Winter Presbytery Report
This past weekend, elders and pastors from PCA churches around the Northwest (including Alaska) gathered in Salem Oregon for the work of the Presbytery. I wanted to give a short recap of the work we did.
Thursday Afternoon
On Thursday afternoon the various committees gathered to do their work. The committee I am on is the credentials committee which examines men to see if they are fit for ministry. We also hear from younger men pursuing pastoral ministry who want to make that pursuit official. These are called “Interns of the Presbytery”. David Jamison became an official Intern of the presbytery at our winter meetings.
Thursday evening we all gathered for worship and then met up at a local spot to fellowship with each other. This is one of my favorite parts of presbytery, since we are all spread out, it is an encouraging time to share life with other pastors and elders.
Friday
On Friday we do the serious work of the presbytery as the various committees give reports.
Starts with the clerks report. Of note in this is a letter drafted by our denomination that our presbytery is going to be sending out to various government officials regarding the performance of sex reassignment surgeries for minors. You can read that letter here.
Next up was our M&C (Ministers and churches) committee. This committee helps care for pastors and churches in need.
Credentials Committee was next up. This is where the men who past the committee exams get brought in front of the entire presbytery to be questions on matters of doctrine and scripture. Three men past the first three exams for being licensed to preach. Four different men became official interns of the presbytery.
Sacred Road Ministries (in white swan) is a ministry of the presbytery and they gave an update on their work next.
Admin committee reads session minutes and gave a short report on their findings. This is not a committee I will ever willingly join.
After this was the MNA (Mission to North America) committee report. This was an important one for us. This is where I got to share an update about our church, and petition for the presbytery to make us a particular church. The vote was close… just kidding…. we received a unanimous and hearty yes vote. A delegation from presbytery will join us on February 11 for our service.
Following that were RUF (campus ministry) reports, MTW (Mission to the world), and church reports.
It was a very encouraging time together. We are going to be hosting presbytery in May, so if you want to join us in person we would love to have you.