General Assembly - What goes into effect Now?

The 226th General Assembly was June 25, 2024-July 4, 2024 in Salt Lake City. There was faithful work that occurred over the course of GA, and the Denver Presbytery is committed to sharing out the information over the next several months. 

The items that will come before the Denver Presbytery for a vote in the Spring of 2025 are the following amendments to the Book of Order (the Constitution) and an ecumenical agreement.

• Ecumenical and Interfaith Partnerships- ECU-05

•  General Assembly Procedures- GAP-04 and 05

• Ordination- ORD-05

• Polity-  POL-01 (2 amendments), 02, 03, 04, 05, 08 (2 amendments), and 11. 

The education and sharing about these amendments will come out over the next several months, as well as actions that have gone into immediate effect. Please remember these items listed above do not go into effect unless affirmed by a majority of presbyteries which must vote by July 4, 2024, which is when the new Book of Order goes into effect.

The actions that go into immediate effect (or with a staggered start date in 2025) are all those not  listed above. This includes the new Co-Moderators, the Stated Clerk, Authoritative Interpretations, Revised Standing Rules, Presbytery Boundaries, Theological School Presidents, Proposed Budgets, and elected terms for persons serving on committees and commissions. Some additional  items are referrals to agencies to take on new work.  The GA Nominating Committee assists the Co-Moderators in their task of appointing special committees, and they follow a process that takes a while to begin and complete. 

The minutes of the General Assembly can be found at www.pc-biz.org

Reflections from Bill Sanders, General Assembly Commissioner

Reflections by Rev. Bill Sanders
Domestic Engagement Committee
226th General Assembly

Rev. Bill Sanders

A lot happened in the time we spent as committee members and plenary commissioners at GA. And as Jeff mentioned, our leadership got us through it all with grace and we will be talking about it for the next 9 months at least. So I have decided to focus on some personal reflections. For me, General Assembly

renewed my spirit and my faith in a church of rich connections. I got to greet some old friends I haven’t seen for years, and met lots of new friends. One of whom is Jeff standing next to me today, and I also want to introduce you to Rev. Joy Englesman, a pastor in the Christian Reformed Church who lives in Denver and was one of our Ecumenical Advisory Delegates. She is here today, and I’ll ask her to stand so that you can get to know her. And I hope at some future occasion we can ask her to share her perspective of GA for us. I was also renewed in my hope for the future of our Church. I was also a commissioner 22 years ago. I was the vice moderator of a committee. While I appreciate the in-person fellowship, camaraderie, and worship we enjoyed during Plenary week, but event here on the plenary floor, the technical working of GA are far, far different. For example - the week of Zoom committee meetings--, with the committee moderator and vice moderator both sitting in Salt Lake City with the staff, resource folx and those keeping the technical systems working. These young committee leaders – yes, 30-somethings feel like kids at my age – and they are younger than my children – Well, I found myself wondering how were they going to help us -- scattered all over the country on screens in our homes or offices – how to get the work done. As I watched how these two were each paying attention to at least two screens at all times, listening to committee members, checking with staff and resource folx in the background and navigating not only Robert’s Rules, but a complex computer program. I confess that at the beginning of the week I wasn’t sure they could handle it all. Later in the week, I found myself giving thanks to Almighty God for their leadership, technical wizardry, and also giving thanks that I was not asked to help lead a committee.

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Reflections from Jeffrey W Sneddon
Ruling Elder
Church of the Eternal Hills
Tabernash, Colorado

The work of the 226 th General Assembly (GA226) began with online committee sessions on June 25 – June 27, 2024.

Jeff Sneddon from Church of The Eternal HIlls, GA Commissioner

There are 14 committees. Each committee met via Zoom to discern recommendations on the items of business they were given. I was assigned to the Financial Resource Committee (FIN).

The committees reviewed specific Overtures for approval or disapproval. Overtures are items of business approved by a presbytery or synod requesting a particular action of the General Assembly.

The Financial Resource Committee was made up of a Moderator, Vice-Moderator, 34 Commissioners, and 8 Advisory Delegates. We reviewed 20 items of business during the three days of work.

The Plenary Sessions of the GA226 took place at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, June 30 – July 4, 2024.

GA226 included 456 commissioners from across the country, plus advisory delegates, presbytery and synod representatives, along with visitors, volunteers, and media.

Each day began with a Worship Service. The first work session opened with various administrative items including orientation, establishing quorum, commissioning of Commissioners and Advisory Delegates, and officer reports. A consent agenda, which determined the business to be considered by the General Assembly, was established per the Standing Rules of the General Assembly.

Commissioners to the 226th General Assembly have chosen two South Carolina pastors to be Co-Moderators

Commissioners to the 226th General Assembly have chosen two South Carolina pastors, the Rev. CeCe Armstrong and the Rev. Tony Larson, to be the next Co-Moderators. They will serve a two-year term and are the fifth straight team of Co-Moderators to win election.

Armstrong and Larson were elected Sunday night by a vote of 249 to 171 during an evening plenary in the Salt Palace Convention Center in Utah. Soon afterward, they were installed by their predecessors, the Rev. Ruth Faith Santana-Grace and the Rev. Shavon Starling-Louis, who received a standing ovation for their service and gave the victorious team a glimpse of what lies ahead.

“You will have the privilege and the burden of representing the Presbyterian Church, at home and abroad, speaking with the church and to others outside the church, all of this that Christ might be glorified and made more fully known,” Santana-Grace said.

The team had enthusiastically stumped for votes the previous night at a downtown reception and pledged to continue serving their local congregations while also serving the greater church as Co-Moderators. Larson is pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church of Southside Beach and Armstrong is associate pastor of St. James Presbyterian Church on St. James Island.

GA226 elects and installs first woman of color stated clerk

Salt Lake City — The 226th General Assembly (GA) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) affirmed 420-2 the nomination of Jihyun Oh as stated clerk of the General Assembly, succeeding J. Herbert Nelson, who filled the seat for seven years and concluded his term in April 2023.

Oh, a 1.5 generation Korean American born in South Korea and raised in Kansas, is the first woman of color to serve in the highest ecclesial office of the PC(USA), Nelson being the first person of color to be stated clerk in the denomination’s 236-year history.

Bronwen Boswell has served as interim stated clerk since Nelson’s June 2023 departure. When Oh takes the reins on August 1, 2024, Boswell will return to her duties as the general presbyter and stated clerk for the Presbytery of Shenandoah, from which she was given leave.

The Stated Clerk Nominating Committee (SCNC), charged with bringing a nominee 300 days before GA, was elected by the 225th GA (2022) and interviewed nine candidates, according to SCNC chairperson Sallie Watson, a teaching elder from the Presbytery of Mission. Referring to the SCNC, Watson told the assembly, “These guys are rockstars!”

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