The Twenty-Four Hours of Bonclarken

A Retrospect On the 221st Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church

As I was leaving on Wednesday afternoon a friend of mine noted to me, “Ben, it’s amazing how much we can get done when there isn’t a clown car attached to the side of the YAB”. That testimony in many ways witnesses to what the 2025 ARP Synod was all about. A similar word was struck by a fraternal delegate who said, “This is my third year in a row coming to your assembly and the feeling of this year is that you all have turned a new leaf and are moving forward in a determined way.” Both of those quotes show something significant about where the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church is and where she is going.

There is a new day, and a lot to be excited about.

For me this passed week was a bit of a whirlwind. I was blessed to attend the OPC General Assembly in Palos Heights, Illinois outside Chicago from June 4-9. Landing then this Monday in Charlotte and hopping into my vehicle to drive-on to Bonclarken only to arrive much later than normal at 8pm that evening. I usually find myself at the Shangri-La of the ARP much earlier in the day. Yet, that as well was a sign of things to come. On Tuesday morning when I finally had a chance to register there was Susan Tanner and her merry band of Central Services sisters, and Brian, ready to run registration on somewhat of a short notice. They didn’t miss a beat and are to be commended. Off I and others then went to Presbytery meetings.

This is one of the many things that make the ARP Synod unique. We are not a delegated assembly and because of this then each church is welcome to send one elder (or more depending on size) and every minister is expected to attend, unless otherwise providentially hindered. We had a heavy docket to take care of in Catawba Presbytery, which was sadly shared by a sister presbytery. We both had to make the unenviable decision to excommunicate a minister for cause. Please pray for these men’s repentance. In our gathering we also received a complaint against a session and were moved from the testimony of a committee formed from our spring presbytery meeting to file three charges against a minister. These are difficult matters, but it is a sign of where the ARP is now, especially in comparison to how previously these situations may have been handled. To be fair our presbytery was not all downers. We were blessed to license a young man who took no exceptions to the confession, and transfer in two men who likewise noted the same, to take on pulpits in the presbytery. The spirit of collegiality was something to note. As the Stated Clerk of Catawba it has been such a joy to have the brothers from the upstate with us.

Two particular interesting things I want to make note of are the fact that we had as many students of theology and licentiates introduced to the Synod as I ever remember seeing in my 18 years of attendance at the Synod and that the many conversations I had with young ministers was of great encouragement as I myself transition from a young buck, to one of those bald middle-aged men.

You may remember that last years Two-Hundred and Twentieth ARP Synod was marked by division, both in soul and body. The Synod was moved to dissolve our second oldest presbytery due to a systemic failure to maintain the third mark of the church, again worth noting given what took place this year on Tuesday, June 10,^, 2025. Not to jump too far ahead but we had a moment at the end that I would like to start with. It brought a tear, both of joy and sadness as the sweet picture of our laying on of hands on our Canadian brethren was unfolding as we sent them out to form this coming September the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church of Canada. One of the motions passed from the special committee formed last year to investigate the process was that the ARP will be forming a Global Alliance of ARP’s similar to the RPCNA group of a similar name as we join together our Mexican and Pakistani Synods as one body in a more organic sense. While there is not news yet on this, another ARP country looms on the horizon. Much prayer and praise is to be shared as we glory in God’s grace to us unworthy sinners.

Another sign of this beautiful unity on display was the One-Hundred Fiftieth celebration of our foreign missions agency, World Witness. We heard of the wonderful work emanating from lands far and wide, and the hope that each of us can see as the gospel goes forth. Those labors are of course not without their struggles, and there is much prayer needed in all of our fields for growth, the Lord’s protection, and growing opportunities to bring the whole world under the kingship of Jesus Christ through the preaching of the free offer of the gospel, a theme of World Witness’s presentation. While World Witness is a Synod agency it was emphasized that it is presbyteries which send missionaries. Much is to be lauded for the work and faithfulness of Alex Pettett as he leads the mission, and for all of our laborers as the world turns.

Most of you are of course reading this to hear more about the business of the Synod, and now would be a good time to get into that. I have to be honest and say, there wasn’t much. As the title of the article notes this was the twenty-four hour Synod. We started at 3pm on June 10, 2025 and ended at 3:45pm on June 11, 2025 making it the quickest Synod meeting in history. I personally lay that at the feet of our excellent leader and moderator, Rev. David Walkup, pastor of Chapel-By-the-Sea in Melbourne Beach, Florida. He was quick on the draw and was firm and clear in all his rulings, ably assisted by the triad of clerks and the parliamentarian to his side along with his vice-moderator Frank Hunt. Indexes moves swiftly from the Recording Clerk’s desk.

As noted he docket was noticeably lighter, yet there were four particular matters that took up most of the Synod’s time during the meeting. As is normal the opening items taken up were special committees and commissions of the previous year bringing their report. After approving the details of the separation of the Canadian presbytery as I mentioned earlier, we then dealt with a special committee looking into allegations made against Rev. Tom Shoger. Their report not only served to exonerate Rev. Shoger, but it highlighted a number of questionable actions taken by members of the former Second Presbytery, which only served to affirm the move of the Synod in the last year to dissolve it for the reasons aforementioned. The work of Rev.’s Garison Taylor, Phillip Mayberry, and Gil Martin is to be commended for its thoroughness and clarity.

I also at this time want to speak to the rousing word were heard about the Sahiwal hospital, the visit from our Camp Joy brothers and sisters, and the excellent testimonies from our fraternal brothers in the OPC, RPCNA, and particularly the Canadian Reformed Churches. We have had a wonderful budding relationship with our northerly Dutch friends that has now flowered into a full fraternal relationship of which I personally am excited about, though we have not yet agreed on sharing a particular peach cobbler recipe. That remains a closely guarded secret in Synodical Hall. We were also blessed to hear of the work of our chaplains from our PRCC representative.

The next item for consideration was a motion that I made on Tuesday evening that dealt primarily (though its Leftist corollaries were certainly in view as well) with the rising notions of Kinism and/or Racial Realism making their way through the Christian New Right, currently engaged in their annual celebration of White Boy Summer, if you catch their drift. These matters were unfortunately not a theoretical conversation as it particularly damaged one of our local churches and led to their pastors being removed, and facing harsh, and deserved discipline for their false teaching and refusal to come to terms with the presbytery’s warnings. Several ministers spoke personally at supper and elsewhere about the ways these misguided, and poison fruit ideas were troubling their churches and their people. A signal was not virtued, but sheep are being protected from wolves seeking whom they devour with delusions of grandeur and identity.

The statement was concise and focused, on purpose. You can read it below:

That the 221st General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church do on this solemn day condemn without distinction any theological or political teaching which posits a superiority of race or ethnic identity born of immutable human characteristics and does on this solemn evening call to repentance any who would promote or associate themselves with such teaching, either by commission or omission.

It passed unanimously and a follow up motion made it a position statement of the ARP Synod, and will appear soon on the ARP website,

This isn’t the space to defend or explain too much the reasoning behind this, that will be coming soon in the ARP Magazine. However, questions surrounding race and supremacy of ethnic identities, etc . . . are in dire need to be dealt with forcefully, and with honesty and fairness to all men made in God’s image. There was also a study committee formed, of which I will be chair (that’s what you get for sitting near the Moderator when a motion is made), that is tasked with bringing a biblical and theological report to a following Synod that fleshes out the statement in a way that can be pastorally useful to those churches facing young men who are looking for answers for the real swirling cultural issues of life in America in 2025. The church has a call to not only take seriously the problems of the post-war world, but answer them in a way which is consistent with a biblical understanding of humanity, ecclesiology, and the civil order. The online response of course has been less than surprising. The eugenicists with their “logic” have tried saying things like, “Jamaicans run fast. What do you do with that liberal?”, with predictable vulgarness attached. It’s vital that believers do not fall into a Scylla BLM on the college Left and the Charybdis Turner Diary fantasies of an online Right, but maintain Westminster’s wisdom.

There really was only one other major action from this year is that a few Synods ago we took the step of ending our brick-and-mortar retirement plan, and placed the responsibility on the presbyteries and the local church to help make ready their pastors for the days after full-time ministry have passed. In 2025 the same step was taken with health insurance. This duty was moved from the Synod to the court most adept to handle these matters, the Presbytery, and by extension the very Deacons God provides to help not only pastors, but other personnel to take care of their needs in this life when it comes to navigating the health market in 2025.

In closing, to return back to what my friend noted about clown cars and the ARP Synod the next step will be for the ARP to understand that we are now on the precipice of being able to have the kind of substantive conversations we need to be having. For too long due to Barnum and Bailey running the tent we’ve been kind of skittish about speaking boldly on matters of faith and practice because of a fear of political meandering. This touches on subjects as tricky as foreign and home missions as well as areas where we could do better to conform not only to our heritage, but on the broad questions of the moral law and its place in informing our worship.

A last word to whet the whistle for next year on this level look forward to a memorial that might invoke our social covenanting history as we lay the foundations for what comes next in the history of the ARP Church (of which a new volume is being written).

By His Grace Alone,

Rev. Benjamin Glaser

Pastor, Bethany ARP Church