New Co-Moderators of the Presbyterian General Assembly

On Saturday night the commissioners to the 225th General Assembly of the PC(USA) elected a new team of co-moderators, Rev. Ruth Santana-Grace and the Rev. Shavon Starling-Louis. The most important job of the co-moderators is to lead the large group, discernment meetings of the Assembly (plenaries) using Roberts Rules of Order. Those will be even more complex than they have been historically since they will take place through a large Zoom meeting starting Tuesday, July 5. Before that time the commissioners and advisory delegates are working on items of business in smaller committees. After the Assembly adjourns on July 9, the co-moderators continue in their volunteer leadership role by appointing committees, working with the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board, and listening and speaking around the church to encourage ministry and discipleship.

Since Monday morning four different committees have been working faithfully on the business before them:

  • Mid Councils

  • Polity

  • Rules of Discipline

  • Theology, Worship, and Education

Some of the items these committees have voted to recommend to the larger body include:

  • a request for a new confession to be written for the church today,

  • an entirely updated and rewritten version of the church’s Rules of Discipline that guide us in holding each other accountable to our values and beliefs,

  • a new task force to explore the theology and practice of the ordination of ruling elders.

These items and others will still be address in the plenary in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, this group of commissioners and advisory delegates will go home, and a new batch arrives to get started on their work in four new committees. FVPC member Linda Sonner will be appearing before the Environmental Justice Committee with a group of advocates 10:30 - 11:15 a.m. on Friday, June 24 via Zoom. I made sure to assign myself to her committee so that I wouldn’t miss her testimony! You can watch along at this link. Just click on the option for the Environmental Justice Committee.

My own work at the Assembly so far has centered around sharing our opening land acknowledgement, reporting to the Assembly on the approved expenses of moderatorial candidates, offering advice and counsel to the Mid Councils Committee, coordinating the work of my colleagues on the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly as they resource other committees, and trouble-shooting difficulties that arise such as staff and commissioners who have tested positive for COVID. Pastor Michelle arrives sometime today to be her advising work as well.

You can find a lot of information about what’s happening here in Louisville on the General Assembly website. There are also livestreams of all the proceedings that we are lovingly calling P-SPAN. Additionally, I commend to you the opening worship and the sermon by 224th GA Co-Moderator, the Rev. Gregory Bentley, from Saturday, June 18. It was fantastic!!!

PC(USA)Stephanie AnthonyGeneral AssemblyComment