There has been a lot going on in the GA Season the last couple of weeks and we are heading into another busy week as well. Personal commitments have kept me from being up-to-date for the last few Assemblies, but once this next one has adjourned, I hope to have a break in the action to do reviews of several of them. But on to this next Assembly…
The 226th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is set to convene virtually at 8 AM Mountain Time on Tuesday, June 25 for a brief plenary session. From there, the committees will be meeting virtually from June 25th to June 27th. June 28 is a travel day, and then all the commissioners will be together in Salt Lake City for the plenary sessions from Saturday, June 29 to Thursday, July 4.
As I have joked with some of you, the PC(USA) has tried all the other styles – all in person (1789-2018), all virtual (2020), committees in person and plenary virtual (2022) – so why not try the last remaining option of committees virtual and plenary in person. It does leave one other option of all hybrid with both in person and virtual participants like some other branches do. This permits those needing certain accommodations or who have travel challenges to still be commissioners and participate.
As usual, the source of information on all the business is the online PC-Biz system. For almost everything else the GA Home Page is there. This includes the preliminary general docket, the news feed, and the information on the two teams standing for Co-Moderators. The Home Page is also the starting point for live streaming and the live streaming will also be available on the Spirit of GA Facebook page which also has a link to a special GA226 Facebook page. For the live streaming of the committees, scroll down the page a bit.
For the doctrine and polity documents, you can get the Book of Confessions and the previous Book of Order as free downloads from the PC(USA) Store. (I am not finding the current Book of Order as a download from the store.) The current Standing Rules of the General Assembly are available too.
The theme for this Assembly is “Live into Hope”, a progression from the theme of the previous two assemblies which was “From Lament to Hope.” The theme, embodied in the hymn of that name by Jane Parker Huber, will be represented in the regular worship during the Assembly.
The PC(USA) has stopped updating their X(Twitter) accounts but the hashtag #ga226 is in use by others and I will be using that too. For GA related content the Facebook group mentioned above is probably the best social media, but they are also promoting their Instagram and TikTok feeds.
News items will appear on the GA226 news feed as well as the Presbyterian News Service feed. There are also updates on the Facebook page.
Out in the press corps, keep an eye on the Presbyterian Outlook on their website (pres-outlook.org) and Twitter (@presoutlook).
I plan to be on many of the live-streamed events and tweeting (@ga_junkie) and maybe some live blogging. And I hope to get a couple of preview articles posted here in the next day or two.
There is a lot of business coming to this GA, and there are overview articles on each committee and the business they will be considering on the GA News Feed.
The business includes the usual array of social justice and environmental concerns as we have seen in the past. The situation in Israel and Gaza will headline the International issues that will be considered and, considering past Assemblies, there could be protests around this. And there is some substantial internal business as a commission reports on the work to merge, or unify, the Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency.
However, in what I will be watching, the top issue is what has been called the Olympia Overture and officially tracked as POL-01. This overture asks for two changes to the Book of Order, one adding gender identity and sexual orientation to the list of inclusivity and non-discrimination, and the second would require the examination of any officer for ordination to affirm this new diversity standard. The GA does not have the final word on this, and as a Book of Order change, they will recommend it and send it to the presbyteries for their concurrence. It will require a majority of the presbyteries to approve it. Much more on this as the Assembly progresses.
And bringing in my day job, I would note that the PC(USA) General Assembly is once again meeting in an active earthquake zone. You may remember the March 2020 Magna, Utah earthquake just a bit west of Salt Lake City. But running through the east side of the city is the Wasatch Fault at the front of the mountain range of the same name. While the timing and size of earthquakes on the Salt Lake City segment is not precise, it looks like earthquakes happen every few hundred years (300-500 years) and the last one was a few hundred years ago (600 years and maybe 400 years). Just your simple reminder to be ready to “duck, cover and hold on.”
Finally, I expect this summary to be a living document over the next couple of weeks, and I will update it at various points throughout the Assembly as systems and patterns develop.
So it will be an interesting GA in a number of ways. We will see how this scheme works to discern the business before it. We pray for patience for all involved as technology is navigated, technical glitches are confronted, and time will be at a premium at times. In an interesting change, an earlier adjournment time is docketed each evening. We will see if the Assembly can efficiently get the business done.
With all that going on, we offer our prayers for the commissioners, advisory delegates, and 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 meeting. 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