General Assembly Acts on Our Synod’s Overtures

The Synod sent two overtures to General Assembly for consideration. The first was TWE-13 On Initiating the Process to Add a New Confession to the Book of Confessions https://www.pc-biz.org/#/search/3001007. The overture suggested considering “A Confession for Such a Time as This” written by young ministers across our synod for addition to the Book of Confessions. Our synod overture was answered with action on TWE-08 On Forming a Commission to Write a New PC(USA) Confession to be Considered for Inclusion in the Book of Confessions https://www.pc-biz.org/#/search/3000884. TWE-08 was approved as amended with the following comments: 1. Commending the work of the Synod of the Northeast, we recommend that the work of “For Such a Time as This” be taken under advisement in the creation of a new confession. 2. In accordance with the Book of Order and the commendable work of the nominating committee we request that special consideration be made to represent communities mentioned in “For Such a Time as This” from the Synod of the Northeast and that they consider voices who are not yet represented.

Thank you to Rev. Jeniffer Rodriguez who served as an outstanding Overture Advocate. She is an artist who shared one of her paintings in her presentation to help the committee understand the confession’s relevance to our church and society today.

The second overture was POL-08 On Amending G-2.0301 to Allow Congregations to Elect Members as Ruling Elders for Service in the Larger Church https://www.pc-biz.org/#/search/3000883. In an effort to have the larger church understand our synod’s desire to expand who is at the table making decisions for the church, the synod submitted this overture for the third time. The rationale was completely rewritten to address concerns of the past and to relate to issues of the day. The overture did not pass. However, overture MC-10 On Establishing a Task Force to Explore the Theology and Practice of Ordination to Ordered Ministry for Ruling Elders, https://www.pc-biz.org/#/search/3000900 was approved. Hopefully this task force will consider a breadth of ideas that relate to the theology and practice of ordaining ruling elders that will result in including greater diversity at the table – a foundation of our synod’s overture.

Thank you to Rev. Jennie Lee who served as the synod’s advocate. She did an excellent job in explaining why this overture is so important not only to our synod but to the future of PC(USA).