Well, the Assemblies and Synods on the other side of the pond are not quite finished yet, but this week we can turn our attention to the first of the North American meetings. Beginning today, 3 June, the 138th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada will convene at Durham College and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa, Ontario. The meeting will conclude on Thursday. If you are interested in following along with this meeting here is information you might find useful

• There is both an agenda for the meeting and a daily schedule available
• The reports can be accessed from the reports section of the Assembly web page. There is also a nice 15 page document, the Summaries of the 2012 Reports to the 138th General Assembly
• The Assembly meeting is typically livestreamed. I don’t see a link yet but will update as appropriate UPDATE: Say it ain’t so! After a few years of live streaming it appears that the Assembly will not be livestreamed this year. (I can feel the withdrawal setting in)
• News about the Assembly will probably appear in the News section of the General Assembly Office web page and the PC Connect Daily page
• For the polity documents go to the Acts and Proceedings archive and the Book of Forms. There are some addition Resources available from the GAO web page. There is also the Practice and Procedure document for the General Assembly meeting.
• If you are interested in the Assembly’s carbon footprint there is a special report on that
• The PCC traditionally a great job of tweeting the Assembly at @PCConnect. For the meeting the hashtag is #ga138
• Other observers of the GA to keep an eye on include John Borthwick (@JBorthwik) one of the nominees for Moderator who was not selected, and Colin Carmichael @ccarmichael. A further word on Colin in a moment
• UPDATE: I forgot that the PCC also runs a Flickr photostream during GA

One interesting item to pay attention to is the special question session that was held this afternoon called Q&A@GA. This event is designed to help commissioners focus on particular questions they have about specific items of business. They describe the event like this: “In a marketplace setting, commissioners will be invited to meet
committee conveners and staff to seek clarification and raise questions
or concerns they may have about the reports and recommendations to
General Assembly.”

Let me conclude with the note that the sharp-eyed may notice that Colin moved down down into the category of “other observers” on Twitter this year from his previous position in the Official category. Colin recently stepped down as the Associate Secretary for Communications.  There is a Minute of Appreciation for him in the Life and Mission Agency Supplementary Report. I want to add my own word of thanks. I have deeply appreciated Colin’s ministry in that position. When I have had a question about the nuances of PCC polity he has always quickly responded to my inquiries (exempli gratia). He has also been proactive about promptly alerting me to news items I would be interested in. Colin – THANK YOU VERY MUCH for all you have done for the church. And to the PCC – I really hope you do appreciate him for his ministry and good luck finding a replacement equal to him.

And with that – best wishes to the whole Presbyterian Church in Canada and prayers for your 138th General Assembly this week.