On Tuesday morning, the Overtures Committee approved the following grounds for recommending that the overtures below be answered in the negative or referred back to the originating presbytery.

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While Leino doesn’t want the overture to be interpreted as opposition to the appointment of the Women in Ministry Study Committee, he is concerned about “the manner” in which it was formed. In Leino’s view, it “did not reflect the strength of our form of government.”

Eight presbyteries have sent overtures to the 45th General Assembly regarding changes in their boundaries. These overtures have been sent to the MNA Committee for review and recommendation to the Assembly.

Overtures aimed at instituting a similar procedure at the at the presbytery level have been sent to the two previous Assemblies. In both cases, the overture was returned to the originating presbyteries — Chesapeake and Pacific Northwest — for “perfection of deficiencies” identified by the Overtures Committee and approved by the Assembly.

Overture 1 calls for the Assembly to “urge each Presbytery to devise a plan to support financially the translation of Scriptures into the language of one people group.”

Though the PCA Directory for Worship is part of the Book of Church Order (BCO), only three of its chapters have been granted the constitutional authority the rest of the BCO enjoys. Overture 2 from Calvary Presbytery would change that by adding to that list BCO 59, “The Solemnization of Marriage.” The rationale for Overture…

After extended debate, the 44th General Assembly erected an ad interim committee to study the role of women in ministry in the PCA. Overture 3 from Westminster Presbytery calls for the 45th General Assembly to reverse that action.

Northwest Georgia’s proposed addition reads: “We are deeply convinced of the clarity of Scripture on this topic and as such we consider the doctrine of ordination for elders and deacons as limited only to males as an essential component to our ecclesiology.