Committee on the Office of the General Assembly continues to work on plans for GA227 and GA228

A Community Day will be added to the next Assembly, allowing for meaningful community work to get done in Milwaukee in 2026

by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service

The Rev. Dr. Dave Davis

LOUISVILLE — Meeting via Zoom on Thursday, members of the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly continued to discuss details about the next two General Assemblies — GA 227 in 2026 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and GA 228 in 2028 at a site that’s yet to be announced.

But they did agree on some aspects of the upcoming Assembly, one of which is to add a Community Day at the beginning of the Assembly, then ask commissioners and others to worship in Milwaukee-area churches on Sunday, July 5, 2026. Baird Center, Milwaukee’s Convention Center, has capacity to accommodate the Assembly an extra day. A Community Day would be held to schedule work and events designed to benefit the local community.

There was no discussion Thursday on the possibility of including an exhibit hall at the 227^th General Assembly. The 226^th General Assembly in Salt Lake City had no exhibit hall.

COGA members did discuss whether to hold training for committee leaders in Louisville or Milwaukee during the days leading up to the 227^th General Assembly. Although Louisville is the less expensive option, by about $21,000, COGA members determined they would not ask volunteers to travel to Louisville, engage in what can be difficult training around technology, committee leadership and other needed skills, then ask them to hop on a bus and travel again, this time to Milwaukee.

“I appreciated the proposal, but I felt uneasy about the request of volunteers to have to travel twice in the midst of a pretty stressful thing we’re asking them to do,” said the Rev. Tony Larson, co-moderator of the 226^th General Assembly (2024). That would “perhaps limit the pool of people we could ask to serve.”

“There were moments at the last Assembly we just had to stop and breathe,” said the Rev. CeCe Armstrong, co-moderator of the 226^th General Assembly. “If we are mindful of the people and are as accommodating as we can be, the work becomes a little easier to muster. I hope we will consider giving them the least amount of challenge being able to serve.”

The Rev. Dr. Dave Davis, COGA’s moderator, said the committee will be deciding on the format of the 228^th General Assembly during its Nov. 21 meeting, which will be held via Zoom. “As staff unpacks what that looks like, we will hear more updates,” Davis told fellow COGA members.

After Dec. 31, both COGA and the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board will cease to be following an action of the Unification Commission.

Reports

The Rev. Jihyun Oh, Executive Director and Stated Clerk of the interim unifying agency, told COGA members she’s “getting used to my new title” after being named by the Unification Commission last week as the sole top executive in the unifying OGA and PMA. On Wednesday, Oh met with PMA directors “to hear how they and their staff are doing” following the announcement. She’s also working to “figure out what places I need to be [at] and what are the meetings I can join.” Senior staff are also discussing holding meetings across both PMA and OGA rather than meeting separately, Oh reported.

In recent weeks she’s sent a series of emails to mid councils affected by recent hurricanes, and announced the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan had reached out to the PC(USA) with prayers despite dealing with a typhoon of their own. Oh has upcoming engagements with National Capital Presbytery and the World Communion of Reformed Churches, where she’ll be speaking on the topic “Whither the Church.”

From left, the Rev. Jihyun Oh, the Rev. CeCe Armstrong and the Rev. Tony Larson sing a hymn during worship in the Chapel at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky. (photo by Rich Copley)

Oh said she was pleased to spend a day and a half with members of Dakota Presbytery, where she watched five commissioned ruling elders being commissioned into various ministries. “I learned a lot about their ministry,” and joined singing hymns in the Lakota language. “I have a lot of hope for what God is doing around the Church,” Oh said.

Larson and Armstrong shared brief reports. Larson said he’s preparing to join “Jesus and Justice,” the Young Adult Advocacy Conference that starts Friday in Charlotte, North Carolina.

“When he is busy, my responsibility is to pray. When I am out, his responsibility is to pray,” Armstrong said. “When we are out together — boy, do we pray!”

Davis took a moment to praise the co-moderators “for your moderatorial skills in Salt Lake City. Many folks said it was some of the strongest moderating they’d seen. It was really quite remarkable to watch. Thank you both.”