Presbyterian Church, USA, 219th General Assembly - Thursday's preview

The 219th General Assembly (National gathering) of the Presbyterian Church (USA) will be held for a week beginning Saturday (July 3 - 10) in Minneapolis.   Seven hundred commissioners and 200 advisory delegates (round numbers) from 188 presbyteries will meet in the biannual meeting.  Eastern Oregon Presbytery has two commissioners, Rev. Steve Kliewer of Lostine and Elder Judy Chesnut of Milton-Freewater, and one Young Adult Advisory Delegate, Hannah Harwerth of Pendleton.  Attending as observers are Rev. Linda Toth, General Presbyter and Elder Pete Wells, Stated Clerk.

I, Pete, am at the preview conference of the stated clerks from the presbyteries and synods of the church.  Part of the agenda of the preview session is introduce the business topics which may generate the most passion or news (not necessarily the same) at the session.

The meeting will convene on Saturday.  The first major item of business will be the election of a moderator to lead the meeting and be the spokesperson for the denomination until the next General Assembly in 2012 in Pittsburgh, PA.  That election will be Saturday evening.   There are six candidates.  The commissioners will vote until one of the candidates receives a majority of the votes cast.

Like governmental legislative bodies, the preliminary work is done in committees.  There are 18 committees which review the business presented by the offices of the church and the presbyteries and synods.   The commissioners and advisory delegates will work in committees Sunday through Tuesday.  I hope to be able to comment on some of the work of the committees, but won't have much detail until the full assembly starts acting on the recommendations from the committees, Wednesday afternoon.

You can follow the work of the General Assembly at www.pcusa.org/ga219.

The issues to come before the General Assembly include:

• Matters having to do with how the church governs itself
• The Form of Government, (FOG) to make substantial changes to the organization's Constitution
• The role of Synods (regional bodies) between the General Assembly (national) office and the presbyteries (local area assemblies of ministers and churches)
• How we process conflicts in the church (Rules of Discipline)
• Statements that help us to define our faith
• Whether to adopt additional or newly translated confessions (statements of faith)
• Matters having to do with the intersection of social issues and the church
• The role of the church having to do with marriage and civil unions
• The role of LGBQ church members in church leadership (both ministers and elders)
• Matters of internatilonal concerns
• Consideration of a report on the relationship between Israel and the Palestinian people.
• Other concerns of peace and justice in the US and around the world.

Many of these issues are of interest to relatively small groups in the church. Others have broader interest in the Presbyterian or other churches and yet others have to do with taking positions about matters outside the church.

I hope to post updates for the next 10 days.   Let me know if you have particular matters that you would like to me to address.

Note:  These comments are mine, alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Presbytery of Eastern Oregon.

Pray for those of us from the Presbytery of Eastern Oregon and for the General Assembly as we seek to discern the Word of God in our time and place.

General Assembly 219 approaches

I leave on Tuesday for the pre-assembly meeting of the Associaton of (presbytery and synod) stated clerks.  We will meet Tuesday through Thursday before the Saturday convening of the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) on Saturday, July 3.    The General Assembly will continue for one week, until noon on Saturday, July 10.

With me at General Asembly from Eastern Oregon Presbytery will be Rev. Steve Kliewer, Elder Judy Chesnut, Young Adult Advisory Delegate Hannah Harwerth, and general presbyter Rev. Linda Toth. 

We look forward to serving Christ and the Church at the General Assembly.

Pete Wells
Stated Clerk

Summary of May meeting of the Synod of the Pacific

Executive Rob Brink reported on the many Overtures to General Assembly, particularly highlighting those which are asking for a review of the structure of Synods. He also noted that the closure of CPIP Insurance continues to have issues to be worked out. The Roseville and Fair Oaks churches have both had preliminary meetings with the Synod negotiating team, with very hopeful results so far. And the “Healthy Congregations” training, facilitated by Bob Conover, is being very well received in several of our presbyteries.

Bedford Holmes, Director of Zephyr Point, reported that things are going well in spite of the difficult economy. This delightful Conference Center on Lake Tahoe, though reasonably priced, is far below full occupancy. There are two new lodges with motel-like accommodations, as well as 40 cabins available for rent. Three goals for the future: to increase occupancy, to expand programs, and to pay down existing construction loans through a capital campaign. Come up for air at Zephyr Point!

During worship on Thursday evening, the Sacrament of Communion was celebrated and an offering of $559 was received for the Theological Education Fund.

Highlights from our presbyteries:

Presbytery of Eastern Oregon, covering 46,000 sq. miles, is excited about new mission programs! They DO a mission project at each presbytery meeting! And the Tutuilla church has 3 projects on PMX! The Pilot Rock church, earlier destroyed by fire, now has a building, chairs, sound system, baptismal font, and a keyboard! But they also still have a huge building debt due to the closure of CPIP. This Presbytery of 16 churches and 1100 people is one of the top 10 presbyteries in per capita mission giving in the PC(USA)! Congratulations!

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