One of the few General Assemblies to be held on schedule this year will be gavelled to order about this time tomorrow and it will be an interesting experience in a number of respects. First, it will be virtual with all business and events happening online. Second, it will be significantly shortened, both in daily schedule and in the length of business meetings. So with the time limitations, a lot of business is getting pushed off to the next Assembly two years from now.

And so, we welcome the 224th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), set to convene at 7 PM Eastern Time tomorrow, Friday, June 19. While the formal business will then take a break for a week there are other events that will be included in the general program during that hiatus. To accommodate time zones the two days of formal business will run from 11 AM to 6 or 6:30 PM EDT. The plan is to do business in two-hour time slots followed by a one-hour break.

The site of the meeting was supposed to be in Baltimore before it got transferred to the ether. Instead, the Presbytery of Baltimore will now be the online host for the meeting

As usual, the source for information on all this business is the on-line PC-Biz system. It is important to remember that with the condensed meeting schedule there will be no committee action this year. The one actual Assembly committee, the Assembly Committee on Business Referrals, has acted upon a recommendation of the standing Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA) that has divided all business into three parts: Information (received, no action), items of a critical or necessary nature (to be acted on this year), and everything else (which gets pushed to the 225th General Assembly). Changes to these lists can be made from the floor so keep an eye on that on opening night.

Other items of note on the docket include the election of the Co-Moderators from the three teams standing for the position on Friday night beginning at 9 PM EDT (new time from a meeting today) and the vote to renew the call of the Stated Clerk for another 4-year term on Saturday, June 27, at 11 AM EDT.

The schedule, including the docket and the other events, can be found on PC-Biz under Resources. There is also the Manual Of The General Assembly available there but also a recommendation from COGA for suspension of most of the standing rules and adoption of special rules to apply to this assembly, including that there shall be no new business. Finally, the information booklet on the Moderatorial Candidates can be found there as well.

For the doctrine and polity documents, you can get the Book of Confessions and the Book of Order as free downloads from the PC(USA) Store, or you can find them at this handy website.

The commissioners will be operating using videoconferencing technology, and for the rest of us who want to follow along the proceedings will be streamed on the GA website and on the Spirit of GA Facebook page.

The theme for this Assembly is “From Lament to Hope” based upon Lamentations 5:20-21. To go along with the theme a Bible study will be offered online on Wednesday. There are two sessions on Wednesday June 24 at 7 and 10 PM EDT. The study will be led by James Elisha Taneti and Mary Florence Taneti.

In addition, there are a series of video testimonials related to the theme posted on the GA website where various people from around the PC(USA) talk about the GA theme and their experience.

And just a note that before the pandemic, the chosen theme was “Called to a Movement Beyond Institution,” based upon Romans 12:2.

Another event that will be happening between the business sessions is the Poor People’s Campaign event that was to be a march on Washington but is now a digital rally at 10 AM EDT on Saturday, June 20th. The Stated Clerk, J. Herbert Nelson, will be one of the speakers. Note that there is a registration link, but not clear if registration is required.

There is also the Youth Rising Coalition event at 3 PM EDT on Tuesday, June 23. This is a group in Baltimore that is joining with the GA participants “To hear the voices and stories of Baltimore area youth who have compelling ideas about creating a more just and opportune environment for young people.”

To follow the action on official Twitter feeds the PC(USA) does have a general Twitter account (@Presbyterian). Usually, during the Assembly, the General Assembly feed (@presbyGA) provides more play-by-play, but it has not been active for six months. There is also the Presbyterian News Service on Twitter (@PresbyNews). The hashtag for the meeting is #ga224.

News items will also appear on the GA224 news feed as well as the Presbyterian News Service feed. There are also updates on the Facebook page.

For individuals of note let me start with the accounts for the Co-Moderators (@GAModerators) and for the Stated Clerk (@PCUSAstatedclrk) as well as J. Herbert Nelson’s individual account (@jherbertnelson) which seems to be fresher. Watch the #GA224 hashtag and we will see who else is active for the meeting. (And I will update here.)

Out in the press corps, keep an eye on the Presbyterian Outlook on their website (pres-outlook.org) and Twitter (@presoutlook) as well as their special correspondent Leslie Scanlon (@lscanlon).

I plan to be on all the live-streamed events and tweeting (@ga_junkie) and maybe some live blogging. The Outlook printed one article I wrote for them on business coming to the Assembly related to overtures concerning Constitutional changes but all those items have been referred to the 225th GA. One of the controversial items for this Assembly will be how the Committee on Theological Education has reclassified the San Francisco Theological Seminary following their merger with the University of Redlands. My article for the Outlook on that business looks at the situation, at least at the time of publication. It is an evolving situation and it will be interesting to see how it evolves further in the hands of the GA. I will have a bit more to say on that in a couple of days as well as a couple of other evolving items before the Assembly. I would also mention my Outlook article “GA or Not GA? That is the Question” where I mused about what a virtual GA would look like. Personally, I think I got pretty close.

Finally, I expect this summary to be a living document over the next week and I will update at various points throughout the week as systems and patterns develop. I also hope to get out a modified GA Bingo card appropriately modified for a virtual GA.

So it will be an interesting week in the virtual assembly hall. We pray for patience for all involved as new technology is navigated and technical glitches are confronted. And there is some very important business, like the Way Forward Commission and the Vision 2020 group, that did not make the cut and have had their reports referred to the 225th General Assembly. It will be interesting to see if some other items docketed to be referred do creep back into the agenda for this meeting.

With all that going on we offer our prayers for the commissioners and for the leadership of this meeting. May they be guided by the Holy Spirit, particularly to discern God’s will as a body while not actually gathered in one physical space. It will certainly be an interesting GA week. Blessings upon you.

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:17