During a time of great anxiety, grieving and loneliness brought on by the coronavirus, the corporate work of the Presbyterian Church (U.SA.) goes on, even as circumstances are trying and innovation and collaboration have become valuable traits.
The second day of the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) board winter meeting — which met jointly Thursday with the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly — concluded with presentations from two groups addressing issues of race and gender equity within the church’s national offices and in communities across the country.
Rather than tell Thursday’s joint meeting of the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board about cultural humility, the Revs. Denise Anderson and Shanea Leonard showed those in attendance by inviting local voices to share their experiences.
A rare and rousing doubleheader sermon — one by the Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett with the second by the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II — launched a combined gathering Thursday of the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board.
Meeting jointly all day Thursday in Baltimore, the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board and the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly will also meet separately Wednesday and Friday as both bodies take care of business items leading up to the 224th General Assembly set for June 20-27, also in Baltimore.
Proposals including shifting the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s funds development, interpretation and education function into the PC(USA)’s Administrative Services Group are among those the Moving Forward Implementation Commission is nearly set to include in its report to the 224th General Assembly, due Feb. 21.
Meeting in Baltimore, the Moving Forward Implementation Commission voted this week to convene the leadership of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, Office of the General Assembly and the A Corporation for what it called “an honest and open examination” of the 2021-22 budget “in order to establish a unified approach and plan for budgeting for the upcoming cycle.”
Members of the Moving Forward Implementation Commission learned Monday why they’d been selected by the women who picked them for service — the co-moderators of the 223rd General Assembly, Ruling Elder Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri and the Rev. Cindy Kohlmann.
A few years ago, Martha Clark grew concerned when Sara Lisherness wanted the then-Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Heath Rada, to join her on a trip to one of the most dangerous cities on Earth: ISIS-held Mosul, Iraq.
“Y’all may be ninjas,” Clark told Lisherness, Compassion, Peace & Justice director, “but the moderator is not. You need to make sure he’s safe.”
The much-anticipated report from the Governance Task Force (GTF) of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board (PMAB) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) came up for discussion and debate during today’s open plenary of the group’s February meeting.
