Eastern Carolina Presbytery joins Central Carolina and Evangel Presbyteries in seeking to revise Section 9-7 of the Book of Church Oder (BCO).  

With Overture 9 to the 38th General Assembly, Central Carolina asks the Assembly “to Revise BCO 9-7 to Prohibit Assistants to the Deacons from Being Commissioned or Installed as Office Bearers.”  

BCO 9-7 now reads: “It is often expedient that the Session of a church should select and appoint godly men and women of the congregation to assist the deacons in caring for the sick, the widow, the orphans, the prisoners, and others who may be in any distress or need.”

According to the Eastern Carolina overture, “This is often cited as pretext for the practice of electing and commissioning female deacons….”

Overture 9, if answered in the affirmative, would add the following language: “These assistants to the deacons shall not be referred to as deacons or deaconesses, nor are they to be elected by the congregation nor formally commissioned, ordained, or installed as though they were office bearers in the church.”

The proposed language is identical to that offered in Overture 2 from Central Carolina Presbytery.

Overture 7, from Evangel Presbytery seeks to amend BCO 9-7 by adding this sentence: "These individuals who assist the deacons, selected by means determined by each Session, are not subjects for ordination.”

To read these and other overtures please click here.

The 38th General Assembly of the PCA will be held June 29 – July 2, 2010 at the Nashville Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn. Registration information can be found here.