Overture favors annual GA meetings
The Layman Online, February 5, 2003
The Presbytery of the National Capital wants to undo the action of the 214th General Assembly (2002), which voted to begin meeting biennially instead of annually, starting in 2005.
The Denver assembly will consider the National Capital overture – “On Setting Aside the Action on Biennial Assemblies and Returning to the Denomination’s Historic Practice of Holding Annual Meetings.”
The overture wants Presbyterians meeting annually, just as they have done every year since 1789.
“Whereas, the General Assemblies of the denominations that preceded the Presbyterian Church (USA) felt it important to meet through civil wars and world wars, through times of economic depression and social upheaval,” the overture begins.
It continues:
- “Whereas, the General Assembly is the only time that the world, nation, staff at Louisville and the General Assembly Council have a chance to hear, in actual votes, the voice of the Presbyterians from across the country;
- “Whereas it will be difficult, if not impossible, to find fully employed clergy or laity to devote two years to the post of Moderator or Vice-Moderator if we abandon annual General Assemblies;
- “Whereas there are timely issues to which the church, in the form of the General Assembly, needs to speak prophetically and these issues do not occur biennially;
- “Whereas the proposed size of the biennial General Assembly meeting is almost 50 percent larger than current meetings, making consensus and community building that much more difficult;
- “Whereas the economic benefits of moving to biennial meetings of the General Assembly have not turned out to be as significant as originally forecast;
- “Whereas, biennial meetings will inevitably increase the role of the General Assembly Council and staff, and while we have great trust in the GAC and staff, this unnecessarily narrows rather than broadens the decision-making base in our denomination;
- “Therefore National Capital Presbytery overtures the General Assembly to set aside the action authorizing biennial assemblies and return to the denomination’s historic practice of holding annual meetings of the General Assembly.”