# A Historic Year Several people have mentioned to me how historic this year's synod was. There were a number of difficult matters to address and the floor discussion was more heated than normal. This was part of the reason I wanted to be in attendance, even though I am just a simple member of a small ARP congregation. During my drive down to the Bonclarken Conference Center on Tuesday, A few thoughts came to mind. Some time ago, the Christian Church indicted a synod at Jerusalem, where there was taken up a matter referred from the Antioch Presbytery concerning the ceremonial law and the Gentiles. After much deliberation from the synodical delegates, a motion was carried, and the act of the synod delivered to every presbytery and congregation, that "it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things." An inspired record of the "minutes" of this court of the church is recorded for us in the Bible, the book of Acts, chapter 15. I take two thoughts from this. First, the acts of a church court that are agreeable to the word of God can rightly be said to seem "good to the Holy Ghost," signifying that God still makes his will known for his people through the courts of the church by the operation of his Spirit. Second, the acts of a church court that affect the whole body are public information, and a record should be kept, that every member may take knowledge of the things that transpired and ensure their own consciences are being represented by their officers. Two millennia later, the Holy Ghost was still speaking at the 220th General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, which took place from Tuesday afternoon, June 11th, 2024, to Thursday afternoon, June 13th, 2024. # Important Matters Discussed First, a disclaimer. These are merely my notes as an observer, not an official record of the Synod. Official minutes will be made available. I did not write down the exact titles of each motion that was voted on, just a general note on what the motion was about. The official titles of the motions should be in the minutes. I am open to any corrections to my notes. For the "tl;dr" version, you can [[What Happened at the 2024 ARP Synod#Summary of Outcomes in the Important Matters|skip down to the summary]]. ## Special Committee to Study Church Officers and Secret Societies Last year, a Special Committee was established to study and make recommendations about this matter. This Committee used work done previously by the Synod beginning in 2019. The Committee took freemasonry as a case study, as it seems to be the most prevalent of secret societies in the American culture, and other societies have their origin in it. The Committee also focused on freemasonry because, as they began their work, they found that addressing every secret society would be far too great a task to accomplish within the year. The Committee found it difficult to actually determine what Masonic beliefs are due to the secretive nature, and the commitment of its members to secrecy. Active members emphasized the social nature of masonry while admitting there were religious overtones. Former members often viewed it as a religious cult. The Committee noted several areas in which Masonic beliefs conflicted with the Christian faith, and summarized the position of other Reformed denominations against masonry. The Committee recommended a serious of questions entitled "Questions Every Believer Should Answer Before Considering Membership in a Secret Society or Other Organization" to be asked to members and potential members of secret societies to help them determine if membership in such societies is helpful or harmful to their faith. They also recommended that direction be given for ministers conducting funerals to ensure that all rites (including masonic rites and military honors) not in accordance with the regulative principle of worship be kept out of the stated time of worship during funerals. After some light discussion, **most recommendations were accepted**. Immediately following this, **a motion** came from the floor **that the ARP Church's Synod declare that freemasonry is incompatible with Christianity**. It was stated that freemasonry mixes pagan practices with Christianity, which is syncretistic. Numerous aspects of freemasonry are already condemned by the standards of our church. The fact that masonry includes religious rites proves that it is not merely a social club, but a religious society. Some spoke against the motion, but the question was eventually called, and **this motion passed**. ## Special Committee to Study the Work of the Office of Deacon This Committee mentions in their report that they were merely tasked with studying the "purpose, scope, and authority" of the office, and to report their findings, not to make recommendations. For this reason, recommendations are absent from the report. **A motion passed to receive the report as "information,"** meaning that no further action was being taken based on it. **A motion** immediately followed **to accept this report as an official statement of the ARP Church regarding the office of deacon**. This is what really set the debate off. many speakers rose for and against, for many reasons. Some disagreed with the implied conclusions of the report, other disagreed with some of the historical citations in the report. Speakers in favor liked the biblical reasoning of the report, and felt that it was an appropriate answer to what the Committee was tasked to do. Much of the disagreement was around the conclusions of the report regarding "authority." Several others also mentioned that further moving down this path would begin to alienate those in the ARPC that believe that the diaconate should be open to women, and that we should pursue peace over all things. **This motion** eventually **failed**. **Another motion** was called later **for the Synod to direct the Special Committee to produce both a majority and a minority report regarding the office of deacon for the intent of creating an official position paper of the ARP Church**. This again sparked much discussion, mostly ground already covered. **This motion failed**. A number of men pointed out during the discussions above, that if the ARP Church needs to change the current understanding of the office of deacon, then we would need to change our standards. **A motion** was made on Thursday to do exactly that. This motion was **for the Synod to revise the ARP Church's Form of Government section 5, changing 5.2 to read "men" instead of "individuals" and completely removing 5.4**. For context, those here are those sections. >5.2 To this office should be chosen individuals who are faithful and diligent Christians of good character, of honest repute, exemplary life, brotherly love, sympathetic nature, and sound judgment, who are qualified under the standards recorded in Scripture. > 5.4 Unless otherwise determined by the Session, the Diaconate shall be chosen from male members of that congregation. The Session of each congregation shall determine whether women can serve as deacons in their own particular congregation. In either case, the Church shall not neglect the raising up of qualified men to serve in this position. It was ultimately determined that this must be sent to the standing Committee on Revisions to determine if these changes would be in conflict with the rest of the ARPC standards before it can be voted on. **A vote was eventually taken on whether or not to send this to Revisions. The motion failed**. ## Special Committee to Investigate Second Presbytery's Handling of Allegations Against Chuck Wilson This matter took up almost the entire day Wednesday. The crux of the matter was the Committee's first recommendation, that Second Presbytery be entirely dissolved. Dissolving a presbytery due to a failure of discipline had never happened before in the history of the ARP Church. The seriousness of the allegations of sexual abuse against Chuck Wilson made the situation even more grave. There were initial calls to not receive the Committee's report because it was out of order and that the Committee had exceeded the bounds of what they were directed to do. The response was that that would be up to the court to decide. There was **a motion to postpone the discussion until 2025**. There were lots of questions about whether Synod had the authority to dissolve presbyteries or not, and if this were to take place, how would the division of assets, churches, and ministers take place. The argument was made that the Synod needs more time to appropriately handle such a momentous action. **The motion to postpone failed**. Many speakers were very passionate on either side of this matter. One member of the Special Committee in particular gave a very impassioned and moving speech about what they had uncovered during their work. There were a number of accusations both directly and indirectly against other speakers and members of the court. There were sincere calls for temperance in language. There were several breaks for the order of the day and calls for prayer for the situation. One speaker stated that his initial opinion had been changed throughout the day based on the speakers on the floor. He was initially opposed to such a serious action, but after hearing details, was now in favor. One of the later speakers pointed out that there really was only two options for the Synod, to let things continue how they have been or to proceed with the dissolution. The question was called, and a call made to count the vote on the recommendation. **The vote was in favor of the dissolution of Second Presbytery**, 254 to 43. The member of the Special Committee mentioned above visibly wept on the floor of Synod as the vote was counted. **Another motion** immediately followed, **that the Synod offer an apology to the victims involved in the allegations**. **This motion passed**. There were a number of other recommendations by the Special Committee regarding what to do after the dissolution of the presbytery. After much additional discussion, **the rest of the Special Committee's recommendations all passed**. ## Memorial from the Canadian Presbytery Regarding the Formation of their Own Canadian Synod There was **a Memorial** (a petition from a presbytery to the Synod) from the Canadian Presbytery **that the ARPC Synod release the Canadian Presbytery from the ARPC in the fall of 2025 so that they can form their own denomination known as the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church of Canada**. There were many reasons given for this, both practical and ministerial. Due to the international boundaries, it is difficult for the Canadian Presbytery to share monetary resources with the Synod and other ARP Agencies. It also takes a lot of funds to send delegates to the Synod each year. The men in the Presbytery felt that their resources are better spent for the ministry of the gospel in their home country. There were concerns from the floor over the fact that the Canadian Presbytery is very small and may have difficulty on their own (They are currently the smallest Presbytery in the ARP Church). There was also much love shown from speakers who did not want to see our Canadian brethren depart, and declarations of how much spiritual and confessional wisdom they bring to Synod. There was **a motion to table the matter for two years** to give everyone involved time to completely think through and study all aspects of this change. Speakers against the motion maintained that the Canadian Presbytery was more than ready to move forward now, and the 2025 date offered plenty of time already. One speaker from the Canadian Presbytery began his comments in French, then made the interesting point that much of the Canadian Presbytery is bi-lingual, and documents needed to be produced in both English and French. The current involvement with everything happening in the American Synod makes this difficult. Another speaker rose to make the point that the Canadian Presbytery forming their own Synod was always the goal since the founding of the Presbytery. **The motion to table failed**. Returning to the original Memorial, a speaker rose and quoted from our sister denomination, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, upon their own release of their Canadian Presbytery last year, on the importance of maintaining churches indigenous to the nation that they are in, rather than perpetually being plants or colonies of foreign churches. The question was called after this, and **the Memorial to release the Canadian Presbytery passed**. ## Memorial from First Presbytery Regarding the Language of Eternal Subordination of the Son in an ARP Position Paper found on the ARP Church Website There was **a Memorial that a paper on the ARP website be removed and revised to get rid of references to the doctrine known as Eternal Subordination of the Son (ESS), Eternal Functional Subordination (EFS), and similar designations**. The paper allegedly used ESS as the basis of complementarianism (a view on how men and women relate in relationships). As you can guess from the previous paragraph, there are a lot of theological weeds to get through before the substance of this debate can be found. The argument was made on the floor that ESS implies that there are multiple wills in God, and that God the Son has his own will that he submits to the will of God the Father, rather than there being only one will and one shared essence in the Godhead among the three persons, and Christ submitting to the will of the Father not according to his divinity, but according to his humanity. Believing in multiple wills in the Godhead is a heresy according to the earliest church creeds. Another speaker was hesitant to use the word "heresy," but stated that it is at least aberrant and a departure from biblical orthodoxy. The question was called and voted down so the discussion could continue. One speaker spoke against the Memorial, but wanted a further study of the issue so the Synod could be more informed. Someone pointed out that the Memorial contains nothing about who should rewrite the paper. As time wore on in the discussion, it seemed to become clear that further study was needed. There was **a motion made for the Synod to form a committee to study this issue and bring a report**. Speakers against the motion said that the paper being on the website was problematic, and wanted this addressed immediately. Speakers in favor thought that there was no evidence in the paper of ESS. **An amendment** was offered on the motion that, in addition to the committee being formed, **the principal clerk place any sections of the paper referring to ESS in brackets**. This was offered on the basis that the position of the ARP Church does not hinge on the paper, but on our governing standards. **The motion passed as amended**. ## Summary of Outcomes in the Important Matters The Synod ruled to abolish the Committee on Revisions, with a report to this effect coming from the Committee to Synod next year. This isn't mentioned above, but there was constant confusion throughout the week regarding how the Revisions Committee plays a part in Synod business. Considering the fact that this confusion is even reflected in governing documents, a motion was passed to get rid of the Committee so that the Synod can more directly perform its work. I'm not sure if the full ramifications of this decision are known at this time. For context, the Revisions Committee is tasked with reviewing any potential changes to the governing documents of the ARP Church and giving a report to Synod. This issue this creates is that any time a matter is brought up at Synod that may change the standards, it must go to the Revisions Committee before it can be debated, adding at least a year to the process. The Synod ruled that freemasonry is incompatible with Christianity, and members of the ARPC should be counseled before joining secret societies. The Synod ended up having no movement on the matter of the office of deacon besides simply receiving a report as information. With the Revisions Committee being abolished, I imagine that much more debate will be had next year on this issue as I'm sure it will be brought back up. The Synod ruled to dissolve Second Presbytery in response to a failure of that church court to handle serious allegations against former minister Chuck Wilson. The Synod released the Canadian Presbytery to begin the process of forming the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church of Canada. The Synod ruled that the position paper titled "Women in the Life of the Church" currently on the ARP website be revised to place any language referring to the doctrine of Eternal Subordination of the Son (ESS) in brackets, and that a Special Committee be established to study and report on the issue of ESS at next year's Synod. # Conclusions As I mentioned before, a few different folks mentioned how unusual this year's meeting was. This was certainly true, particularly on the matter of Second Presbytery. There were very heightened tensions on the floor almost that entire day. At the same time, though, the week was full of much spiritual joy. Before the start of business each day, three times a day, we heard great preaching from different ministers of the ARP Church. The moderator's theme for this year is "to the ends of the earth... together," and much of the preaching was surrounding this theme. We heard encouraging messages on perseverance and evangelism. We also heard reports from fraternal delegates from other NAPARC denominations about the work God is doing in their churches. We heard from representatives from the ARP Churches in Mexico and Pakistan. Our commitment to work together as ARPs was reinforced by several motions on the floor. Psalm 133 from the 1650 Scottish Psalter was sung on three separate occasions as "a symbol of our unity." Even amidst the gravity of the matters discussed, there was much good-natured ribbing like brothers might do at the dinner table. Much laughter was heard at times. Personally, I was able to speak with many brothers. I met some well-known brothers like Kyle Sims and Benjamin Glaser. I also reconnected with minister Eric Hancox and elder Phil Williams who I had the pleasure of meeting a number of years ago at Covenant of Grace ARP in North Carolina. I spent much time with men from my own Presbytery, minister Ike Hughes, minister Stephen Laughridge, licentiate Seth McCormick, ruling elders Donald Kees and Frank Heinsohn, Synod Parliamentarian Patrick Malphrus, and student under care Aaron Kees. My own minister David Vance was there, of course, and I heard our ruling elder Jeff Mitchell speak on the floor. I also got to meet the World Witness missionary family that my family prays for, the Brickeys. The Bonclarken Conference Center was beautiful. I stayed in the historic Heidelberg Hotel, built in 1886. I found my time at Synod both physically relaxing and mentally engaging at the same time. I highly recommend that other interested members consider attending. It is a wonderful thing to see "the spirit of the prophets" being "subject to the prophets" (1 Cor. 14:32) and the Spirit's gift of "governments" (1 Cor. 12:28) on display in vivid color. #ARP #Synod