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GA meeting site in Baltimore to be converted into field hospital

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A decision may be getting closer about whether to hold the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – set for June 20-27 in Baltimore – as scheduled. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced this week an order to convert the Baltimore Convention Center, where the General Assembly is scheduled to meet, and the nearby city-owned Hilton Hotel into a field hospital for COVID-19 patients. Hogan did not say when the field hospital would open — it’s intended to provide care for an expected surge of COVID-19 cases. The Maryland National Guard is setting up the facility, which is to be operated by a joint partnership of the University of Maryland Medical System and Johns Hopkins Medicine. Hogan has asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide 250 beds. The Committee on the Office of the General Assembly is committed to making a decision about the 2020 General Assembly no later than April 15 — and possibly sooner. Kerry Rice, the PC(USA)’s deputy stated clerk, … [Read more...]

Tagged With: COVID19 • GA224

Gregory Bentley and Elona Street-Stewart to stand for co-moderators at 224th General Assembly

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A second team has emerged to stand for co-moderators of the 2020 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)  – one from the north, one from the south.   Gregory J. Bentley, a minister, and Elona Street-Stewart, a ruling elder, have announced they will stand together as a team – releasing a statement in which they say they have a “deep embrace” of the Matthew 25 initiative, and want to work to “better recognize the diversity and mutuality of gifts around us” in the church and in the world. The Presbytery of North Alabama has endorsed Bentley, pastor of Fellowship Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama. The Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area has endorsed Street-Stewart, who has served as the synod executive for the Synod of Lakes and Prairies since 2015. In the announcement, Bentley and Street-Stewart say they will bring an “inclusive message” to the role of co-moderator – a message shaped by their personal histories. Street-Stewart is descended … [Read more...]

Tagged With: GA224

What’s there and what’s not: Moving Forward Implementation Commission approves recommendations to General Assembly

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The Moving Forward Implementation Commission has approved the recommendations it will send to the 2020 General Assembly – work the commission hopes will lead to greater collaboration at the top levels of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and that calls for a unified budget without structural realignment. The 2018 General Assembly created the 12-person commission when it adopted the recommendations of the Way Forward Commission, giving the new commission the authority to take “any and all administrative actions as necessary” to implement the Way Forward Commission recommendations. The Moving Forward commission approved nine recommendations during conference calls Feb. 18 and 20. The commission has another call scheduled for Feb. 21 – the deadline day for submitting the report – to tweak the final language, but has already voted to approve the nine recommendations. Here’s more on those decisions. Recommendation: Mission Engagement and Support. The commission is recommending … [Read more...]

Tagged With: GA224 • Moving Forward Implementation Commission

Per capita and funding committee will send five recommendations to General Assembly, including one calling for denominational restructuring

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The Special Committee on Per Capita Based Funding and National Church Financial Sustainability has voted to send five recommendations to the 2020 General Assembly. For roughly the past 10 months, the committee has been holding consultations with presbytery and synod leaders, digging through financial records of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and talking to denominational leaders – hoping to get a sense of the PC(USA)’s fiscal future and scrutinizing the wisdom of a per-person based funding system in an era of declining membership. Here’s what the committee voted Feb. 19 to recommend (with some minor wording changes still possible before the final report is submitted by the Feb. 21 deadline).  The recommendations Recommendation: Engagement campaigns. The committee recommends that the 2020 General Assembly instruct the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA), in coordination with other agencies and mid councils, to “establish on-going campaigns to resource and equip mid-council … [Read more...]

Tagged With: GA224 • per capita

2020 Vision Team drafts recommendations to GA

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The 2020 Vision Team has agreed on draft language for four recommendations to the 2020 General Assembly in Baltimore. That means some revisions are possible by the Feb. 21 deadline – but this is likely to be close to what the final recommendation will say. One of those recommendations asks the assembly to approve a guiding statement for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for use by the church “until a time in which the church deems it prudent to form a new guiding statement.” That guiding statement says that God calls the denomination to be “prayerful, courageous united, serving, and alive” – with those words spelling out the acronym PC(USA). A second recommendation asks the assembly to commend the guiding statement and additional resources to PC(USA) agencies, seminaries, mid councils and congregations for study, conversation, spiritual growth and formation. And it asks the assembly to mandate that the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation develop curriculum with a focus on the … [Read more...]

Tagged With: 2020 Vision Team • GA224

Climate change and divestment: MRTI votes on recommendation to General Assembly

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A committee is recommending that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) divest from three companies that it says are not making sufficient progress on responding to climate change issues. That’s the recommendation the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) has voted to make to the 2020 General Assembly, after determining that those companies – Exxon Mobil, Marathon Petroleum and Valero Energy – have fallen into the “red” or least acceptable zone in MRTI’s system of metrics. That system tracks progress – or lack of it – on dozens of measures, and is intended to provide a way of measuring whether MRTI’s process of corporate engagement is achieving results. MRTI uses that system, which the 2018 General Assembly approved, to measure companies’ progress in addressing concerns about global warming and environmental issues. MRTI’s recommendation marks a shift from the rankings it released in June 2019. Both Marathon and Valero were in the red zone then, but since … [Read more...]

Tagged With: fossil fuels • GA224

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