MEMORANDUM

TO: Commissioners of the 35th General Assembly of the

       Presbyterian Church in America

FROM: Jordan Mark Siverd, Esq.

DATE: June 9, 2007

RE: FV Report inconsistent with PCA church order Overview

 

Because the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) believes that “there is an inseparable connection between faith and practice, truth and duty,” the 34th General Assembly erected a Study Committee to examine issues arising out of Federal Vision, New Perspective, and Auburn Avenue Theologies.  After a year of hard work by good men, the Study Committee has released its Report.

The Report is a good first step in corporately working through these issues, but as currently drafted, it is inconsistent with the church order of the PCA in that  

 

    (1) it fails to provide sufficient biblical analysis of the issues, and  

    (2) it fails to address issues rather than persons.  

 

While these problems do not relate to the theological conclusions of the Report, they are nevertheless substantive in nature and implicate important principles of the PCA’s church order.  The Study Committee should be thanked for its hard work thus far, but the Report should not be adopted until it is revised to conform to the PCA constitution.