San Diego Presbytery in an effort to recast the way it sees its reason for being — has declared that “we are no longer primarily a governing body,” and that “we are a relational community and that we are becoming a mission agency.”
The presbytery also has voted to affiliate with the Presbyterian Global Fellowship — becoming the first presbytery to do so, as one step in an effort to form a “missional identity” in a post-denominational setting.
For more than a year now, the presbytery has been exploring how it should move into the future, assembling a Way Forward Work Group to consider such areas as mission partnerships, per capita and mission giving, and theological identity.
That work group reported back to the presbytery on March 11. The declaration was made in response to that group’s recommendations and was adopted by the presbytery.
That report spoke, for example, of the importance of recovering “the church’s missional identity, which is best defined as being inwardly strong and outwardly focused.”
The declaration rejects the idea that “the main reason we come together is to govern ourselves,” which it describes as an outdated idea based on a regulatory and corporate view of the church.
But “the main reason we as a presbytery come together today is for relationships: our relationship with God through Jesus Christ, our relationships with personal friends, and the relationships that congregations have with one another,” the declaration states.
And “our dream is that we will learn to become a mission agency together,” as the early church was.
“The reason we will come together is to discern where and how to be in mission together. We hope to connect with other mission agencies in California, the United States, Mexico, and around the world, extending the Kingdom of God here on earth.
“As we move into our new future, we desire to be both humble and bold. We are humble because we do not have all the answers, we are learning as we go, and we know we need each other’s wisdom and insight. We want to be bold because we do not want to be trivial or waste our time on what is not important. We long to make a difference in the world.”
