Unfortunately, e.g., the PCA and OPC, bifurcate the office of elder and only 'Teaching Elders' are authorized to attend Presbytery and General Assembly meetings officially. It used to be that the general public was allowed to attend General Assembly or Synod meetings and/or obtain written transcripts and audio recordings of the proceedings.
The two denominations do "bifurcate" the office of Elder - unbiblically in my opinion - into "teaching elder" (clergy) and "ruling elder" (non-clergy). It is
not true, however, that only teaching elders are allowed at Presbytery meetings. Throughout my term as a deacon in a PCA church, I was welcomed at meetings of our presbytery (Central Florida) and participated in several presbytery-wide workshops there. Only elders (ruling elders
and teaching elders) could
vote at those meetings, but anyone could attend. My pastor encouraged members to go to presbytery meetings.
The rules may be different from one presbytery to another, however. So depending on where one lives, "your mileage may vary," as the saying goes. I don't think that access to records of the General Assembly is restricted either, other than pending trial transcripts perhaps.
My current pastor (PCA) hasn't bothered with General Assembly for nearly a decade. My former PCA pastor goes to every one. When enough conservative, biblical "T.E.'s" forgo attendance of the GA, they unwittingly increase the influence of the more theologically liberal ones. The result is a slow, hidden, "creeping liberalism" that begins with "tolerance" and ends in apostasy.
