On Overtures 23 and 37
This is a PCA-specific blog, so it might only interest those who share that church identity with me.
Other authors have written at length about the multitude of issues that make many of us adamantly opposed to Overtures 23 and 37 being adopted and changing our Book of Church Order. To see the language of those amendments and get a technical and detailed look at those arguments please see these exceedingly helpful articles by Travis Scott, Brent Horan, and Trevor Laurence:
https://www.semperref.org/articles/5-reasons-to-vote-no-to-overture-37nbsp
https://www.semperref.org/articles/the-definitive-meaning-of-overture-23
https://mereorthodoxy.com/pca-overture-37-minority-report/
The purpose of my brief post is two-fold. First, I’d like to respond to one comment from a prominent GRN Council Member and supporter of the Overtures. Second, I’d simply like to offer brief encouragement to vote against these Overtures when your Presbytery gathers to address them.
Rick Phillips Needs to Stop Making Disparaging Comments
In his GRN article supporting the proposed amendments, Rick Phillips writes, “In short, the opposition to Overture 37 reveals a bias against holiness.”
Respectfully, Rick, you’re deeply mistaken and those words are needlessly divisive and derisive. I’m going to attribute to you only the most honoring of heart intentions when it comes to your advocacy in favor of these amendments. I don’t believe that either you or the vast majority of those who support these amendments desire anything less than the peace & purity of Christ’s Church. I thank God for you. But when you (or others) assert that those who disagree with you don’t take holiness seriously, I have to say that you’re not only desperately mistaken but actually serving to further disquiet in the church.
We can disagree over the need for these amendments to our BCO and whether or not the proposed amendments achieve the ends desired, and still equally be concerned about and dedicated to living whole-heartedly for Christ with a deep and lasting commitment to growing in grace and bringing the Gospel to others. Stop asserting the spiritually elitist view that your tribe is the only tribe in the PCA that cares about holiness. It’s unwise, it’s untrue, and it does not help further the debate over this issue.
Vote No on Amendements 23 and 37
The arguments made by others in the articles listed above are compelling and all that is needed to be said about these unwise changes. As a member of the past GA’s Overtures Committee, I can confidently say that these Overtures are not only unnecessary additions to our BCO, but are also unwieldy, unclear, and ultimately unhelpful. If passed, they will hinder rather than help us in the good and important work we undertake to prepare & examine candidates for ordained office. That work is sufficiently supported and clarified by our BCO as it stands.
The language employed in these amendments creates uncertainty, as has been widely and clearly demonstrated by the chasm of opinion concerning what they do and do not provide for.
The provisions contradict both the spirit and the content of the excellent report we received from the AIC on Sexuality and nearly unanimously commended by the GA.
They also appear to bar from office men who not only currently faithfully serve us as officers but also deny the reality that in our history other men battled with the temptations these Overtures specify for special attention and still served God faithfully and fruitfully. That reality is crucial to acknowledge. We not only believe in the reality of sanctification - in every aspect of our being - but also in the Grace that enables us to be profitable servants of Christ despite our many sins and faults.
Let me close by noting how very grateful I am for those with whom I worked to craft language which might well have unified the Assembly on these issues and made this vote a mere formality rather than a cause of considerable controversy. That group consisted of key leaders across the spectrum of our PCA family of churches and leaders. Sadly those efforts were rejected by the Overtures Committee, and so here we are, at a crossroads.
I hope that we will have the wisdom to reject these Overtures, and should any future initiatives arise, I trust that their authors will see to it that those are characterized by language that is more helpful to our Examination Committees and Sessions.