I have drifted fully back onto the grid after a weekend of only spotty connections in the local mountains and realize that I have a lot to get caught up on regarding the GA already in session.

In addition, as I mentioned previously, this week is full of American Presbyterian General Assemblies and I hope that you will forgive me for doubling up the Assemblies of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Besides efficiency on my part there is good reason to consider both of these branches together: in addition to the fact that they are both meeting in Chattanooga, Tennessee, at about the same time, they also have a Unification Task Force working to consider the reunion of these two branches. More on that in a minute, but first, here is the rundown on each Assembly.

The 139th General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America begins today, 15 June, and runs through Wednesday, 18 June. There are briefings and committee meetings on the 15th with opening worship and the start of business, including election of the Moderator, on Monday morning. You can view the schedule for the meeting as a Word document.

The 184th General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church will convene with worship on Monday afternoon, 16 June, and continue through Thursday, 19 June, or until they are done. The one-page guide to the week is available and documents for the meeting – including reports and by-laws – are published as the 2014 Preliminary Minutes. Other documents, including the Catechism, Confession of Faith and Rules of Order, can be accessed from the left navigation bar on the Office of the General Assembly page.

If you have looked at the two schedules you will see that these are mostly joint meetings with a few select times when each branch meets to do its own business. The Unification Task Force was formed two years ago and they have been working towards organic union with out a predetermined time-table.The report of the Unification Task Force can be found starting on page 108 of the Preliminary Minutes.

The Task Force is bringing to the joint Assembly a Proposed Plan for Union with reflection questions embedded throughout it. They are proposing that the new denomination be named the United Cumberland Presbyterian Church and to maintain the four synods, but with adjusted boundaries. All current presbyteries in both branches would continue for six years after union to study possible realignments. There is a one year input period on the Proposed Plan and the Task Force would bring a final proposal to a joint Assembly in 2016. Presbyteries would have the next year to ratify the proposal for union, the 2017 Assemblies would approve final documents of a new denomination and the General Assembly of the United Cumberland Presbyterian Church would meet in 2018 for the first time.

Two other items that caught my attention. The first is that there will be a Joint CPC/CPCA Louisa Woosely Celebration to recognize the 125th Anniversary of the Ordination of Women Clergy to be held Wednesday evening. The second is that the CPC will be holding their 185th General Assembly (2015) in the country of Columbia. (The CPCA holds biennial assemblies and will not meet next year.)

As for following along, no live streaming that I am aware of and little social media visible at the moment but it looks like at least some are using the hashtag #cpga14. I do see that Farmwrkministry (@farmwkrministry) and
Rev. Lisa Cook (@sacredsparks) are tweeting about it. There are also official accounts from Ministry Council (@MinistryCouncil) and CPC Young Adults (@CPYAMC) that we might see tweets from.

And so, we wish the two Assemblies well and pray for wisdom and discernment for the commissioners and the church leadership. Have a good meeting.

[Point of Personal Privilege: This post represents a milestone for me as it is my 1000th published post. If you are curious there are about 50 that have not yet seen the light of day, or at least the glow of your monitors. While I am not the most prolific blogger, it am none the less a bit taken back by the thought that I have kept this quirky little niche blog going for 1000 posts over slightly more than eight years. My thanks to all of you for your interest, interaction and encouragement. Now, back to the action.]