Here’s a summary of reports given and actions taken by the 52nd General Assembly.
Tuesday evening
The Assembly elected Kevin DeYoung to serve as moderator of the 52nd General Assembly.
Teaching Elder Bryan Chapell gave a report to the Assembly. “I have sought to apologize to all that my comments have harmed, and I apologize to you, asking your forgiveness,” he said. He then pronounced a blessing on the denomination which he has called home for nearly 50 years.
Provisional Stated Clerk John Bise offered the Stated Clerk’s Report.
Stated Clerk’s Report
The numbers indicate that the PCA grew again in 2024, a cause for celebration at any time, but in an age of unquestionable church decline, it gives us cause for being grateful for the Lord’s blessing. The denomination must humbly pray, asking that God would make the PCA faithful stewards of these unique blessings, which cannot be explained or deserved.
BCO Amendments
The Assembly voted to ratify four BCO amendments that were first approved by the 51st General Assembly and then sent to the presbyteries for approval. Items 2 and 4 were ratified together. Items 1 and 3 were then ratified separately.
The Assembly heard a partial report from the Review of Presbytery Records. The Assembly voted to approve changes to the RAO as outlined in Recommendations 9, 10, and 11.
The Assembly heard a partial report from the Overtures Committee concerning overtures dealing with changes to the RAO (34 and 43). Neither Overture 34 nor Overture 43 received the required ⅔ of votes to amend the RAO, so both overtures failed.
The Assembly heard a partial report of the Standing Judicial Commission dealing with changes to RAO. The changes were approved.
The Assembly heard reports from the Committee on Constitutional Business and Theological Examining Committee. After those reports, the Assembly recessed to reconvene on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m.
Wednesday
The Assembly reconvened at 8:30 a.m. and heard the report from the Cooperative Ministries Committee and then the report from the Review of Presbytery Records. You can read about RPR’s work here.
After debates on several items pertaining to individual presbyteries, the report and recommendations from the Review of Presbytery Records were approved by the Assembly.
The Interchurch Relations Committee presented its report, introducing delegates from presbyterian denominations around the world. Representatives from the ARP, Korean American Presbyterian Church, Reformed Church of Quebec, and the RPCNA addressed the Assembly.
In the afternoon the Assembly heard reports and approved recommendations from the PCA Foundation, CDM, Covenant College, Covenant Theological Seminary, Mission to North America, and Reformed University Fellowship.
PCA Foundation
During 2024 the PCA Foundation received $100.9 million in total gifts. It distributed, or granted to ministry, $71.7 16 million. Distributions to PCA churches totaled $23.2 million in 2024, while distributions to PCA committees and agencies exceeded $4 million, and distributions to other Christian ministries were $44.3 million. The PCA Foundation’s total assets were $407.4 million as of December 31, 2024, an increase of $150.6 million over the December 31, 2023.
The PCA Foundation continues to look for opportunities to work with PCA churches and members to increase giving to advance and reveal the Kingdom. The agency intends to continue and enhance resources to and for PCA churches, like its free Smart Giving Workshops and a planned giving website.
CDM
CDM provides opportunities for leaders in discipleship ministry to come together for training and encouragement. Since last summer, attendance at all events exceeded CDM’s expectations, as participants came from churches of all sizes around the denomination.
CDM also provided opportunities for leaders to develop in smaller groups with more focused training. The CDM Certification programs certified 30 students in the children’s ministry class and a small initial group in the student ministry certification program in 2024. The Wives of Elders (WE) Ministry and Women’s Ministry International (WMI) have seen more growth.
CDM continues to produce printed resources for churches, including “Teach Us to Worship” and the ESL “Neighbor to Neighbor” curriculum. The PCA Bookstore provides a wide variety of resources.
Covenant College
In August Covenant College will welcome its largest freshman class in its history. Covenant College received financial gifts from 469 churches, with 202 participating in the college’s Church Scholarship Promise program. In total, the college received roughly $968,000 from churches.
The college has planned several improvements to the college facilities, and the Covenant College’s chapel program continues to shepherd students through discipleship groups and chapel three times each week.
Covenant Theological Seminary
This year Covenant Seminary received a $25,000 Moving Forward in Mission Grant from the Association of Theological Schools to further the seminary’s goal of recruiting and training more pastor-minded church planters, as well as church planting team members, for the PCA and beyond. This spring the seminary announced that Dr. Richard Joe will join the faculty as associate professor of world missions and the first occupant of the Paul D. Kooistra Chair of World Missions.
The past academic year has continued the general upward trend in enrollments in key programs. Covenant Seminary experienced robust numbers in several programs, including the pastor-minded M.Div Ordination Track program, which grew by 18% compared to the previous year, with 40 new students enrolled.
Mission to North America
In 2024, 40 new churches were planted and 150+ future church planters were trained. MNA’s Church Planter Assessment Center held five church planter assessments, assessing 30 couples or individuals in 2024. MNA Disaster Response coordinated the PCA response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. In 2024, PRCC endorsed 333 PRCC chaplains, and 170 chaplains and their wives attended the annual chaplain training held prior to the opening of the 51st General Assembly. Other MNA ministries like Ministry to State, and MNA’s ESL continue to grow and strengthen the church.
RUF
RUF began with comments from outgoing coordinator Will Huss. RUF is currently on 160 campuses and added 3 new works in 2024: Saint Louis University, Tennessee State, and Marquette. RUF anticipates launching four new RUF campuses in the fall of 2025, including University of North Georgia, Colorado School of Mines, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and possibly Troy University. RUF-I is currently on 26 campuses including a new work at the University of Alabama. RUF-Global continues to partner with MTW in coming alongside missionaries who are seeking to reach and equip college students on campuses across the globe. RUF has eight RUF-G
ministries with the prospect of more missionaries partnering with us this year. In February, RUF held the first ever RUF Staff Training week outside of the United States in Cape Town, South Africa.
Ridge Haven
Ridge Haven provides camp, conference, retreat, and educational opportunities for the church year round. Ridge Haven was significantly impacted by Hurricane Helene in the fall 2024, and the camp had cancellations from nearly 1,000 guests. Despite this significant event, the camp still hosted over 13,000 people and over 200 unique churches and ministries this past year. Ridge Haven hoped to finish the activity pool at its Cono campus by this summer. At its Brevard campus, Ridge Haven began construction on four family cabins and a chapel atop Keyes Summit. Ridge Haven will soon break ground for a new lake that they hope to complete by the end of the year.
Thursday
On Thursday morning the Assembly reconvened and heard reports from Mission to the World, Geneva Benefits, and the Administrative Committee.
Mission to the World
Mission to the World has identified three areas where it wants to advance priorities in its next season: mobilization, developing leaders, and healthy teams. The ministry continues to pray for and work with churches to mobilize 1% of their members for global missions. The agency is also working to create a culture of developing leaders to recruit, retain, and inspire the missionaries MTW wants to see engaged in kingdom advancing work.
Geneva Benefits
In 2024, Geneva Benefits continued to provide sabbatical matching grants for pastors serving underresourced churches and launched pastoral cohorts in January 2025. It continues to provide employee benefits of life insurance, disability insurance, as well as vision and dental insurance.
Administrative Committee
The Administrative Committee serves by coordinating and communicating matters of finance, legality, polity, and corporate responsibility to help maintain and further the peace, purity, and mission of the whole church. The AC is committed to serving the whole church, and its staff serves as frontline responders to the needs of every session, presbytery, and committee of the General Assembly. Through communications, resources, and arrangements, the AC supports every aspect of the nurture, mission, and work of the PCA.
As part of its report, Overture 44, “Transition byFaith to a Press-Release-Based Publication,” was approved as amended. Here is the amended language: “Therefore, be it resolved that the 52nd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America directs the Administrative Committee to examine and evaluate the structure and editorial policies of byFaith magazine, and bring either recommendations for changes or rationale for no changes to the 54th GA.”
Nominating Committee
The General Assembly voted on nominations to permanent committees. Most of the votes included nominees from the nominating committee and floor nominees. Of the 30 openings, 21 will be filled by individuals nominated by the Nominating Committee, and nine will be filled by floor nominees.
Overtures Committee
The Assembly took the following actions on recommendations from the Overtures Committee:
Accept in omnibus the Overtures Committee recommendations on Overtures 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 14, 15, 16, 25, 27, 29, 30, 37, 38, 39, 40, and 49. The vote was 1708-28.
The Assembly heard the minority report on Overture 9, “Amend BCO 14-1 to Make AC Members Appointed by Committees and Agencies Non-voting Advisory Members,” and voted to accept the Overtures Committee’s recommendation to refer the overture back to James River Presbytery.
The Assembly heard the minority report on Overture 12, “Amend BCO 58-5 to Specify Only Officers May Distribute the Lord’s Supper,” and voted with the minority report to answer the overture in the negative. The vote was 1080-922.
The Assembly voted to answer Overture 11, “To Study Incorporating Bitcoin into Session, Presbytery, and Committee & Agency Balance Sheets,” in the negative.
Grounds: This Overture was voted in the negative without debate.
The Assembly voted to answer Overture 13, “Amend BCO 25-1 to Specify Only Members in Good Standing May Vote,” in the negative.
Grounds: The Overture seeks to solve a problem which does not actually exist. The two provisions of the BCO (24-3 and 25-1) deal with different matters, the difference between members in good standing and those under discipline (BCO 24-3) and the difference between communing and non-communing members (25-1).
The Assembly has voted to answer Overture 19, “Amend BCO 57-5 to Revise the Membership Vows,” in the negative. Grounds: The current questions of membership are time-tested, Biblical, and Trinitarian. There is no need to revise them at this time.
The Assembly voted to answer Overture 22, “Amend BCO 20-3, 24-3 and 25-1 to clarify “Regular Standing” re minimum voting age,” in the negative. Grounds: This Overture would create a distinct subclass of communing member without all of the privileges of other communing members.
Overture 27, “Erect Ad Interim Committee to Receive Suggestions for Permanent Committee and Agency Operations, Resources, and Expenses,” in the negative.
Grounds: In light of the Committee’s recommendation of the establishment of two other study committees, it was the opinion of the Committee that it would not be wise to present this study committee recommendation to the assembly for consideration, especially in light of RAO 9-3.
The Assembly voted to refer Overture 10, “Amend BCO 22 to Affirm the ‘Consent of the Governed’ Regarding Assistant Pastors,” back to Central Florida Presbytery.
Grounds: This Overture raises a significant question about the issue in our polity of Assistant Pastors. After significant debate and attempts to perfect the Overture, the decision was made to refer it back to the Presbytery for clarification, perfection, and possible resubmission.
The Assembly voted to refer Overture 25, “Amend BCO 46-4 to Add a Class of Associate Membership for Honorably Retired TEs,” back to Northwest Georgia Presbytery.
The Assembly voted to answer Overture 8, “Amend BCO 24-1 To Require REs and Deacons to State Confessional Differences,” in the affirmative. The vote was 1243-507.
The Assembly voted to answer Overture 23, “Amend BCO 41-3 to Allow Supplemental Judges for a Session Trial,” in the affirmative.
The Assembly voted to answer Overture 24, “Amend BCO 24-1 to Clarify a Session’s Role in Examining Officer Nominees,” in the affirmative as amended. The vote was 935-678.
The Assembly voted to answer Overture 33, “Amend BCO 57-2 re the Examination of Young Persons for Admission to the Sealing Ordinances,” in the affirmative. The vote was 1022-650.
The Assembly voted to answer Overture 26, “Erect Ad Interim Committee to Revise the Directory for Worship for Authoritative Use,” in the affirmative as amended. The vote was 1039-582.
The Assembly voted to answer Overture 31, “Amend BCO 31-10 to Require Vote of the Entire Court to Suspend an Officer’s Official Functions during Process,” in the affirmative as amended.
The Assembly voted to answer Overture 32, “Amend BCO 36 to Provide for Elevation of a Censure without an Entirely New Trial,” in the affirmative as amended.
The Assembly voted to postpone indefinitely Overture 50, “Encouragement to Discernment and Compassion regarding Immigrants.” The vote was 706-476.
The Assembly voted to answer Overture 47, “Erect Ad Interim Committee on Christian Nationalism,” in the affirmative as amended. The vote was 1008-333.
The Assembly voted to answer Overture 48, “Erect an Ad Interim Committee for a Pastoral Letter on Christian Citizenship and Church-State Relations,” in the affirmative as amended. The vote was 1098-231.
With the Committee of Thanks, the 52nd General Assembly was adjourned. The 53rd General Assembly will take place in Louisville, Kentucky.