A Special Synod Assembly Zoom Meeting

A special Synod Assembly Zoom Meeting was held Saturday, December 9th for the Discernment Team to present the results of their First Phase Report.  The team elected at the 2022 Synod Assembly consists of Joseph Chu, Eastern Korean American Presbytery; Heather Kirk-Davidoff, Albany Presbytery; Holly Haile Thompson, Long Island Presbytery; JyungIn Lee, Coastlands Presbytery; Magdalene McClarrin, Long Island Presbytery; Sabrina Slater, Geneva Presbytery; Eric Thomas, New York City Presbytery; and Dakota Whitaker, Northern New England Presbytery. Okokon Udo, from LeaderWise, serves as the Discernment Team’s Consultant. SanDawna Gaulman Ashley, Synod Transitional Leader, serves as staff to the Discernment Team. The team provided the Synod Assembly with details from the report.  The report itself can be found by clicking below.

 Questions from Commissioners included the following: Will the name change from A New Way Forward?  What does inclusivity and full inclusion mean?  How do we engage with rural congregations and presbyteries? What does full inclusion look like? How will the group be formed to make final determinations?  How will the New Way Forward do more bottom-up ministry in communities and people's lives?  While answers were provided, it was noted that the Discernment Team has now completed Phase One.  These questions and others that people may offer will be thoroughly discussed and later answered as the work of the Discernment Team continues.