The second day of the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) board winter meeting — which met jointly Thursday with the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly — concluded with presentations from two groups addressing issues of race and gender equity within the church’s national offices and in communities across the country.
Rather than tell Thursday’s joint meeting of the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board about cultural humility, the Revs. Denise Anderson and Shanea Leonard showed those in attendance by inviting local voices to share their experiences.
A rare and rousing doubleheader sermon — one by the Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett with the second by the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II — launched a combined gathering Thursday of the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board.
Meeting jointly all day Thursday in Baltimore, the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board and the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly will also meet separately Wednesday and Friday as both bodies take care of business items leading up to the 224th General Assembly set for June 20-27, also in Baltimore.
Proposals including shifting the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s funds development, interpretation and education function into the PC(USA)’s Administrative Services Group are among those the Moving Forward Implementation Commission is nearly set to include in its report to the 224th General Assembly, due Feb. 21.
Wrapping up its work more than three hours earlier than expected, members of the Moving Forward Implementation Commission prayed Friday afternoon for traveling mercies and for the remaining work commissioners must do before sending its report in by Feb. 21.
Imagine attending the 224th General Assembly in Baltimore and seeing the speaker’s slides appear on separate screens simultaneously in English, Spanish and Korean.
The Moving Forward Implementation Commission worked most of the day Thursday on crafting the recommendations it will make to the 224th General Assembly, set for June 20-27 in Baltimore.
