Three Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) global mission partners gathered on a May 27 webinar with several hundred attendees to speak on their experience of the PC(USA) terminating its 54 mission co-workers in early 2025 and restructuring mission activity under a model of global ecumenical engagement.
Related reading: Presbyterian Outlook reports on the closure of World Mission
Partners on the webinar included Dario Barolin, professor at the Ecumenical Network for Theological Studies in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Elisabeth Cook, rector and professor of biblical studies at the Latin American Biblical University (UBL) in San José, Costa Rica; and Anne Emile Zaki, assistant professor of preaching and practical theology at the Evangelical Theological Seminary of Cairo, Egypt.
Partners sound off
“Until sometime in 2024, our partnership with PC(USA) World Mission was characterized by dialogue, openness, grounded in a shared vision and mission for the church, for the region and the church broadly, the region and the world,” said Cook, who has served at UBL since the 1990s and was a student there in the 1980s.
The Interim Unified Agency, now known as Presbyterian Life and Witness, explained its decision by saying that PC(USA) mission was a colonial undertaking. Cook pushed against this reasoning, arguing that funding directed to UBL “responded to our priorities and supported our programs rather than representing initiatives designed by the PC(USA).”
More directly, Zaki said the announcement that the mission co-worker program had ended was a “life-quaking moment” for her and her institution.
“Honestly, maybe the first time we experienced anything close to colonialism was the email that we were sent in February [by the Interim Unified Agency] giving us a few weeks for three of our colleagues to terminate their work among us,” she said. “We were not used to this pattern at all in our partnership, this unilateral decision-making.”
“We were not used to this pattern at all in our partnership, this unilateral decision-making.” — Anne Emile Zaki
Up to that point, Zaki believed the partnership had been a mutually beneficial one, especially given Christianity’s historic presence in Egypt, saying, “This has been a beautiful example of how the church works in building up each other globally.”
While expressing gratitude for the many years of partnership with the PC(USA), Barolin lamented the loss of the cultural translation that happens when mission co-workers shared their experiences with congregations in the USA and invited them into direct relationship with their partners.
“I felt that coworkers usually were people [who] somehow translate, share their learnings with us to the local congregations in the USA,” he said. “Who will do that now? Will there be a direct relationship with the partners? Will there be any space to enrich the PC(USA) churches with our experience?”
“Will there be any space to enrich the PC(USA) churches with our experience?” — Dario Barolin
Asked why they would still want mission partners from the PC(USA), Zaki responded, “Because you need to send missionaries as much as we need to receive them.”
“I am trying to think really hard of who won in this situation. I look at all parties around, and I think everybody lost,” she added, saying she wished the church had convened a council like that described in Acts 15 to decide the future of mission.
“I look at all parties around, and I think everybody lost.” Anne Emile Zaki
“But I look at my colleagues, my coworkers — they lost. I look at our seminary — they lost. We lost. I look at our students and future students — they lost. I look at PC(USA) churches — you lost. I look at the whole posture of mission and what the church is called to by Jesus himself. And I just don’t know who won from that decision.”
Looking to General Assembly
While not convened to address overtures related to global mission that will arise at this summer’s 227th General Assembly, questions from attendees and discussion touched on the three overtures to be considered in the Reformed Identity Around the World (RIW) committee.
Related reading: “Three overtures ask 227th General Assembly to reckon with the end of World Mission” by Eric Ledermann, Presbyterian Outlook reporting
The overtures include RIW-01, “Call to Review the Restructuring of the PC(USA) World Mission”; RIW-02, “Calling for a New Missiological Statement for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)”; and RIW-07, “Concerning Mission Co-Workers.”
RIW-01 specifically calls for a commission to be formed to review the decision-making process used to dismantle the mission co-worker program and see if or where it may have violated previous mandates of the General Assembly.
RIW-01 makes three key points in its rationale:
- IUA’s firing of mission co-workers follows neither the mandate of the 226th General Assembly nor facilitates the denomination’s global engagement. Rather, it weakens the bond between the General Assembly, local congregations and mid councils with our global partners.
- The IUA did not communicate with local congregations, mid councils and the Mission Networks engaged in many global regions, leaving these groups ignorant of decisions and how Presbyterians could respond.
- The IUA employed colonial, top-down strategies by announcing the decision to terminate the mission co-worker program before receiving responses to surveys sent to global partners in December 2024.
“It is precisely because so many people and institutions doing good work for God’s justice in the world have been so negatively impacted, especially in this unstable moment in global history,” said moderator Henry S. Kuo, dean of Eden Theological Seminary and professor of church histories and historical theology. “That’s why we are having this conversation, and that’s why we also have three related overtures being slated for discussion at the General Assembly.”
