Parts of the PCA’s Book of Church Order (BCO) date back to the 1640s. Some sections were written by a minister who signed the Declaration of Independence. It is accurate to refer to the BCO as a historical document. But, it’s also accurate to describe it as a living document. Every year, changes large and small are made to improve it and apply it to the life of the church in the 21st century.
These amendments follow a process that begins when a presbytery overtures the General Assembly to make a change. After the Presbytery approves an overture, the clerk sends it to the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly. He, in turn, refers all overtures requesting amendment of the BCO to the Overtures Committee and to the Committee on Constitutional Business (RAO 11-5). The Committee on Constitutional Business provides advice to the Overtures Committee concerning the potential effects of the proposed amendment (RAO 8-2.b3), and whether it is in conflict with our present Book of Church Order.
Next, the Overtures Committee (OC), meeting at General Assembly, debates the requested amendment and can make changes to it. The OC then makes a recommendation to the General Assembly on how to respond. Possible responses are:
- To answer the overture in the negative (i.e., to deny the amendment)
- To refer it back to the Presbytery (so that they can rework it and resubmit it in the future)
- To answer it in the affirmative (i.e., to agree to the amendment)
If a majority of the General Assembly votes to answer it in the affirmative, the Stated Clerk’s office sends it to the 87 presbyteries for their advice and consent. The presbyteries debate and vote upon each proposed amendment and report their votes to the Stated Clerk’s office.
The Stated Clerk reports the results of the presbytery votes to the following General Assembly. If two-thirds of the presbyteries have voted in favor of the amendment, the General Assembly votes on whether to give it final approval.
You probably know most of this process already, but what about the details? A few questions that we are occasionally asked include:
How many presbyteries must approve an amendment?
To pass, two-thirds of the presbyteries must approve the amendment. Currently, the PCA has 87 presbyteries, so the required number for passage is 58.
When does a BCO change become official?
The amendment is officially a part of the BCO and is in effect as soon as it receives the approval of the second General Assembly.
Why does it take so much time to get the BCO updated?
BCO amendments are effective as soon as the second General Assembly votes to approve them. The Stated Clerk’s office then updates the print edition of the BCO. This requires AC staff to go through the BCO removing the markers for the previous year’s changes, inserting the new language, and deleting any language removed by the amendments. In addition to printing the newly updated BCO, the office pulls out every page that has been affected by the changes and prints them separately as the Change Packet for those updating their BCOs annually.
Along with the print updates, the office produces an updated pdf version. More than just saving a new pdf file, the staff tags and bookmarks the new pdf for viewing online and downloading. The AC staff also updates the BCO app with the new language.
Having done all this in English, the Stated Clerk’s office also facilitates the translation of the amended language into Korean, Spanish, and Portuguese and updates those versions of the BCO.
The staff checks and rechecks everything at each step to ensure accuracy.
This amendment process continually breathes life into the timeless document that is our Book of Church Order. By it, the enduring principles of church government that have been recognized by the Church through the centuries are applied and fitted to the life of the Church that we may faithfully and effectively proclaim the gospel to our world in the 21st century.
The most recent General Assembly’s amendments are now incorporated into the Book of Church Order. Access it at https://www.pcaac.org/bco/ or order an updated print copy/ change packet from the PCA Bookstore (https://www.pcabookstore.com/).