The Presbyterian Church in America's 2024 national meeting saw detailed deliberations over its Rules of Operations, who may distribute the elements of the Lord’s Supper, who may serve on church committees, and procedures for discipline. But a weightier matter was shelved.

The 52nd PCA General Assembly voted to indefinitely postpone Overture #50 from Chesapeake Presbytery: Encouragement to Discernment and Compassion regarding Immigrants — click to read. The vote was 706 yea / 476 nay. *With charity toward all the commissioners, I have learned (since I was not present) that Overture #50 was received late, and was the last to be docketed. The indefinite postponement may have been due to parliamentary fatigue.

I have taught and preached on Biblical hospitality for decades. Recently, this online resource. I developed and led the PCA's hospitality-based ministry for international students, one of only two denomination sponsored international student ministries. So I am compelled to offer a gentle, respectful, but firm and insistent reminder to fellow PCA Elders.

Churches can only indefinitely postpone the practice of Biblical hospitality (filoxenia: redemptive, family love for strangers and foreigners) until the great Day when all opportunities to welcome and receive the Lord Jesus will be gone … forever.

Lord, when did we see you? (Matthew 25:35)

We are commanded to both practice hospitality (Romans 12:13) and honor the emperor (1 Peter 2:17). We can support immigration reforms without being callous to asylum seekers, refugees, or legal immigrants. We can care for our legal guests, like international students and scholars (fully screened and granted legal F- and J- visas).

Our politics (left, right, or center) must never control or corrupt our fidelity to God’s Word (Hebrews 13:2, Genesis 18:1-15). We were all once foreigners, but we are now, by God's grace, citizens of God’s Kingdom (Philippians 3:20-21).

The postponed Overture #50 seeks to encourage Gospel obedience: “The PCA encourages its churches to speak and act toward the sojourner in ways shaped not by political rhetoric but by the gospel, remembering our own identity as once-strangers, now brought near by grace.” (Ephesians 2:13)

Jesus, God’s ultimate resident-foreigner, stands knocking on our church doors. (Revelation 3:20). We must not close our ears to his voice because we are consumed by worldly media or political ideology. We must not harden our hearts to the gospel.

Jesus came as our Kinsman-Redeemer. (John 1:11-12) We cannot claim to fully obey our Lord's "Great Commission" if Christian hospitality becomes our "Great Omission," indefinitely postponed until Jesus Christ returns in glory.

A Renewed Opportunity

The PCA's next General Assembly is in June 2026, in Louisville, KY. The host committee has announced the theme for the week: “The Welcome of God.” My prayer: that our Welcoming God will make the PCA an increasingly Welcoming People.