Winchester RPCNA

06/19/2026

After hours of debate, the Synod of the RPCNA did not vote in favor of removing from the RP Testimony the statement “woman as well as men may hold the office of deacon.” The vote required 2/3s, and only 63% favored removing it. It remains a part of the fundamental law of the church.

06/18/2026

The 194th Synod

06/17/2026

The Synod has begun to discuss the issue of ordaining women to the office of deacon. The committee is recommending that this provision be removed from the RP Testimony, but still an allowable practice by the law and order of the church.

Last year a straw poll was taken, and Synod voted 76 in favor and 64 not in favor of this recommended change. While the majority wanted it removed from the Testimony, 2/3s is needed to change the constitution.

Pray for light, pray for unity!

06/17/2026

Church discipline isn’t symbolic or absolute. It’s a real exercise of Christ’s authority in the church, but — as an exercise of the keys — it’s strictly bounded by his Word. The church only disciplines those who are under its care and only by the means Christ has appointed. While discipline doesn’t presume on God’s final judgment, it does bind the conscience ministerially, not infallibly, and always under the authority of Christ himself.

Excommunication is a sober, pastoral act rooted in Christ’s Kingship and the church’s ministerial authority. Properly understood, it doesn't condemn souls, but serves the purposes of discipline and the cause of Christ's rule in his church.

06/17/2026

The Synod spent all morning on Sam Ketcham's appeal of his deposition and excommunication for views on race. Synod did not sustain any of the specifications of error, and so the appeal is not sustained.

Votes on each of the specifications were as follows:

Irregularity in the trial proceedings: 30 to 55
Manifest prejudice to the one on trial: 2 to 88
Unjust censure: 6 to 73
Severity of censure: 46 to 47

Prayer followed, asking the Lord for a spirit of repentance. Pastoral care was assigned for the parties.

06/16/2026

06/16/2026

Synod approved the following doctrinal statement to replace our current statement on abortion. This will need to go down in overture -- giving each session a chance to vote in the next year before it becomes constitutional.

"Unborn children are living persons made in the image of God. From the moment of conception to birth, they are attended by God’s providence as they are being prepared by Him for the responsibilities and privileges of living before Him in this world. Unborn children are to be regarded and treated as human persons in all decisions and actions involving them. The deliberate and elective termination of the life of an unborn child is murder. In cases of pregnancy in which the life of the mother or the unborn child is threatened, all medically reasonable measures should be taken to honorably care for the lives and bodies of both mother and child."

Ex. 20:13; Ex. 21:22-25; Ps. 71:6; Ps. 127:3; Ps. 139:13-16.

06/14/2026

The Spirit Supplied | Galatians 3:1-5

06/14/2026

Fellowship With One Another | 1 John 1:5-7