Conservative Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) votes to reject female deacons

The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to allow women to serve as ordained deacons during its 2026 General Assembly in Louisville, Kentucky. Meeting for its annual legislative gathering, the largest conservative evangelical Reformed denomination in the United States voted decisively to maintain its historical, complementarian stance on church office.

The Decision on Overture 37

The floor debate centered on Overture 37, a proposal brought forward by the Pacific Presbytery. The measure sought to amend the PCA's Book of Church Order (BCO) by striking the word "men" from the specific qualifications required for the diaconate, while keeping the office of elder restricted to men.

The Overtures Committee vetted the proposal and strongly recommended its rejection in a 115–14 vote. When the issue reached the full floor of the assembly on Thursday, the delegates overwhelmingly supported the committee's decision via a hearty voice vote.

The assembly formally grounded its rejection in the standard that the PCA's existing constitutional documents provide a "sufficient expression of the Biblical warrant, nature, qualifications, and duties of Deacons". Following the vote on Overture 37, the assembly swiftly dispatched all other related overtures regarding the expansion of women's roles or titles in church leadership.

A Reflection of Founding Principles

The vote in Louisville directly aligns with the fundamental history of the denomination. The PCA was founded in 1973 at Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama, by a group of 250 conservative churches. The split from the mainline southern Presbyterian church was motivated in large part by a desire to preserve traditional biblical authority and a direct opposition to the ordination of women to ecclesiastical offices.

By maintaining strict boundaries around the diaconate, the 2026 General Assembly signaled that it remains tethered to its founding framework. Proponents of the status quo argued that keeping church offices restricted to qualified men represents a necessary submission to a divine standard rather than adapting to shifting cultural and societal norms.

Broader Context and National Trends

The decision further cements the stark theological divide among Presbyterian denominations in the United States:

Presbyterian Church in America (PCA): Limits all ordained offices (pastors, elders, and deacons) strictly to men.

Presbyterian Church (USA): The mainline liberal denomination ordains both men and women to all three offices and achieved statistical parity between male and female officers decades ago.

Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC): Operates on a compromise model, allowing individual presbyteries and local sessions to determine their own policies regarding the ordination of women.

The PCA's firm stance also mirrors parallel battles taking place within other conservative American evangelical bodies, such as the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), which has continually voted to reinforce constitutional bans against female pastors.