Question About PCA Membership

[jinc1019]

Hi! I have a question I was hoping someone familiar with the Presbyterian Church in America could help me out with.

I have been considering, very carefully, joining a PCA church. However, while I accept the overwhelming majority of the Westminster Confessions, I do not accept absolutely all of it. What is required, in terms of belief, to become a member and officially join the PCA? I am not just talking about as it related to the Westminster Confessions...any requirements at all. Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[AMR]

Unlike office holders in the church, members of a PCA church need not affirm the Westminster Standards. Communing members must have made a proper confession of faith, been lawfully baptized, and admitted to the Table by the Session.

You will be expected to answer affirmatively:

1. Do you acknowledge yourselves to be sinners in the sight of
God, justly deserving His displeasure, and without hope save
in His sovereign mercy?
2. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God,
and Savior of sinners, and do you receive and rest upon Him
alone for salvation as He is offered in the Gospel?
3. Do you now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon
the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you will endeavor to live as
becomes the followers of Christ?
4. Do you promise to support the Church in its worship and
work to the best of your ability?
5. Do you submit yourselves to the government and discipline
of the Church, and promise to study its purity and peace?

That last question is key to your question, as you are agreeing to submit to the authority of the church and not upset its peace. So if you have significant issues with the Westminster Standards you should discuss these with the elders as soon as possible.

 

[jinc1019]

Thanks for your response AMR. I greatly appreciate it! I believe you answered my question fully and completely.

-Justin

 

[oworm]

Thanks for your response AMR. I greatly appreciate it! I believe you answered my question fully and completely.

-Justin

He did

 

[Don Maurer]

Communing members must have made a proper confession of faith, been lawfully baptized, and admitted to the Table by the Session.

Your comment that I placed in bold raises a question of mine... In the PCA, is there open, closed, or somewhere in between with regard to the Table?

 

[jinc1019]

Your comment that I placed in bold raises a question of mine... In the PCA, is there open, closed, or somewhere in between with regard to the Table?

I believe it is closed...but I am not 100% positive.

 

[oworm]

The table is fenced in that an announcement is made that; "if you are a member in good standing in this, or any evangelical church or have been approved by the session you may partake of the table"

 

[Don Maurer]

The table is fenced in that an announcement is made that; "if you are a member in good standing in this, or any evangelical church or have been approved by the session you may partake of the table"

"fenced in" good term.... I like that!

The statement is a good statement, but if there was a known Atheist partaking, what would they do?

 

[Jeffriesw]

Hi! I have a question I was hoping someone familiar with the Presbyterian Church in America could help me out with.

I have been considering, very carefully, joining a PCA church. However, while I accept the overwhelming majority of the Westminster Confessions, I do not accept absolutely all of it. What is required, in terms of belief, to become a member and officially join the PCA? I am not just talking about as it related to the Westminster Confessions...any requirements at all. Thanks in advance for your help!

Unlike office holders in the church, members of a PCA church need not affirm the Westminster Standards. Communing members must have made a proper confession of faith, been lawfully baptized, and admitted to the Table by the Session.

You will be expected to answer affirmatively:

1. Do you acknowledge yourselves to be sinners in the sight of
God, justly deserving His displeasure, and without hope save
in His sovereign mercy?
2. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God,
and Savior of sinners, and do you receive and rest upon Him
alone for salvation as He is offered in the Gospel?
3. Do you now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon
the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you will endeavor to live as
becomes the followers of Christ?
4. Do you promise to support the Church in its worship and
work to the best of your ability?
5. Do you submit yourselves to the government and discipline
of the Church, and promise to study its purity and peace?

That last question is key to your question, as you are agreeing to submit to the authority of the church and not upset its peace. So if you have significant issues with the Westminster Standards you should discuss these with the elders as soon as possible.

Good advice. I would also advise you to ask one of the elders to help you (and your family, as the case may be) through a study on the WCF and the shorter and larger catechisms. My wife and I spent a year with one of the elders of our Church working our way through them and found this to be tremendously beneficial to our understanding of not just the confessional documents of the Church, but Presbyterianism as well.
Besides the WCF & Cathechisms, we used a book by G.I. Williamson
~~~~>The Westminster Confession of Faith: For Study Classes: G. I. Williamson: 9780875525938: Amazon.com: Books that was extremely helpful.

 

[oworm]

"fenced in" good term.... I like that!

The statement is a good statement, but if there was a known Atheist partaking, what would they do?

Once the announcement is made it is left to the individual to decide whether to partake. If an unregenerate person partakes it is between them and God. I'm convinced that there are members in good standing who have made a profession of faith and yet remain unregenerate. The visible church is full of such people.

 

[oworm]

Good advice. I would also advise you to ask one of the elders to help you (and your family, as the case may be) through a study on the WCF and the shorter and larger catechisms. My wife and I spent a year with one of the elders of our Church working our way through them and found this to be tremendously beneficial to our understanding of not just the confessional documents of the Church, but Presbyterianism as well.
Besides the WCF & Cathechisms, we used a book by G.I. Williamson
~~~~>The Westminster Confession of Faith: For Study Classes: G. I. Williamson: 9780875525938: Amazon.com: Books that was extremely helpful.

Williamson is an excellent resource