PCA presbytery sizes...

small, medium, and large

One way to compare the size and/or participation rate of PCA presbyteries (without wading through the small print of the PCA Yearbook) is to look at BCO amendment vote totals, which must be precisely counted and reported. The larger the combined vote (generally), the larger the presbytery.

We looked at last year's votes on Overture 23. We are calling up to 40 votes SMALL, 41-80, MEDIUM, and 81 or more LARGE. Here's what we found:

• Small - 50 (68% passed O23)

• Medium - 27 (52% passed O23)

• Large - 11 (64% passed O23)

The "Big Boys" are Calvary (SC), Central Florida, Chesapeake, Evangel (Alabama), Metro Atlanta, North Texas, Missouri, Tennessee Valley, Covenant (Midsouth, centered on Memphis), Mississippi Valley, and Potomac--the largest 11 of 88 presbyteries.

Not surprisingly, 9 of the largest 11 presbyteries (by vote total/participation) are centered in states that have universities in the Southeastern Conference.

These results come from TE Scott Edburg’s spreadsheets which actually seem more complete than the just-released PCA GA minutes.

Here’s an interesting article based on data in the latest minutes.

"The data seem to suggest that REs are more likely than TEs to support the passage of Overture 15..."