General Assembly Relationships Committee unanimously recommends an amended new Organization for Mission

MILWAUKEE — With no small amount of whooping and hollering at the end of a long day of work, the General Assembly Relationships Committee celebrated the unanimous passage, with amendments, of GAR-05, Recommendation for New Organization for Mission from the Unification Commission.

The vote just before a dinner break on Tuesday was 57-0.

“This was extraordinary work on the part of the Unification Commission and on the part of this committee,” said Committee Moderator the Rev. Ruth Faith Santana-Grace. “Please know how much we appreciate your journey with us and our journey with you.”

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Committee members proposed 30 amendments throughout their deliberations and approved several of them.

One that passed by a three-vote margin would require the Stated Clerk and Executive Director of Presbyterian Life & Witness to, before “substantially restructuring, reducing or eliminating programs that maintain long-term relationships with named global partner churches,” provide written notice to affected partner churches at least 90 days in advance, when circumstances permit. It would also require reporting “the substance of the consultation to the PL&W Board before authorizing the restructuring and include a summary of the consultation and partner responses in the agency’s next report to the General Assembly.” When “urgent circumstances do not permit advance consultation,” the Stated Clerk and Executive Director “shall provide written notice and explanation to partners as promptly as possible and report to the PL&W Board within 30 days.”

Another amendment, this one on faithful stewardship of donor gifts, passed by a 39-19 count. “Fundraising appeals that name a specific ministry, program or cause in their primary message shall disclose clearly to donors whether their gift will be directed to that specific ministry or program or may be allocated more broadly,” the amendment stated. “Such disclosure shall appear prominently in the solicitation.” It requires the PL&W Board to “annually review the agency’s donor communication practices and charitable stewardship policies.”

At the suggestion of Young Adult Advisory Delegate Abby Debbink of Milwaukee Presbytery, a section on diversity, equity and inclusion will end with this language: “ensuring that the voices and concerns of historically excluded groups (F-1.0403) are integrated into the planning, deliberation and decision-making of the PL&W Board.”

Another motion, which passed 49-7, adds, “In order to fulfill their General Assembly mandate to advocate and advise, the following members of the General Assembly’s advocacy committees [LGBTQIA+ Equity, Racial Equity, and Women and Gender Justice] shall have opportunity for engagement and access to all meetings, with access to all materials for both open and closed sessions of the PL&W Board unless legal counsel advises otherwise.”

In a motion that passed by a 34-23 count, when the PL&W Board recommends a budget to the General Assembly, the budget document must include “a plain-language summary of any ministry categories or programs that have been eliminated, substantially restructured, or reduced by 25% or more since the previous General Assembly, including the date of each such decision and the PL&W Board vote by which it was authorized.” It also requires notification “of significant program changes anticipated in the upcoming biennium, budget adjustments between assemblies or a budget reduction of more than 25% of any ministry area,” which “shall require a two-thirds vote of the PL&W Board and submission to the next General Assembly for ratification.”

Another motion, this one approved 37-20, requires an annual mid council consultation to which executives, stated clerks and moderators of mid councils will be invited. The consultation will “present the agency’s current mission roadmap and priorities … and address concerns mid council leaders wish to raise regarding agency programs, practices or governance.”

It requires the Stated Clerk/Executive Director to prepare a written summary “including a description of how mid council input has been or will be incorporated into agency planning. This summary shall be submitted to the PL&W Board and included in the agency’s biennial report to the General Assembly.”

Finally, committee members altered the way the new OFM can be amended. “The Organization for Mission may be amended only by action of the General Assembly” the committee decided in a 53-2 vote. “Proposed amendments may originate as an overture submitted by any presbytery or synod, or a report from any General Assembly entity to the Stated Clerk/Executive Director in accordance with the Standing Rules of the General Assembly, or a recommendation from the PL&W Board, submitted as part of the agency’s report to the General Assembly.”

The PL&W Board “shall consult with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation Board regarding proposed changes with corporate governance implications and shall include the A Corporation Board’s comments with any recommendation it forwards to the General Assembly,” committee members determined. “The failure of the PL&W Board to include a proposed amendment in its report shall not prevent that amendment from being considered if submitted as an overture by a presbytery or synod, or a report from a General Assembly entity.”

After a dinner break, the committee approved the reading of three sets of minutes — those of the General Assembly Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations for 2024, GACEIR for 2025, and the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation for 2024 and 2025.

The also heard from the Rev. Dr. Bridgett Green, publisher and president of PPC, who presented a Summary Agency Report for 2026.

PPC published nearly 60 books in 2024-25, including the Westminster Study Bible, which Green described as “one of those resources we anticipate people will purchase year after year, decade after decade.”

PPC received a $1.25 million grant from the Lilly Foundation to develop the Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative. “That’s a pretty huge deal for us,” Green said, adding that resources will begin rolling out by the 228th General Assembly (2028).

Green said her vision is “to continue to expand on our more than 190 years of history.”

“We know we have a lot of pastors and commissioned lay pastors” for whom “we are producing resources to help with their ministries,” she said. “I’m extra excited about the ministry we are able to produce.”