SAN JOSE – They had to endure some scolding, but the General Assembly Council (GAC) and the Presbyterian Foundation seem to have found a path for resolving future disputes over the disbursement of funds — disagreements that, during the meeting of the 218th General Assembly, slid messily out into public view.
Near the end of her remarks at the Presbyterian Writers Guild (PWG) luncheon June 26, Marj Carpenter said, “I like to write so much that I feel sorry for people who never get to write.”
SAN JOSE — The 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has urged the denomination’s Board of Pensions [www.pensions.org] to expand its medical coverage for children with congenital developmental disabilities to include occupational, speech, and physical authority.
The expanded benefits would apply to children with such maladies as Down’s syndrome and autism.
SAN JOSE — In a dangerous world, interfaith dialogue is even more important because “a fire next door will consume your own house,” a leading U.S. Muslim told the 218th General Assembly’s Ecumenical Breakfast June 26.
SAN JOSE — Youth groups in New Jersey, Indiana, and southern California have been chosen winners of the inaugural Youth Video Challenge sponsored by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Foundation on its social networking site, ymiLIVE.org [www.ymilive.org].
SAN JOSE — The 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) approved with amendments a resolution “On Calling for Tolerance and Peaceful Relations Between the Christian and Muslim Communities.” The vote was 547-149.
SAN JOSE — In two separate but related initiatives designed to address the persistent decline in Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) membership as well as the church’s commitment to grow in diversity, the 218th General Assembly wholeheartedly approved June 25 a Strategy for Church Growth for African American Congregations and a resolution to help Christ’s Church Grow Deep and Wide during the report of the Assembly Committee on Church Growth and Christian Education.
SAN JOSE — Equipping seminary students “to go out to equip others” is critical, the Rev. Sara Covin Juengst told a group of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) seminary leaders and others gathered for the Committee on Theological Education [www.pcusa.org/seminaries/cote.htm] (COTE) Breakfast on June 26.
SAN JOSE — Reclaiming the power of the gospel will greatly help with one of the most difficult challenges Presbyterians face— evangelism, according to the Rev. Eric Hoey, director of evangelism and church growth [www.pcusa.org/goodnews], who spoke at the evangelism breakfast June 26 at the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Commissioners and guests arriving at the PC(USA)‚s 218th General Assembly in San Jose, Calif., encountered John Calvin —— lots and lots of John Calvins.
SAN JOSE — When the 218th General Assembly voted to send out a proposed amendment to presbyteries to delete the “fidelity and chastity” ordination standard and replace it with a new version, a handful of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)‚s executive presbyters felt a need to gather for prayer.
Shaking and Moving The 218th General Assembly of the PC(USA)
In San Jose, California, close to the San Andreas fault, the 218th General Assembly, though resting on the solid rock of Jesus Christ, felt tremors of change and shifts in the denominational ground.
SAN JOSE -- “There is hardly any family or congregation that is not touched by serious mental illness,” says the Rev. B. Gordon Edwards, who was instrumental in bringing “Comfort My People: A Policy Statement on Serious Mental Illness” to the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for adoption on June 27.
SAN JOSE -- By a 5-to-1 margin, the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on Friday (June 27) approved “A Social Creed for the 21st Century,” exactly 100 years after the “Social Creed” of 1908 spoke to the harshness of industrial life at the turn of the last century.
SAN JOSE -- After much docket delay, the Church Polity Committee gave its report to the 218thGeneral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) late Friday afternoon (June 27).
SAN JOSE – Just hours after voting to recommend that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) change its rules to make it easier for gays and lesbians to be ordained, the 218th General Assembly turned down a overture that would have changed the definition of marriage in the church’s constitution, to say that marriage is between “two people” rather than a between a man and a woman.
SAN JOSE – An amendment to a resolution on homelessness adopted by the 218th General Assembly on Friday asks PC(USA) members to forgo one meal per week “as an act of worship and humility.”
SAN JOSE, Cal. – “We are called to be involved and engaged in the world that God cares deeply about,” said Rev. Nancy Kahaian, moderator of the Committee on Peacemaking and International Issues. “I believe that Presbyterians can truly lead the way,” she continued in a press conference Friday afternoon.
SAN JOSE -- The 218th General Assembly on Thursday (June 26) rejected by a five-to-one margin a recommendation from its Mission Coordination and Budgets Committee that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) institute a fifth church-wide special offering to support mission personnel.
SAN JOSE --Not everybody gets what they want at General Assembly. But the 17 youth and their six chaperones from Atlanta’s Central Church got a measure of satisfaction knowing that they may have smoothed the way for future youth groups to attend — and help out — at future Assemblies.
SAN JOSE – In a vote reflecting how divided the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) continues to be, the 218th General Assembly recommended by a narrow margin that the denomination change its constitution to remove the impediments that have been disallowing the ordination of sexually-active gays and lesbians.
