It’s important to listen to the tone of conversations around climate change and fossil fuel divestment because, increasingly, these discussions are taking
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The Mission Coordination Committee of the General Assembly considers: “Mission programs authorized by General Assembly; PC(USA) vision and mission goals; Organization for Mission and General Assembly Mission Council Manual of Operations; mission budget; audits; churchwide compensation; initiatives on church growth
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Committee 06 at GA 223 At the 223rd General Assembly, Committee 6 handled issues of Church Polity and Ordered Ministry. It saw quite a bit of business, but there were three main issues before the committee: providing family and parental leave, responding to to abuse by church leaders, and considering
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As Hiroshima Day approaches, how does the Church reckon with the Nuclear Age? August 6 and 9, 1945, are the days that the United States Air Force dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, causing immediate and slower deaths in those Japanese cities in excess of 100,000. Ever since, most
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Attending GA With Clouds of Witness and Hopes of Transfiguration Rev. Johnson delivered the original version of this speech live at the Compassion, Peace and Justice dinner of the 223rd General Assembly in St. Louis on Tuesday, June 19th, 2018. I sat in my kitchen with a breakfast sandwich and
MoreThe 223rd GA supported free speech on the Middle East. When the final item of business from Committee 12 was put to a vote, and the business of the committee was concluded late Friday night, Stated Clerk J. Herbert Nelson remarked that the church had just witnessed something unprecedented: “Thirty-five
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Loving Even My Dad’s Killer A version of this text was originally delivered as testimony before the 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in St. Louis, MO, in support of overture 11-02. I am overwhelmed with gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve as the Young Adult
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General Assembly 2018, A Drama in 3 Acts Act I. The Prophetic March to End Cash Bail It was a glorious moment: hundreds of General Assembly commissioners marched down to the St Louis jail to support bailing out persons unable to post bail, and to oppose the cash bail mechanism
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The following text was offered as verbal testimony on June 19th, 2018 to the Social Justice Issues Committee of the 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). In her testimony, item advocate Sylvia Thorson-Smith called on the GA to affirm that religious freedom does not include the right to
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Below are descriptions of each piece of business, divided into categories by topic. Each item number links to the full text of the resolution on pc-biz.org, along with all official comments that have been submitted. Abbreviations Used: ACREC—Advocacy Committee for Racial Ethnic Concerns ACSWP—Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy ACWC—Advocacy Committee
MoreThe Social Justice Issues Committee considers matters related to: concerns of the church in national affairs, righteousness and justice of persons/organizations, global evangelism and education, the Advocacy Committee for Women’s Concerns, and the self-review report of ACSWP. (Source: pc-biz.org.) Below are descriptions of each piece of business, divided into categories
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Five St Louis congregations continue the dialogue of “The Gospel from Detroit” This article was originally published by Presbyterian News Service on June 12, 2018. The city of St. Louis is the historic centerpiece of a highly accomplished cultural and economic region. At the same time, like most of the
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