Just ahead of the final gift she’ll give to Presbyterians from around the country — training and encouragement during the annual Moderators’ Conference Nov. 14-16 — the Rev. Tricia Dykers Koenig was on the receiving end of expressions of thanks for her work and well wishes as she retires from her role as Associate Director for Mid Council Relations in the Office of the General Assembly and, more visibly, as parliamentarian at recent General Assemblies.
While Presbyterian News Service was not present for the three days of Committee on the Office of the General Assembly meetings that concluded on Thursday, the news service did have the next best thing at its disposal: a question-and-answer session via email with Kate Trigger Duffert, Director of General Assembly Planning, one of the OGA staff and others present for COGA’s last in-person meeting ever at Zephyr Point Presbyterian Camp and Conference Center in Zephyr Cove, Nevada.
Meeting at the Presbyterian Center Friday morning, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation Board took care of a handful of action items before moving into closed session to discuss personnel, property and security matters.
In a party fueled by some of the favorite snack items of the new Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), colleagues at the Presbyterian Center welcomed the Rev. Jihyun Oh to the denomination’s highest ecclesial office Wednesday with smiles, their best wishes and no small number of hugs.
Like their siblings on the A Corp Board, the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board did while meeting jointly Tuesday in Salt Lake City, the Unification Commission voted unanimously Thursday to approve the proposed unifying budget for 2025 and 2026.
It took commissioners all day Friday, but by the end of the second day of Unification Commission meetings, the 12-member group had spread the considerable work it must complete over four teams: Governance, Financials, Common Mission and Consultations. Two or three commissioners volunteered themselves for each of the four teams.
On Thursday during the first day of what will be a three-day session in the conference center at the Presbyterian Center, the Unification Commission heard from the two people who will be most responsible for what a unified Office of the General Assembly and Presbyterian Mission Agency will be: the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, and the Rev. Dr. Diane Givens Moffett.
During its monthly meeting, the Unification Commission went to school Saturday, receiving lessons on the histories of the Office of the General Assembly, the Presbyterian Mission Agency and, more recently, the Administrative Services Group. Members also took in a statistical overview of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and other communities of faith.
The 12-member Commission to Unify the Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency held its first meeting via Zoom on Saturday. Members — six of them pastors and the others ruling elders — discussed the scope of the task before them and some of the deadlines that will mark what could be a four-year journey together.
Led and inspired by the joyful recorded percussion provided by youth drummers at Beechmont Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Presbyterians on Tuesday dedicated the Presbyterian Center’s new conference center that will host the 225th General Assembly — and, perhaps, some future assemblies as well.
