Unification Commission approves a job description for the Stated Clerk/Executive Director
Commissioners also receive an update on the transformation of World Mission
LOUISVILLE — Meeting at the Presbyterian Center during the first of a two-day gathering, the Unification Commission on Thursday approved a job description for the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly and Executive Director of the Interim Unified Agency, the Rev. Jihyun Oh.
“This position serves as the chief ecclesiastical and ecumenical officer and Head of Communion for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and as the chief executive of the Interim Unified Agency (IUA),” states the document, which came to the full commission for approval from its Ministry Coordination Committee. “The Stated Clerk and Executive Director provides constitutional and spiritual leadership, administrative oversight, and operational management for a unified agency with approximately 300 employees. This position is pivotal in fostering strategic vision across the denomination and building mission alignment, financial sustainability, organizational health and collaboration across the IUA.”
Among the SC/ED roles:
- Performing the responsibilities and functions outlined in the Book of Order, Organization for Mission and the Standing Rules for Meetings of the General Assembly.
- Providing strategic leadership and governance for the PC(USA), serving as Head of Communion and primary representative in ecumenical and interfaith relations.
- Collaborating with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation to oversee financial planning, budgeting and fiscal responsibility for the organization’s more than $90 million annual budget, ensuring “strong financial stewardship and regulatory compliance.”
- Ensuring “high-quality, mission-driven program delivery while leading efforts to measure impact and continuously improve programming in alignment with General Assembly directives.”
- Strengthening relationships with mid councils, congregations and ecumenical and interfaith partners “to enhance the church’s missional impact. … Through transparent communication and leadership, they build confidence and engagement among stakeholders.”
- Leading and inspiring the approximately 300 employees in the IUA, “fostering a collaborative and mission-driven workplace culture. They ensure the organization remains adaptable and responsive to the evolving needs of the church and broader community while championing diversity, equity and inclusion. Additionally, they develop and retain talent by providing strong leadership and professional growth opportunities.”
World Mission report
Oh and the Rev. Mienda Uriarte, director of World Mission, discussed the ongoing transformation of an organization that will be reduced from 79 to 44 employees and will increasingly rely on global ecumenical partnerships, for which it’s being named.
“This is a whole new way for us to engage,” Uriarte told the commission. This “new way of engaging in the world” will be launched during April and May.
An online Chapel service on May 26 will honor all World Mission staff. According to Uriarte, it’s being planned and led by World Mission staff who have volunteered their participation and leadership.
The new partnership will be further explained as part of a communications plan being developed by Dr. Corey Schlosser-Hall, a Deputy Executive Director in the IUA; Rick Jones, Communications Director for the IUA; and Vivian Blade, who recently began as Program Manager of the Unification Management Office.
Oh pointed out a recent piece that had Uriarte answering frequently-asked questions. Another being developed by Barry Creech, Deputy Executive Director for Administration, and Tamron Keith, World Mission’s Deputy Director, will explain World Mission by the numbers. Oh and Uriarte will discuss plans in an upcoming video, and the two plan to appear on a podcast as well.
The model for orienting Global Ecumenical Liaisons, the new name for mission co-workers, is one of three sub-teams coming together as one, Uriarte said. One will have an international focus, one will work in the domestic realm, and a third team consists of site coordinators for Young Adult Volunteers.
“It’s important to lift up we aren’t walking away from our partnerships,” Uriarte said in response to a question by the Rev. Bill Teng, a commission member. “It will look different than it has, and there is potential for that connection to be even more effective than it has been.”
The Rev. Francis Lin, a commissioner who leads the Presbytery of Riverside, said many mid-council leaders are looking “for what the narrative will be” when responding to questions by congregational leaders. “Many presbyteries supported mission co-workers,” and the changes have been “personal and painful for our congregations. What’s the best way to respond?”
Oh said Quick Sheets developed for Ministry Engagement Advisors are concise and designed for people “who engage a lot of congregations and mid councils.” They’re a potential resource, she said.
In addition, the Rev. Dr. Sallie Watson, who’s recently gone to work as Interim Associate Director of Mid Council Ministries and is the former leader of Mission Presbytery, “can help us craft some things that will be helpful to mid-council leaders,” said Kerry Rice, Associate Stated Clerk.
Unification Commission Co-Moderators’ report
Co-Moderators Cristi Scott Ligon and the Rev. Dr. Felipe N. Martínez said efforts are underway to round out the Unification Management Office with a Strategic Communications Lead, a Program Analyst and a Change Management Manager.
The two said they lamented that the Rev. Dr. Dee Cooper submitted her resignation from the UC following the commission’s January meeting. “We are grateful for Dee’s contributions, her collegiality and her friendship,” they said. The Co-Moderators of the 226th General Assembly, the Rev. Tony Larson and the Rev. CeCe Armstrong, have elected not to replace Cooper, leaving the commission with 11 members.
The UC Co-Moderators affirmed that the commission’s May meeting will coincide with the meeting of the A Corp Board. Commissioners and board members will have dinner together and “affirm ways in which we can support each other’s work during a joint morning work session on May 22,” the Co-Moderators said.
The ”hard conversations” that went into building a 2025-26 unified budget “forged a new collaborative ethos around shared mission and vision going forward that will bear even more fruit in the future,” the two said. “This was a comprehensive budget that looked at everything — financial sustainability, Per Capita and restricted funds. We also updated our reserve policy to ensure that we have funds available for whenever we experience our next ‘rainy day.’”
The two thanked Jones and Randy Hobson, an IUA multimedia producer, for their four-part video series based on interviews with the Co-Moderators, available here, here, here and here. “We are grateful also for the faithful Presbyterians on staff, in mid councils and in the pews who write to the UC asking questions and offering prayers for us,” they said. “We appreciate their grace and patience as we respond.”
The report of the 226th General Assembly Co-Moderators
Larson presented on behalf of Armstrong and himself. By the end of summer, the Co-Moderators, who were elected last summer, will have been to five synods and 42 presbyteries. “After that, things are still open,” Larson said.
The Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, the PC(USA)’s Advocacy Director, will preach during a covenanting service for the Co-Moderators on March 29 at New Wappetaw Presbyterian Church in McClellanville, South Carolina.
Larson shared snippets from the Co-Moderators’ travels. “It is a wonderful and beautiful thing to watch us live our polity out and to watch presbyteries vote” on proposed changes and additions to the Book of Order approved by commissioners to the 226th General Assembly. “It has also been poignant and sometimes painful watching those conversations happen.” But “they always end in prayer. There’s no gloating by the winning side — just relationships valued over rhetoric.”
The church “generally does not like the name ‘IUA,’” Larson reported. “They are ready for a new name, one that rolls off the tongue better than IUA.”
In some ways, Larson and Armstrong “are called to be trauma chaplains for the church,” he said. “As changes happen, we hear from the church — sometimes grief, sometimes anger or disappointment or resentment, the sense that change has happened without the opportunity to lift up and celebrate the ministry that has been.”
Along the way, “conversations move to a place of curiosity and hope that we are a resurrection people, that God has ministry and mission for us to do, that we have a church full of talented and equipped people ready to move into the work.”
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