PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN AMERICA
1852 Century Place, Suite 190
Atlanta, GA 30345
404-320-3366
404-329-1275 (Fax)

GENERAL ASSEMBLY MEETING
JUNE 20-23, 2000
TAMPA CONVENTION CENTER
TAMPA, FLORIDA

Contacts:     Dominic Aquila or Brian Kinney
Daquila6@aol.com

Before June 20:   
305-271-5262 or 305-984-0503

June 20-23:  
813-276-6903 (PCA Convention News Office) 
813-276-6905 (Fax)

The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) will be holding its annual General Assembly (national convention) at the Tampa Convention Center on June 20-23, 2000.  About 1500 delegates are expected to attend.  The PCA has more than 300,000 members in 1400 churches throughout the United States and Canada.

The General Assembly will have its opening session on June 20 at 7:30 PM.

Some of the issues coming before the General Assembly include:

A study report on creation.  The PCA believes that God created the world directly and immediately out of nothing.  It does not believe that the theory of evolution is a valid explanation for the beginning of the world.  The report deals with a variety of possible interpretations of the word "day" in the Genesis account of creation (literal day or long periods of time).

The role of women in the church.  While the PCA affirms that both men and women are created equally in the image of God, it also believes that there is a distinction of function between men and women.  The PCA ordains only men as elders and deacons.  There will be discussion regarding refining and clarifying this position,

A study report on women in combat.  This report studied the appropriateness of women being involved in combat.  There is still much debate in the PCA on this topic.  This report seeks to give guidance to members on this issue.

Organizing a provisional presbytery in Russia.  The PCA has a mission work in Russia and there is the desire to organize a provisional presbytery until a national church is ready to be formed.

Some positions of the Presbyterian Church in America:

The Bible.  The PCA believes that the Bible is authoritative for all of life and that it answers the questions and issues of each culture and people in every period of history.

Evangelism and Engaging the World.  The PCA is committed to winning converts in every part of the world and from every culture and seeing them incorporated into the church.  Through a dynamic, prophetic confrontation of non-Christian thought and behavior, the PCA is committed to challenging all persons to consider the claims of Christ and His life-changing power.

Mercy Ministries.  The PCA is committed to a ministry that cares for the whole person, body and soul.  The PCA believes that the physical, material and bodily needs of persons is important and works to provide ministry in a wholistic framework.

The Family.  The PCA is committed to strengthening the family.  It believes that the family is the foundation of society and must be encouraged and nurtured through all the seasons of life.

Biblical Ethics.  The PCA is committed to studying and addressing ethical and moral issues biblically.  However, as an ecclesiastical body it does not make political pronouncements or get directly involved in political issues.  It does encourage its members, as citizens, to be active participants in political, cultural and social matters.

Sanctity of Life.  The PCA is committed to the sanctity of life in every phase of its continuum.  Abortion, infanticide and euthanasia are examples of destructive acts that do not affirm the dignity and uniqueness of human life.

Homosexuality.  The PCA is committed to the sanctity of human sexual relationships.  We believe God's intent in creation was that male and female would be complementary, that the privilege of sexual expression would be between male and female only, and this expression would be only in the context of marriage.  Both heterosexual and homosexual sexual behavior outside of marriage violates the human spirit and distorts God's intent for men and women.

Redemption and Grace.  The PCA is committed to the power of the gospel to redeem persons enslaved by any type of sin.  It believes that by the grace of God any person can be transformed and renewed and live productively in the world.

Biblical World View.  The PCA is committed to the principle that all truth is God's truth.  It believes that the world can be fully interpreted and understood only by knowing God as He has revealed Himself.  As the creator of the world He accurately interprets what He made.

A Brief Overview of the
Presbyterian Church in America

The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), while formally organized in December 1973, has a long history dating back to the 1600s.  It has a strong commitment to evangelism missionary work at home and abroad, church planting, a biblical worldview, and to Christian education.  The PCA's purpose is to be "faithful to the Scriptures, true to the Reformed faith, and obedient to the Great Commission."

In 1973, the PCA separated from the Presbyterian Church in the United States (commonly referred to as the "Southern church"), because that church had shifted from its historic beliefs to a theological liberalism that denied core biblical doctrines, such as the inerrancy and authority of Scripture.

Additionally, the PCA holds to the traditional position on the role of women in church offices.

The PCA is committed to the doctrinal standards expressed in the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms.  These doctrinal standards express the distinctives of the Calvinistic or Reformed tradition.  One of these distinctive doctrines is the belief in the absolute authority of the Bible.  It believes that the Holy Spirit guided the writers of the Scriptures, in their original writings, in such away that their words and work were preserved from error.  Consequently, the PCA believes that the Bible is the only infallible rule for faith and life.

The PCA headquarters are located in Atlanta.  Its missionary, educational and administrative offices give direction and oversight to a ministry that is worldwide in its scope.  Additionally, the PCA operates Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia, Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri, and a conference center in western North Carolina.

The PCA is one of the fastest growing denominations in the United States, with more than 300,000 members and over 1400 churches and missions throughout the USA and Canada.

The PCA is committed to world evangelization.  Its international mission arm, Mission to the World (MTW), has almost 500 career missionaries in almost 60 nations of the world, over 125 two-year missionaries, and 5000 short-term summer missionaries.  MTW is the largest Presbyterian mission agency in the world.  Further, there are more than 150 chaplains in the military, Veterans Administration, prisons, hospitals, and over 45 college and university campus ministers.  Because of its emphasis on education, there are many members of the PCA who are teachers and professors at all levels, including a significant number of large universities and theological seminaries.

PCA VISION 2000

As one communion in the worldwide church, the Presbyterian Church in America exists to glorify God by extending the kingdom of Jesus Christ over all individual lives through all areas of society and in all nations and cultures.  To accomplish this end the PCA aims to fill the world with churches that are continually growing in vital worship, in theological depth, in true fellowship, in assertive evangelism and in deeds of compassion.

The distinctiveness of the PCA lies in our stress on both reformation and revival.  Without an emphasis on revival, "reformation" may become either a mimicking of political ideologies or sterile doctrinalism.  Without an emphasis on reformation, "revival" may become a shallow pietism or mysticism.  Only reformation and revival together can accomplish the Great Commission of our Lord.

We are committed to the Scriptures and the historic Westminster Standards based firmly on a biblical theology that answers the questions and issues of each culture and people to which we minister.

We are committed to worship that practices the presence and power of God within the church to the transformation of the surrounding culture through biblical application in population centers around the world.

We are committed to the winning of new converts and their incorporation into the church through the ministry of the Word and to significant ministry to the needy through deeds of mercy and service.

We are committed to the freedom of every member to minister through spiritual gifts and also to the responsibility to do so under spiritual authority and loving discipline.

We are committed to dynamic, prophetic confrontation on non-Christian thought forms and behavior and also to the demonstration of the truth through the practice of holiness and love in Christian fellowship.

We are committed to guarding and strengthening the biblical family and also to a ministry to the broken family forms such as the divorced, the widowed and the unwed parent.

We are committed to teaching and discipline men and women in the whole counsel of God and also to ministering to the needs of the whole person.

Faithful to the Scriptures, true the Reformed faith, and obedient to the Great Commission of Jesus Christ