wfn.org | Office of the General Assembly Report Ties it All Together

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21-June-1997 
GA97133 
 
    Office of the General Assembly Report Ties it All Together 
 
SYRACUSE--On Thursday, June 19, 1997, when the 209th General Assembly 
accepted the recommendation of the Assembly Committee on the Office of the 
General Assembly to approve Recommendation 12.0117, the much publicized 
"Amendment B" became a part of the Book of Order, where it will remain 
until such time as the presbyteries vote to change it.   
 
     On the last day of the Assembly, the committee presented a 
recommendation that the per capita assessment be increased by 2.4 percent 
to $4.77 per active member for l998.  The per capita this year is $4.66. 
Ninety-five percent of the commissioners voted to accept this 
recommendation to provide resources for the financial implications of 
actions approved by the 209th General Assembly.   
 
     The committee's recommendation that "The Great Ends of the Church" be 
highlighted as the overarching theme of the next six General Assemblies was 
approved with an amendment to limit the time period to two years.   
 
     General Assembly associate stated clerks Eugene G. Turner and C. Fred 
Jenkins were reelected to second four-year terms.  Frederick J. Heuser and 
Janet M. DeVries were elected to four-year terms as associate stated clerks 
of the General Assembly. Special appreciation was expressed to assistant 
stated clerk Juanita H. Granady.   
 
      The faces on General Assembly will be looking younger, as the 
committee recommended and the Assembly approved an Overture from South 
Alabama Presbytery which was amended to read: "To instruct the General 
Assembly Nominating Committee to increase the number of persons under age 
35 for new nominations after 1997 by at least one percent through the year 
2006.   
 
     In a close vote of 56 percent  to 43 percent, the Assembly agreed with 
the committee that an invitation from Philadelphia Presbytery to meet there 
in the church's tricentennial year of 2006 be declined because it does not 
fit into the rotation system and there is a concern about cost containment.   
 
     Finally the committee thanked the GALA (General Assembly Local 
Arrangements) committee for the 209th G.A. in Syracuse for outstanding 
hospitality and service to the denomination.  Presbyteries in the Synod of 
the Northeast who cooperated in the effort were Albany, Cayuga-Syracuse, 
Geneva, Northern New England, Susquehanna Valley and Utica. 
 
     They received special plaques from Louisville Stoneworks and a 
standing ovation.   
 
     Jan DeVries recognized Kerry Clements and Deb Davies for their 
exemplary work with the local arrangements committee for the past three 
years to make this meeting possible.  Looking ahead to 1998, John 
Willingham from the Presbytery of Charlotte, extended a special warm 
invitation to the General Assembly, which is scheduled to meet in 
Charlotte, North Carolina , June 13-20, l998. 
 
Jane Hines 

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