mgpcpastor's blog

So, what is a General Assembly of Australia?
With the creation of the Presbyterian Church of Australia in 1901 certain areas of responsibility were relinquished by the State Churches to the Federal body.
These areas of responsibility are managed by groupings, usually called committees, which are composed of members of the Presbyterian church from around the nation.
These committees give account to, and take direction from, the national General Assembly.
The national Assembly is composed of nominees from the State Assemblies and each of the Presbyteries contained within the States. (There is a formula to account for how many teaching and ruling elders can be nominated by each body.)
From the national book of by-laws:

1. General Assembly
1.1 There shall be a Supreme Court of the Church which shall be called the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Australia.
1.2 The General Assembly shall meet in such places as it shall determine. The General Assembly shall endeavour to arrange its business so as to meet once each three years, but may meet more or less frequently if it so decides from time to time. At the conclusion of a session of the General Assembly the General Assembly adjourns until its next meeting.

For some time now these triennial meetings have been held in Sydney for practical reasons. (It’s relatively central to those coming from both Victoria and Queensland and it’s cost effective given that a substantial number of those attending live in Sydney or the surrounding regions.)

The areas over which the national assembly has jurisdiction are:

2. Powers of the General Assembly
2.1 The General Assembly shall have powers legislative, administrative and judicial, which powers shall be supreme with respect to:
(a) doctrine of the Church;
(b) worship of the Church;
(c) discipline of the Church;
(d) the training of students for service in the Church (including training for the ministry, deaconess training and other training areas as determined by the General Assembly);
(e) the admission of candidates to the ministry;
(f) the reception of ministers from other Churches;
(g) re-admission to the ministry of previous ministers of the Church;
(h) overseas mission;
(i) home mission, particularly in inland or other sparsely settled areas, at the request of or in conjunction with a State Assembly;
(j) relations with
(i) the national bodies of other churches in Australia,
(ii) overseas churches;
(k) the publication of a national journal;
(l) Christian education; and
(m) chaplains to the defence force.

In addition, some decisions made by the regional (State) assemblies can also be reviewed by the national body.
So, over the next three days we’ll receive reports on the work of the following committees:
(a) Australian Presbyterian World Mission
(b) Business
(c) Christian Education
(d) Church and Nation
(e) College
(f) Code
(g) Defence Force Chaplaincy
(h) Finance
(i) Moderator’s Nominating
(j) National Journal
(k) Presbyterian Inland Mission
(l) Public Worship and Aids to Devotion
(m) Reception of Ministers
(n) Relations with Other Churches.
… and probably a few more, as well as deal with some proposed changes to our national by-laws (rules) and adjudicate on some matters in which people are seeking to have decisions by other Presbyterian bodies reviewed.

And we’ll talk, catch up, drink coffee (hopefully good cofffee) hear some well crafted and delivered Bible teaching, sing together, eat lots of food, (some prepared by our hosts for us, and some exotic meals that we’ll seek out for ourselves.)
And then make it home on Friday evening for the St. Martin’s Year Six 2010 musical, ‘Ye-Ha’ where I’ll be entertained, particularly by the pretty young lady playing an Indian.