mgpcpastor's blog

The final day of the forty-eighth session of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church Of Australia was conducted with the usual sense of purpose to see business through that is usually apparent on the final day of three day meetings.
The Assembly considered a request from the New South Wales assembly for a formal declaration on a particular matter, and the General Assembly affirmed that it is vital that pastors and elders affirm the practice of covenant baptism of infants as being biblically grounded, and that they are not free to openly oppose the practice.
The Finance Committee’s report was finalised, with the confirmation of our national budget for the next three years.
Another appeal relating to the decision of one of our state assemblies was heard.
Dr J Ligon Duncan preached the third and final Assembly Exposition, this time identifying seven points about pastoral life from the concluding verses of second Timothy. Dr Duncan was thanked by moderator David Cook for his ministry to the Assembly.
Dr Duncan kindly spared a couple of minutes to talk to me.
The report of the Presbyterian Inland Mission was finalised, with much encouragement given to that committee for their initiative in both patrol work and church planting.
Public Worship and Aids to Devotion commended a number on online resources from the wider church, as well as their own productions.
The Assembly authorised a group to investigate and recommend ways to mark the 500th anniversary of the commencement of the Reformation in 2017 to the 2016 General Assembly.
Bruce Meller was elected Clerk of the General Assembly, and Les Hall was elected to serve as Deputy Clerk, their appointments to take effect January 1, 2015.
David Cook dissolved the Assembly in the context of closing comments that affirmed our denominational commitment to the effective proclamation of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I sought to have the reports and proceedings of the Assembly published online. The Assembly wisely thought this was premature, as reports, in particular, were prepared without consideration of their content being published in such a manner, with all the privacy issues entailed in those considerations.
I’ll continue to explore ways in which the Assembly in 2016 can open its proceedings up to those who wish to follow its public aspects from afar.
If you folk have any suggestions in this regard, I’d suggest you contact the Business Committee of the General Assembly.

As I posted yesterday, the sermons that were preached through the week are available free at this page at the Presbyterian Church of Australia website.

Thanks to everyone who’s read, commented here or on any of the other social media this blog links to, and passed on or retweeted links to the various reports on this site.
Hopefully you’ve been encouraged about the progress of the mission and ministry of the Presbyterian Church of Australia.