This comes in part as a response to the new Form of Government proposal now being voted on by the presbyteries. If that proposal passes, the use of the term “council” would change: It would replace “governing body” for sessions, presbyteries, synods and the elected General Assembly itself.
So the GAMC might take a new name as well. But Karen Schmidt, the council’s deputy executive director for communications and funds development, said she favors changing the name regardless of whether the proposed constitutional amendment passes, as part of the denomination’s effort to create a distinct “brand identity.”
Schmidt said her staff is working to increase awareness, trust and funding for the PC(USA), and she told the executive committee that “Presbyterian Mission” is “a name that has cachet. It is a name that is memorable. It is a name that equates with being the mission agency of choice.”
