wfn.org | Changes in General Assembly Structure Foreseen

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

GA99116 
25-June-1999 
 
         Changes in General Assembly Structure Foreseen  
        as Special Committee For Review Report Is Adopted 
 
 
FORT WORTH-In an important move "for the health of the whole church," 
according to an ebullient Gay Mothershed, moderator of the Special 
Committee for Review of the General Assembly, the 211th General Assembly 
approved on Thursday the special committee's report.  It set in motion a 
plan to restructure the entities or "agencies" of the General Assembly. 
Said Elder Phil Barnes, moderator of the Assembly Committee on General 
Assembly Procedures, which brought the recommendation to the floor, "The 
best time to make such changes is in the absence of a crisis."  The special 
committee was dismissed with thanks and appreciation. 
      In the approved structure, the General Assembly Council (GAC) will be 
renamed the Mission Agency (MA), which, according to the special committee, 
is more representative of its true function.  The current Committee of the 
Office of the General Assembly (COGA) will be reconfigured and renamed as 
the Council of the Assembly (COA).  It will be expanded from 15 to 21 
members.  A noteworthy addition to the composition of this new council will 
be three members from this current assembly and two each from the two most 
recent previous assemblies. 
     Among the new and existing agencies of the General Assembly, there 
will be some reassignment of current duties, and certain duties currently 
not performed by any entity will now be assigned to the new COA.  Primary 
among these will be serving as a forum for dispute resolution, deciding 
differences as they arise between agencies and between agencies and 
presbyteries and synods.  This is an essential function missing in the 
current structure, for which all see the need.  Committee moderator Barnes 
emphasized the fact that these changes would all be achieved without 
financial implications.   
     Jill Wiley, elder commissioner of Lake Erie Presbytery and a member of 
the Committee on General Assembly Procedures, had risen on the floor to 
speak in favor of the report's adoption.  This plan represents a very good 
structure which "brings to the table all of the players to achieve the 
mission and vision of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)," she said. 
     The consent agenda of the Committee on General Assembly Procedures was 
approved in its entirety, including the minutes and budget of the 
Presbyterian Historical Society.  An invitation from the Presbytery of 
Sacramento to host the 217th General Assembly (2005) was also approved.  A 
recommendation that important anitracism training take place during the 
213th General Assembly (2001), was referred to the Office of the General 
Assembly for implementation. 
     Considerable time was spent in debate concerning Overture 99-49, on 
placement and funding of the Presbyterian Council for Chaplains and 
Military Personnel (PCCMP).  A substitute motion calling for adoption of 
the language of the original overture was defeated by a vote of 119, for, 
381, against.  The main motion, which was the committee's recommendation, 
that placement of the PCCMP continue under the auspices of the General 
Assembly Council and that the GAC be directed to fund the PCCMP at current 
levels, was overwhelmingly approved. 
     Among other business, Commissioners' Resolutions 99-19 and 99-20 were 
approved, regarding commitment to reduction of paper quantities at General 
Assembly, and a study of the feasibility and advisability of electing 
future moderators at the conclusion of each year's assembly respectively. 
 
Emily Enders Odom 

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