Special Committee on Standing Rules

The committee is authorized to review the current Standing Rules of the General Assembly and related documents and propose a new set of Standing Rules to the 226th General Assembly (2024), along with any amendments to related documents required to enable those changes.

Reviewing past revisions and proposed changes to the Standing Rules, including the work of the Committee to Review Biennial Assemblies; Consulting with the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly and the six agencies and other entities and standing committees of the assembly regarding any changes to the Standing Rules necessary to enable their work; and Promoting broad access and participation by the whole church in its work.

The new set of Standing Rules proposed by the special committee will:

• Use language that opens the General Assembly to an expansive understanding of gender;
• Reflect the church’s commitments to unity and diversity and full participation and representation (F-1.0403);
• Assist the General Assembly in promoting equity throughout its processes and in its decisions;
• Look at the role of advisory delegates in the life and deliberations of the General Assembly to ensure a continuing voice of constituencies that represent the breadth of the present and future of the church;
• Promote broad access and participation in the General Assembly by the whole church, particularly providing for translation services, accommodations for people with different abilities, and other circumstances as they arise;
• Provide permission for spaces that encourage innovation and creativity in the General Assembly’s discernment;
• Simplify the language of the Standing Rules and the processes of the General Assembly to reflect more fully the 21st-century church, embodying the flexibility of the current Form of Government in the life and work of the General Assembly;
• Incorporate technology to promote communication, conversation, and discernment in the deliberations and processes of the General Assembly;
• Adjust the scale and complexity of the General Assembly meeting envisioned in the Standing Rules for a church that has substantially fewer people and financial resources; and
• Reflect any decisions of the 225th General Assembly (2022) regarding the location and format of future General Assembly meetings.