» News: OPC General Assembly Completes Business

The Orthodox Presbyterian Church completed its General Assembly on Wednesday, June 20. A complete summary of the assembly's activities is available online. Also available is a slide show of photographs.

» News: OPC General Assembly Update

Saturday, The Orthodox Presbyterian Church considered its proposed Directory for Public Worship, section by section. After completing the perfection and approval of 5 out of the 18 sections, the assembly deferred further consideration of the directory to 2008's General Assembly. The assembly made its decision to defer on the basis of time constraints.

On Monday, the assembly approved a name change for the Presbytery of Northern California. The presbytery will now be designated as the "Presbytery of Northern California and Nevada" because of the addition of three churches in the state of Nevada. The assembly heard from the Committee on Christian Education and Great Commission Publications, including word about several new publications orderable online.

The assembly considered the much anticipated report on illegal immigration Monday evening. To quote from the OPC's GA summary:

"While a prima facie case might be made that many illegal aliens cannot make a credible profession of faith because of their apparent failure to submit to the governing authorities ... it is nevertheless appropriate for sessions to judge the credibility of a person's profession of faith based on a case-by-case basis." Hence, "it is not wise for presbyteries and sessions to determine in advance that a person's illegal status automatically disqualifies him from membership in the church, neither would it be appropriate to determine in advance that an illegal status is of no consequence... It should be the goal of presbyteries and sessions that as much as possible all members live as legal aliens or residents in keeping with Romans 13:1-2 and the implications of the fifth commandment (LC qq. 125-128) and the ninth commandment (LC qq. 144-145). It is therefore appropriate for the presbyteries and sessions to provide assistance to members seeking to change their status so that they may live as legal residents."

No word yet on the Assembly's conclusion concerning this report.

Tuesday's work largely concerned a judicial case brought by Gregory Baus. Baus appealed several decisions of the Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic. The assembly declined to sustain his appeal in a nearly day-long consideration of the matter.

The Assembly has not yet adjourned; RN will continue to update as new information is released. Photographs of the assembly are being posted online and, as mentioned previously, there is a running summary of events at the OPC website's update page.

» News: OPC General Assembly Continues

The Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) has provided a detailed summary report of the actions and activities of the General Assembly meeting this week at Dordt College and wrapping up no later than Wednesday the 20th of June.

One innovation employed at this year's OPC assembly is electronic voting by the delegates, allowing for instant, accurate counting of votes for various motions and elections. Today's sessions are dedicated to considering the draft of a new directory of public worship, a rare liturgical development among conservative Reformed Presbyterian churches.

Photo Credit: David K. Thompson

» News: OPC General Assembly Begins

The Seventy-Fourth General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) began Wed, June 13th at Dordt College, Sioux Center, Iowa. David K. Thompson and Stephen Pribble will be providing updates, from time to time, at the OPC website.