An Invitation to Renew Our Commitment and Mission Together

Last month in Snowbird, Utah, Presbyterian Church, USA, middle governing body (MGB) executives and the General Assembly Council met to reflect on the Church's future and explore how the two groups could collaborate more. Darrell Guder got things going with an address about being missional. MGB Executives and General Assembly Council members met over the next two days to explore what this all might mean for the future of the Church.

Written comments were collected from discussion groups and given to a five-person writing team (I was privileged to be one of the five) to bring together what we read and heard into a document that would provide a snapshot of what we collectively discerned were the issues that confront us in September of 2008, as well as suggestions for next steps in addressing the issues we identified.

The document is being called "A Working Covenant for Review." We expect more input from MGB executives and GAC folks over the next few months before we finalize the document in January. We intend to use the document to focus our discussion over the coming months until we meet again next fall. The document is at the MGB Connect site and the link directly to the pdf document is: An Invitation to Renew Our Commitment and Mission Together

I thought some of my Presbyterian readers might find this an interesting window into how these two groups of leaders in the denomination are trying to process the changes that confront the Church.

Comments

[Matt S.]

Thank you for posting this Michael. My family and I have been seriously considering attending and maybe eventually joining one of the Pres (pc usa) churches in our area. There are two that we have visited that we appreciated. We have withdrawn from our non-denom church as we became frustrated with so many things, but specifically the un-willingness to acknowledge shortcomings and acknowledge the changing cultural context. To see both of those in this document is encouraging. At this point, the things you've shared and what we have seen locally has created an interest in us.

[Michael W. Kruse]

Matt, the PCUSA is in major transition ... and into what, no one knows. You will find congregations that are encouraged by what I've posted here and others that are very troubled. It is a very diverse denomination.

I'm glad you're finding PCUSA congregations where you feel like you can connect. There a lot of good ones around!