wfn.org | COGA Signs Off on Special Committee Reports

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8-February-1999 
99050 
 
    COGA Signs Off on Special Committee Reports 
 
    by John Filiatreau 
 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Committee on the Office of the General Assembly 
(COGA) forwarded two mildly controversial reports to the General Assembly 
virtually unchanged during its meeting here Jan. 27-29. 
 
    The reports - by the Special Committee on Middle Governing Bodies and 
the Special Committee for Review of the General Assembly - will be on the 
agenda of the 211th General Assembly June 19-26 in Fort Worth, Texas. 
 
    The first report calls for two years of "consultation" on a possible 
change to a three-governing-body system - eliminating synods - and the 
establishment of a permanent office of Governing Body Relations. The other 
calls for the creation of a Council of the Assembly to take on the 
ecclesiastical functions of the current General Assembly Council (GAC) and 
of another new "mission agency" to take over the GAC's present 
mission-related functions. 
 
    COGA added a parenthetical phrase to the governing bodies report to 
identify the four current governing bodies - sessions, presbyteries, synods 
and General Assembly. 
 
    In response to the review committee report, COGA approved a statement 
of affirmation, enumerating what it called the report's "particular 
strengths" - the provision of continuity of the function of the GAC; the 
assignment of a priority to mission coordination; and the "enhancement of 
COGA ... with the addition of responsibility for review and evaluation and 
the resolution of conflicts between agencies." 
 
    COGA also approved a plan to use various designated and/or restricted 
funds managed by the Presbyterian Foundation to support the OGA's 
Presbyterian Historical Society and Department of Communications and 
Technology. 
 
    The 15-member committee approved a report calling for the creation of a 
new Committee on Ecumenical Relations within the Worldwide Ministries 
Division to coordinate the church's efforts in "the search for Christian 
unity." 
 
    COGA also approved the tentative agenda of the 1999 General Assembly 
and the logo and theme ("For All Are One in Christ") of the 212th General 
Assembly in Long Beach, Calif., in 2000. 

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