224th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A)
June 19 – 27, 2020 Historic First/Only Virtual Assembly of the PC(USA) Barbara Weiss, Commissioner, Peace River Presbytery Setting the “Stage” After a flight from RSW to BWI, the shuttle takes me to the Baltimore Hilton Hotel, right across the street from the Baltimore Convention Center. I settle into my room and then head over to the convention center to see the exhibits before the first plenary begins. I take a peek into the auditorium – and see the decorations, dramatic staging, theatric lighting, and hear loud music. I can feel the energy in the sound of old friends and new friends talking and milling around before the opening Plenary. All feeling the excitement of the seven days of important work, discernment, learning, ministry, service, fellowship and prayer ahead of us. I see the huge banner “FROM LAMENT TO HOPE” introducing the General Assembly’s theme for the week. It’s here – the experience for which I cannot believe I have been elected to serve! Nice dream, but not this year. . . . Instead, inside my windowless den I set up my own equipment and decorated my space with letters from Melana Scruggs and Rex Childs, and a care box sent from the Presbytery filled with bubbles, pipe cleaners, legos, silly putty, coloring book pages with colored pencils (and candy)! After attending one of the 17+ training sessions led by Nathan Young (Nathan was the General Assembly Producer. . . awesome man!), commissioners and advisory delegates learned how to Zoom the plenaries while reading amendments and reports AND voting on a second device. It soon became obvious how my convention center needed to be staged. The laptop computer was fine. My tablet needed to be placed on my husband’s old humidor on the left of the computer to keep it at eye level and easy to access for reading and voting. Cell phone charged and nearby should I need to contact the Help Desk. Bring it on . . . I’m ready! First Plenary – Friday, June 19th, 7 p.m. – 11:30 p.m. Opening night! I got on line early to make sure I could get all my connections working. I could go through the pages and pages of other Commissioners eager to start. In total, there were about 475 Commissioners. 75% of the Commissioners had never been to a General Assembly before. We had about 180 Advisory Delegates representing Young Adults, Theological Students, Mission Partners and Ecumenical Partners. Advisory delegates voted before Commissioners voted, thus sharing their advice with us. In order to establish a quorum before each plenary, we had to use the online voting system. “Advisory delegates vote!” Followed by a report out of their advice. Then, “Commissioners, you have been advised, please vote!” While the Agenda for the first plenary was short, the discussion and intense involvement with the present circumstances requiring that most of OUR business be deferred to the 225th General Assembly took some time to understand and accept. We had been told before the GA started that our Assembly would be abbreviated for several reasons: (1) we could not hold virtual working Committee meetings, (2) we therefore would not need Agenda time to discuss, debate and vote on Committee Overtures and (3) under our current Book of Order, we are not allowed to have an electronic meeting for the General Assembly AND we MUST meet in the year specified, not a year later. This meant that we could ONLY vote on things that impacted the PC(USA) immediately, specifically: Co Moderators for this Assembly, the Stated Clerk and the Budgets for 2021 and 2022. Anything that we voted on would have to be approved by the 225th General Assembly in 2022. The Commissioners approved the amendment of one Standing Rule which would allow us to meet electronically and suspended another Standing Rule which conflicted with the amended Rule. We approved another suspension of a Standing Rule that would allow Commissioners to add late business to the Docket. To me, this was the sticky wicket. A special vote was requested by a Commissioner to review the Co-Moderators’ decision to not seat a representative from the University of Redlands Graduate School of Theology which now operates the former Presbyterian-related San Francisco Theological School. Based on the recommendation from the Committee on Theological Education to review the status of this merger and hold off seating privileges at this time, the Co-Moderators did not seat the representative. A Committee member spoke to their recommendation and the Co-Moderator requested a vote from the body on whether or not to seat the Redlands representative. The Commissioners agreed with the Co-Moderators’ decision to withhold a seat to Redlands at this time. When we reviewed the business to be considered in 2022 versus 2020, the Commissioners, in a 425 yes to 39 no vote, agreed that the business was properly separated. The Docket was approved by a 467 yes vote to 2 no vote. After we agreed to the Rules, the division of business and the docket, several Motions came to the floor. Three Motions to add items to the Agenda passed (see: 02-095, 02-096 and 02-030 on www.PC-Biz.org). At this point, we had not even started the process to consider and vote on Co-Moderators for our General Assembly. It was 11:30 p.m. We voted to add an extra session to Saturday evening, June 20th, for that purpose. Saturday, June 20th, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. Poor People’s Campaign Moral March on Washington. Commissioners and Delegates were encouraged to participate in this virtual March on Washington. Numerous celebrities, religious leaders (including our PC(USA) Stated Clerk) spoke to the virtual attendees about the importance of this movement. A number of people impacted by their lack of ability to get work, have food and proper housing spoke to us about the need for justice for all. Continuation of First Plenary – Saturday, June 20th 7 p.m.- 10 p.m. We meet the candidates for Co-Moderators of the 224th General Assembly:
Second Plenary – Friday, June 26th 1 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. While the Commissioners approved, confirmed, invited and established many items with gusto, the most important work we did, in my view, was learning about the budget for 2021 and 2022. Staff did an excellent job of making very complicated “financial issues” seem understandable. Remembering that one of the major reasons we had a virtual General Assembly was to adopt the budgets for 2021 and 2022, this orientation to the budgeting process was very helpful. Third Plenary – Friday, June 26th 4 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. I would strongly encourage the reader to go to www.pc-biz.org to read the critical business items that were approved during this session: 00-29 The amended “On the Church in This Moment in History” 00-30 “On Responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic” 00-95 and 00-96 A Report from the Native American Coordinating Council and the Native American Church Property Report Here is the Church at its best trying to deal with immediate issues of the day. As you might imagine when you read these statements, the discussion was lively and heartfelt. Fourth Plenary – Saturday, June 27th 11 a.m. – 1:15 p.m. The fourth Plenary’s Order of the Day was to hold the election of our Stated Clerk. Reverend Dr. J. Herbert Nelson was nominated to serve his second four-year term. We learned about his educational and career background along with all that he has accomplished during his first term as Stated Clerk. He was elected and celebrated by all participants as we met his wife, also a pastor, and his daughter, a seminary student! Fifth Plenary – Saturday, June 27th 1:45 p.m.- 4 p.m. The majority of this plenary was devoted to higher and theological education. We confirmed the election of the new President of McCormick Theological Seminary, David Crawford. We also approved new Trustees to related seminaries, granted permission for theological schools to celebrate the Lord’s Supper and approved the list of Presbyterian-related Colleges and Universities. We also approved extending the terms for special committees, teams and task forces whose work began at the 223rd General Assembly. Sixth Plenary – Saturday, June 27th 4:30 p.m. – 7 p.m. Here is where the excellent staff work earlier made a difference. The budgets were approved. The issues for discussion were not related to the work presented as much as they were for trying to set up a procedure to meet again if the budget projections were not satisfactory. And to try to place a Motion that would say that no PC(USA) agency would lay off any staff. Neither of these Motions passed, but it DOES show the heart of Commissioners who are very proud and protective of their denomination and staff. The only major change made was to the per capita. Since 2018, the per capita has been set at $8.95 per full time member of a church. It was recommended and approved that the per capita been increased by three cents per full time member, to $8.98. It was noted that per capita giving is down 2.7%. The General Assembly adjourned after spending eight minutes and 46 seconds in silence as we prayed. Saying Good Bye to 224GA -- What I will never forget. . . -the opportunity to serve Peace River Presbytery as a Commissioner and for their graciousness in preparing me before, during and after this privileged service -the pastors, staff, Session and friends at First Presbyterian Church in Naples, Florida for their prayers, love, support and food -the wonderful leadership of PC(USA) – what an incredible staff! Can you imagine having only two months to go from Auditorium “bricks and mortar” convention planning to meeting in a Cloud? Can you imagine the patience shown by the Parliamentarian, the Help Desk staff, the Office of the General Assembly Staff and amazing tech people led by Nathan Young? Their faces, their kindnesses, their abundance of love was amazing! -the opportunity to support the Poor People’s Campaign, to feel totally accepted in saying Black Lives Matter, to better understand and care for the rights and needs our indigenous brothers and sisters -hearing the voices of my sibling Commissioners and Advisory Delegates who expanded my belief that we are in “this” together and that despite differences of opinion, we truly care for one another. -that, in my own way, I was a pioneer. I was part of either “the first ever” or “the one and only” virtual General Assembly -feeling sad that there were people and programs and Motions and reports that weren’t able to be cared for, supported, voted on or received. Pioneering isn’t perfect. But I believe that we came as close to perfect as we could. And pray for forgiveness if I misjudged or misunderstood. -
0 Comments
It has been a difficult week in the life of our nation. Peaceful protests are an integral part of what brings change in a democracy and we have seen them work many times in our history. Rioting, looting, and violence are not the way to bring change and are not to be condoned. As Christians we are called to see people the way God in Christ sees them, as children of God who are so beloved that Christ gave his life for them. Genesis 1:27 states: “God created human beings; he created them godlike, reflecting God’s nature. He created them male and female.” (The Message) It does not say that God created some people better than others by virtue of the color of their skin or the job they do. Deciding that some people are better than others, by any metric, is a product of the fall of humanity, not of creation. The church is the place where education and practice of treating one another as children of God needs to happen. The parable of the separation of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25, states that what we do to or for any child of God, we have done to or for Christ himself. That is what it means to be the church.
My oldest daughter has a very close friend who is a twenty-something African American male who grew up in poverty. They had a difficult conversation over last weekend as her eyes were opened to just how differently they view the world. She has never seen an authority figure as a threat to her safety, in fact quite the opposite. She was overwhelmed by the way her friend is always on guard around authority because of his race and gender. The church is a place for education and change, for conversation and growth. I shared this link with her as a way for her to continue to learn a different view of the world so that someday we might not have that disparity. I invite you to consider reading or watching some of the resources that Myers Park Church, Charlotte, NC, has provided here. I invite you to share with me what your church, or you personally, are dealing with or trying to do in these times. I invite you to pray for our nation, for our leadership, for those affected by the rioting, looting, and violence, and for those who daily face challenges simply because of the color of their skin. Praying for peace, Melana 5/3/2020 0 Comments Did God Cause This?The church I served just before leaving to take this call, Crane Presbyterian, burned to the ground in December 2006 (before I served as pastor) from an electrical fire. All that was left standing were the three crosses on the back wall of the sanctuary. They salvaged those three crosses and they are now the first thing seen when one walks in the front doors of the church. The morning after the fire a high school student was walking by the burned building and found a piece of the pew Bible. The verse on that page was Jeremiah 29:11 – “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” That verse and those crosses sustained them through some difficult days. They did not allow this tragedy to define who they were nor keep them from answering God’s call. They met in the high school gym and then in another church until they had a new building, debt-free, dedicated in April 2009. Members there often told me that the fire made them a better church. They did not believe God caused the fire to test them or to punish them or to change them. But they realized that God did change them for the better as God guided them into a new future.
This is such a time for us as well. Things have changed quickly and drastically, but people have responded with creativity, connection, and love. God has not caused this pandemic. God does accompany us in the way we must go to move through it. Churches have stretched and grown during this time of safer at home. In some ways more pastoral care, Bible study, devotional work, and creative worship has taken place as pastors, deacons, elders, Stephen Ministers, and others have connected in old and new ways. I encourage you to find ways to celebrate and evaluate what you have done in these days so that you can discern how you will be changed for the better in the new future God has for us. As churches begin to discern when and how to restart in person worship, there will be many questions to answer and concerns to address. Please feel free to reach out to the Stated Clerk or to me if you would like guidance in the process. I continue to add resources to the resource page that might provide help. There is no easy answer to when to open, but there are ways to keep people safe. All the churches and pastors continue to be in my prayers. Thank you for the work you are doing for the kingdom and for the ways you are connecting people with one another and with God. 4/27/2020 0 Comments Returning to Our BuildingsThe days seem to go by quickly and one melds into another. At the same time the weeks seem to creep by slowly and it feels as if we have been safer at home for months, not years. We have learned some things in this time that we might take with us into the future: meetings via video conference are not so bad and save on gasoline; cooking and eating together as a family is a joy (usually); there are many ways to stay connected and be the church. We have also learned some things that might help us change the future: clear evidence that the most vulnerable have the fewest resources when things like this happen; the environment heals if we slow down; everyone sharing a little makes a big difference. I hope you are discovering things during this time that make staying at home better and things that you will take with you when we go back into the world.
This past week during our pastors’ conversation we began talking about how and when to return to in person worship. Every pastor and session will make those decisions in the near future. The Stated Clerk and I are willing to provide support and resources for any pastor or session who might want that. There is a new section created on the resource page that is marked “Reopening Resources.” Included there is a video, some questions from various sources to consider as you discuss, and a very good resource from the Wisconsin Council of Churches on reopening. The presbytery office will be closed until the end of May as we have decided to err on the side of caution and Zoom meetings are not so bad. General Assembly, slated to be held in Baltimore June 20-27, has been rescheduled as a two-day online meeting. Please be in prayer for the commissioners and GA staff who will have to find a whole new way to do business. The next Pastors’ Conversation will take place on Tuesday, April 28, at 1pm. Thank you to all those who have responded to my email about your opening date conversations. Knowing that information is helpful as I work to provide support to the congregations. As always, please let me know if there are ways I can support you and your church. 4/2/2020 0 Comments Leading through Crisis CourseIn several newsletter articles and other blog posts, I have mentioned Carey Nieuwhof. Carey has a blog and a podcast that have helped me understand church and culture in changing times. He has put together a free course on leading in times of crisis. I have registered for it because I have done another course of his previously that helped me understand and improve my ability to work efficiently and take better care of myself. If you are interested in this free course, here is the link. If you decide to take the course, let me know and we can share experiences and ideas.
3/29/2020 0 Comments More ResourcesThe denominational office has set up a Google Drive with resources and continue to update it. You will find resources on worship, finances and stewardship, leadership, pastoral care, and technology. The most helpful and most current resources are from the government, some around the stimulus package and what that might mean for churches. It seems possible that church workers and childcare personnel might be able to receive unemployment benefits even though churches do not pay into unemployment. The recommendation is to check with your local unemployment office. There may also be short-term loans available from banks, but they will be limited. Check with your local bank about a Small Business loan under the stimulus bill. Let me know if I can be of support as you find the resources that will help you be the church in these times. Here is the link to the google doc.
3/27/2020 0 Comments March 27th, 2020Nearly every day I receive emails with offers of creative ways to improve worship. At the Mid-Council Leaders' Gathering in Baltimore in November, we saw a video prepared by InLighten Films. The founder is offering a 60% discount to PCUSA churches to use any video in their catalog, using the code PCUSA200. The offer is access to all 38 films for $200 for use on other video platforms. These are Bible-based short videos that could be embedded into the worship you are preparing. Again, I am not promoting, only sharing, resources that come my way. If you want to check them out, go to https://inlightenstream.com/premiere.
. 3/22/2020 0 Comments Free Check-in ToolsOver the last few years I have found podcasts and blogs from Carey Nieuwhof to be helpful as I learn how to lead in a digital age. I would recommend his podcasts to you - The Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast. He has also worked with Barna to determine what the church means to people today and how they can be reached. Carey and Barna have teamed up to provide a tool for churches to stay in touch with members during this time. It is currently free. You can check it out at this link to see if it is something that might be helpful during this quarantine time.
|
As we move forward in this strange time, I will share various emails, articles, podcast suggestions that seem like they might be helpful to you as you serve your churches. Please know that I am not making any recommendations, just sharing information. You can decide if you want to explore any of the suggestions. I am happy to hear from you about how the presbytery or I can be of support during these days. Leave a comment or email me at [email protected].
Archives
July 2020
Categories |