing both to serve together on the same board of deacons (diaconate), is contrary to the expressed provisions and teachings of the PCA Book of Church Order (BCO 29-1); and
Whereas, the 36th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America declared that “only ordained and elected men can be members of a diaconate," and that women “are not considered to be members of the diaconate,” and in support of this declaration adopted the following responses to the actions and minutes of Northern California and Philadelphia Presbyteries:
Presbytery's response does not adequately address the specific issue identified by the 35th GA. The newly installed Session of the particularized church "commissioned" unordained men and women for a body which the Presbytery minutes called the "diaconate" (BCO 9, 19-15, 24-10). However, BCO 9 is clear that only ordained and elected men can be members of a "diaconate." The appeal to BCO 9-7 is flawed because 9-7 addresses people appointed by the Session, not members of a diaconate (Board of Deacons, 9-4). According to BCO 9-3 and 9-4, a diaconate may only include men who are elected, ordained and installed. Therefore, the body referenced in the exception must not be called a diaconate. In addition, this practice, coupled with the minister's expressed view that he intends not to ordain deacons "until the BCO is amended," denies qualified men their constitutional and biblical right to be considered for this office.
We agree with the Presbytery that BCO 9-3 would not directly apply to the commissioning of unordained women, if they are not considered to be members of the Diaconate. However, the record indicates that "four deaconesses and one deacon were commissioned," and the record of the particularization service refers to "Vows/Commissioning of Diaconate." BCO 9-3 and 9-4 are clear that only ordained and elected men can be members of a "Diaconate."
NOW THEREFORE be it resolved, that the Session of Crossroads Community Church Presbyterian Church in America hereby overtures the Philadelphia Presbytery to acknowledge and affirm the expressed provisions of the Book of Church Order of the Presbyterian Church in America with regard to the office of deacon, and membership and composition of the diaconate as follows:
That the office of deacon is one of the ordinary and perpetual classes of office in the Church (BCO 1-4; 4-2; 7-2; 9-1); and
That as a perpetual office in the Church, each particular church should elect men only to the office of deacon, unless providentially hindered in which case the ruling elders will assume those duties until such time as men can be elected to the office of deacon (BCO 5-10; 24-1); and
That the office of deacon "in accord with Scripture is open to men only” (BCO 7-2; 9-3; 24-1); and
That since the expressed position of the Book of Church Order of the PCA is that the office of deacon is a perpetual office, is reserved for men only, and is an office for which ordination is to be administered (BCO 5-10; 16-3; 17-1; 24-6):
b. The Presbytery remind its teaching elders who have been granted substantive exceptions of belief regarding the office of deacon that such exceptions are only exceptions of belief, that there is no permitted exception of practice with regard to the office of deacon, and that they must conform their practices to the expressed position of the Book of Church Order with regard to the office of deacon;
c. The Presbytery remind the Sessions of its member churches that they must conform their practices to the expressed position of the Book of Church Order with regard to the office of deacon, and that men only are to compose the membership of their diaconates;
d. The Presbytery remind its mission churches that they must conform their practices to the expressed position of the Book of Church Order with regard to the office of deacon, that men only are to compose the membership of their diaconates and that they should be endeavoring to nominate and train deacons as set forth in the Book of Church Order; and
e. The Presbytery provide its member churches with specific direction as to how they should come into conformity with the recent decisions of the 36th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America by the November 2008 meeting of Presbytery.
Adopted unanimously by the Session of Crossroads Community Church Presbyterian Church in America on the 11th day of August 2008.
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Clerk of Session
