The Presbyterian Coalition is making plans for this summer’s 222nd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), to be held June 18-25 in Portland, Ore.
Before GA
The Coalition wants to help evangelical GA commissioners through emails, conference calls and networking. The Coalition will also offer information and tips on the General Assembly process, which can be intimidating to first-time attenders.
“We are keenly aware that commissioners need to make their own decisions and seek the Lord’s own leading. We can offer perspective, information, feedback, encouragement, and prayer support,” said Watkins, moderator of the Presbyterian Coalition.
Any commissioners – or anyone knowing of a commissioner to this assembly – that would like to be a part of this ministry should contact Coalition team members:
- Bill Teng – tengpresby@aol.com
- Tara Thompson – tara@stmarksfl.org
- Gale Watkins – galewatkins918@gmail.com
At the GA
Each night of the General Assembly, beginning on June 17 with a “Welcome to General Assembly” gathering, the Coalition will host meetings from 7-9 p.m. at the Hilton Hotel on the West side of the river. The room location will be announced in all of the official General Assembly communications.
The meetings will be a time of connecting with other commissioners, receiving encouragement and prayer.
Watkins asked for prayers for the Coalition team, for the commissioners, and for the assembly as a whole.
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I have a strong feeling that this GA will make the last one look like a revival meeting.
If you go to PCUSA.org and hit the link, you can see the whole schedule of sessions and events hour by hour, along with all of the actual topics and speakers. Form your own reactions from there. Look it up – it will blow you away.
I pulled this off the pcusa website 2016 GA events page,
“Voices of Sophia Breakfast Sponsored by Presbyterian Voices for Justice
Presbyterian Voices for Justice
“Exploring womanist ethics as a tool for resistance in the Black Lives Matter struggle.” D. J. Hudson is a queer womanist activist and community organizer. Part of the leadership of Black Lives Matter Nashville, she holds an M.Div from Vanderbilt Divinity School, where she was a founding member of VDS’s womanist student organization.”
Yep, looks like it’s going to a freak show!!!!
Here’s another off the pcusa 2016 GA website;
“More Light Presbyterians
The newly released documentary, Out of Order, chronicles the journey of five openly LGBTQ people pursuing ordination in the PC(USA) after the ratification of Amendment 10A, and the journey of the denomination confronting this change.”
You can’t make this stuff up, this GA is going to make the last one look like a Billy Graham crusade!!!
We know that there is no such thing as an ideal church. But if there was such a church, it would do the following:
Worship and praise God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit
Nurture and builds up all its members
Teach the Word of God to all generations
Engage in mission on a local, national, and global
basis.
Give freely of its gifts of time, talent, and
Treasures.
Shares the good news of the gospel with a hungry
world.
Becomes involved with the communities where it is
located.
Continues to seek God’s will and purpose for it.
It’s nice to see some activity from the Coalition. Their website does not appear to have been updated since the 2012 GA.
The last GAs since PUP have sent the denomination into a downward
spiral. This is evidenced by the loss of members and $finances.
Even more concerning is the Spiritual decline. As churches lose their more conservative Evangelical members, they become more progressively liberal. Couple that with the loss of churches at the Presbytery level and the combining of Presbyteries, you have a much more liberal trajectory of the denomination going forward. Presbyteries and churches that were once a guide and check and balance are lost. You will see a growing number of people who watch the down ward spiral who will say “it wasn’t supposed to be this way”, but they are the ones who set in motion this downward spiral
by their consent to local option and the anything goes mentality in the name of UNITY. (Dr. Barbara Wheeler’s article is just the beginning of the complaints). What happens when all boundaries are removed?
What happens when church and culture collide and there is no longer transformation by the Word of God? What happens when the Holy Spirit
is ignored and God lets this denomination face the consequences of their collective decisions? It is a sobering thought and the only hope is to draw nearer to God, with repentance and desire for His way forward.
And there’s this on one of the candidate’s for the office of Moderator: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/david-parker-north-carolina-democratic-party/
Most God fearing Presbyterians in the pews don’t know anything about this ‘event,’ or others preceding it the past 15 years. They’d be shocked, saddened and grief-stricken to read the agendas of these ‘meetings.’ PCUSA wants it that way; keep its uninformed members in the ‘dark.’
Why are evangelicals even trying to make a difference? Every time another GA comes around, they talk like this might be the last straw, then they simply move the line in the sand, and squawk about “If it happens again.” They are as much a part of the dysfunction as anybody else.
Oh yeah this guy will fit right in with the current louisville crowd.
This is true, James H, but Jan Edmiston, his rival for the moderator position, is a Wild Goose Festival loving, left winger from Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago and Chicago Presbytery. David Parker is the Hillary Clinton of this race, and Jan Edmiston is the Bernie Sanders. She also very shrewdly named a black woman to run as her co-moderator, which checks the all-important race box. And, if either one of the two women happens to be a lesbian or transgendered man and/or woman, it’ll be a slam dunk for them. Besides, the PCUSA has just had an old white guy as its moderator and is not likely to do that again anytime soon. I remember in days of yore when there was always one conservative or middle-of-the-road candidate running for GA moderator (who would always lose, of course), but even having such a candidate in the race is now ancient history.
It is necessary that every pastor and Session make know what happens at the GA to their members. I applaud the Presbyterian Coalition for going,
praying and reporting to us. What difference it would have if every Pastor would announce the out comes of amendments, list the events, made known who the next Stated Clerk is, and what the trajectory of the denomination will be. Pastors have kept their members in the dark for too long. People need to see what they are supporting!
What blows me away about the GA this year is the number of conferences for decisive faction members, winery tours, and beer tasting events. How do you get an invitation to this party?