A prominent leader in the PC(USA) was well celebrated with a mix of laughter, tears, hearty applause and a fiesta like no other as Mission Presbytery gathered for its Oct. 18-19 stated meeting, where it officially sent general presbyter, the Rev. Dr. Sallie Sampsell Watson, forth into retirement.
Meeting via Zoom on Thursday, members of the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly continued to discuss details about the next two General Assemblies — GA 227 in 2026 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and GA 228 in 2028 at a site that’s yet to be announced.
While Presbyterian News Service was not present for the three days of Committee on the Office of the General Assembly meetings that concluded on Thursday, the news service did have the next best thing at its disposal: a question-and-answer session via email with Kate Trigger Duffert, Director of General Assembly Planning, one of the OGA staff and others present for COGA’s last in-person meeting ever at Zephyr Point Presbyterian Camp and Conference Center in Zephyr Cove, Nevada.
Like their siblings on the A Corp Board, the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board did while meeting jointly Tuesday in Salt Lake City, the Unification Commission voted unanimously Thursday to approve the proposed unifying budget for 2025 and 2026.
The Rev. Mirjam Haas-Melchior gave the governing bodies meeting Tuesday morning at the Salt Palace Convention Center a taste of what’s ahead during the 226th General Assembly next month.
Along with easing any tension over their task as evangelists, on Thursday Dr. Cheni Khonje taught a crowd of nearly 200 ruling elders and deacons some new language around the concepts of “welcome” and “relationship.”
Meeting via Zoom Monday, the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly joined with the boards for the Presbyterian Mission Agency and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation, to approve proposed unified budgets for 2023-24.
The Coordinating Committee of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board approved comments on two important items of business that will come before commissioners to the 225th General Assembly this summer. With the committee’s approval on Thursday, consideration on the comments will go to the full board for consideration during its meeting April 27-29.
Established by the then-Moving Forward Implementation Commission (now a committee) to ensure that the work of three organizations — the Office of the General Assembly, the Presbyterian Mission Agency and the Administrative Services Group — is coordinated, the Coordinating Table has been working in recent months to define its work and to find its voice.
As the Church continues to adjust to the ever-changing habits and practices of pandemic life — online and hybrid worship, virtual offering plates, Zoom and “drive-by” fellowship — one thing has remained constant.
Presbyterian generosity.