BCO Updates Published

Book of Church Order PCA

The Administrative Committee has updated the Book of Church Order in accordance with decisions made by the 52nd General Assembly. Here are the four major changes made:

  1. BCO 13-6 has been revised to provide clarity in transfers of ordination. The amended language clarifies the thoroughness of exams required for teaching elders transferring into the presbytery, whether from another presbytery or from another denomination. 
  2. BCO 13-6 has also been revised to clarify that the Christian experience exam should include personal character and family management. 
  3. BCO 32-19 has been revised to provide those standing trial in church courts more options for representation.
  4. BCO 43-1 has been changed to permit a complaint after the judicial process has commenced but requiring them to be adjudicated only after the final disposition of the judicial process to which they pertain. 

The Rules of Assembly Operations have also been updated to reflect amendments approved as well as the Operating Manual of the Standing Judicial Commission.

BCO amendments are effective as soon as the subsequent General Assembly votes to approve them. The Stated Clerk’s office then updates all the digital and print editions of the BCO. A set of all pages that have been affected by the changes is available from the PCA Bookstore.

Along with the print updates, AC staff publishes multiple digital revisions: in a bookmarked pdf, an HTML version, and the BCO app. 

Having done all this in English, the Stated Clerk’s office also facilitates the translation of the amended language into Korean and Spanish, and updates those versions of the BCO.

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 so 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.