PC(USA), Indonesian faith communities sign a Covenant Agreement at the Presbyterian Center
The work ‘is always larger than any individual church’
LOUISVILLE — On Monday during a half-hour worship service and signing ceremony at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky, officials with Christian Evangelical Church in Minahasa, known as the Gereja Masehi Injili di Minahasa (GMIM) in Indonesia, and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) signed a Covenant Agreement recognizing “God’s call to a fresh expression of ministry and mission that requires us to work together as partners in God’s mission,” work that “is always larger than any individual church.”
The Rev. Hein Arina, president of GMIM, which has nearly 1 million members in Indonesia and has ties to worshiping communities in U.S. communities including Columbus, Ohio, and Avenel, New Jersey, joined with the Rev. Jihyun Oh, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the PC(USA) and Executive Director of the Interim Unified Agency, to sign the Covenant Agreement.
“As churches we have our own unique identities forged by our distinct histories and traditions, reflected in our different constitutions and ways of working, but seek to journey together in ministry, being authentic to who we are and enriched by what each of us brings to this partnership,” the agreement states. Recognizing those existing relationships in Ohio and New Jersey, “we seek to build on these expressions of shared ministry and witness.”
The agreement calls for the PC(USA) to commit to:
- Connecting GMIM communities with mid councils to find ways offering space and hospitality
- Supporting mid councils as they engage in shared ministry with GMIM
- Extending our common witness with this community as we enter into shared ministry together, as PC(USA) and GMIM, each bringing what we can and receiving what we need to extend God’s mission.
GMIM commits to providing pastors to nurture and support these GMIM communities worshiping and witnessing in their own language in these places. “Together we will create resources and support both GMIM and PC(USA) communities as they seek to live into this relationship of shard ministry,” the agreement states. It also commits both faith communities to “keeping each other informed of developments and resolving any issues that may arise in our shared witness.” The two agree to meet within three years “to review progress and what we are learning from our shared witness and ministries.”
“Thank you for the work that has gone into this,” said Dr. Dianna Wright, Associate Stated Clerk and Director of Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations in the IUA. “It’s an important step we take today, and it’s important that we worship and celebrate together.”
Two members of the GMIM delegation, Visca Robot and the Rev. Joshua Umboh, read from Psalm 84 and Acts 2:43-47. The GMIM delegation then united to sing a Christian hymn to the tune of “Danny Boy.”
“What a joyous occasion!” said the Rev. Mienda Uriarte, Director of Global Ecumenical Partnerships in the IUA. Conversations over the coming together that was formalized on Monday began in 2016, she noted, and continued when GMIM youth attended Presbyterian Youth Triennium at Purdue University in 2019.
“We want to highlight the commitment of presbyteries and congregations” that have been “an integral part” of the process, Uriarte said. General Assembly concurrence began with a commissioner’s resolution and was then followed by the approval of the Global Covenant Agreement Response, ECU-06, by commissioners to the 226th General Assembly (2024). That item of business allows for a more flexible process “where we can develop and grow into a relationship of shared ministry with global partner denominations with organized fellowships and congregations” in the United States. It also called for “regular dialogues” with GMIM and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana.
“The Spirit of God is moving, and it is truly with deeply grateful hearts that we celebrate the marking of this significant moment as we pause to sign our Covenant Agreement,” Uriarte said.
“It’s a long way to come here,” Arina said just before he signed alongside Oh. “We are happy because we believe this is God’s calling for GMIM and the PC(USA) to serve the Lord and God’s people.”
“We hope someday God will send the Rev. Oh and others to see how God works in Indonesia,” Arina said. “Thank you so very much.”
“It’s good to be reminded of the long way we have come together. It is an honor and a privilege to participate in celebrating and signing today,” Oh said, also expressing gratitude “for your perseverance, and for the amount of time and energy everyone has put into this process.”
“The conversations that you all started are forming the basis for covenant agreements from throughout the communion of Christian churches,” Oh told the GMIM delegation. “We are grateful you said you would be the first to be in this relationship. God is doing a new thing, that we might be able to speak to God’s oneness.”
“I look forward to years of partnership,” Oh said, “where we can continue to share the good news of what God is doing.”
Wright passed along greetings from the Rev. Mary Westfall, relational co-leader of the Presbytery of the Coastlands, and the Rev. Kathy Nice, executive presbyter of the Presbytery of Scioto Valley, who could not be in Louisville on Monday.
The Rev. Sabrina Slater, who chairs the General Assembly Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations, offered up a prayer, saying, “the Spirit of the Lord is heavy in this place, and has been heavy in our churches.”
Slater thanked the Almighty “because you are present and because we see you in each other. You have always been present in these churches in undeniable ways. We ask you to bless this Covenant, that we will be excited for what you are doing in and through us”
After those in the Chapel sang “We All Are One in Mission,” Oh dismissed the gathering with a benediction including these words: “Siblings in Christ, we are all one in mission. So let us be united. Let us be a vessel for God’s redeeming word. Let us continue to learn from one another and continue to lift up the good news God is sharing with the world through one another’s work and ministry. May we continue to affirm the one call we have.”
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