Race and gender. Not easy issues, but commissioners to the 44th General Assembly (GA) of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) tackled both this June.

Questions about racism, past and present, dominated deliberations at the district level before GA: The districts, called presbyteries, send resolutions (“overtures”) to the assembly, and two-thirds of them this year dealt with racism. The GA overwhelmingly approved one overture confessing past and present sins of racism, and another to establish a study committee on racial reconciliation.

Overture supporters addressed the question of whether repenting of past racism dishonored the denomination’s forefathers. “All of our heroes are fallen men,” David Strain, senior pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Miss., told byFaith: “We’re not throwing them under the bus by acknowledging that fact.” On the Old Life blog before the vote, Pastor Jonathan Inman emphasized the present, calling on those who think they are racist to “lead by example by formally confessing their sins ... and asking for judgment to be rendered.”

The GA also approved the formation of a study committee on women serving in ministry, but only after considerable debate. Even before the assembly, Dominic Aquila and Andrew Barnes took to Aquila’s website to call the proposal “ill-conceived, overly broad, poorly drafted, and completely unnecessary.” They pointed to the 38th GA’s amendment to The Book of Church Order (BCO) in 2010. BCO 9-7 states categorically that women who assist in church work are neither “officers of the church” nor “subjects for ordination.” The amendment received widespread approval in presbyteries and again at the 2010 GA. Case closed?

Not so fast. Others said the issue wasn’t about women being an officer or being ordained, but serving in the church more broadly. On the floor before the vote, elder (and WORLD founder) Joel Belz offered specific questions a study committee could answer from the Bible, not tradition or culture. “Literally dozens of practical issues beg to be biblically resolved,” he said. “Should women read Scripture or lead music in public worship?” Belz praised one author whose excellent books deal with LGBT issues: “Should Rosaria Butterfield use books to teach our whole denomination about how to evangelize the homosexual community?” (See “Journey of grace,” March 23, 2013.)

Hymnal harmony

That hymnal in your hands may be more ecumenical than you think, and that’s no idle speculation. Just as evangelical hymns tend to glide effortlessly across denominational boundaries—think of the almost universal acceptance of “Amazing Grace”—evangelical hymnals tend to show a similar openness to collaboration.

Southern Baptists have their Baptist Hymnal, but they also produce the Worship Hymnal, which has the same content as, but not the name of, the Baptist Hymnal—allowing its use by both nondenominational churches and by Baptist churches not wanting to publicize their Baptist identity. Likewise, conservative Presbyterians have their Trinity Hymnal, yet Great Commission Publications—a joint effort of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church in America—also produces a Trinity Hymnal: Baptist Edition for use by Reformed Baptists.

The ecumenical work continues. This June the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) and the United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA) jointly approved the Trinity Psalter Hymnal, a work of psalms, hymns, and confessional documents from both the British and Continental traditions.

Working on a hymnal together can lead to more cooperation. This June the URCNA synod accepted the invitation of the OPC 83rd General Assembly to meet concurrently with the OPC next year. —J.B.