General Assembly Relationships Committee votes to refer implementation of a Board of Pensions deliverance
Two committee members say they’ll write a minority report for consideration during an upcoming GA plenary
MILWAUKEE — On Wednesday, members of the General Assembly Relationships Committee voted to refer GAR-03, Report of the General Assembly Agency Review Committee on the Board of Pensions, after a lengthy and sometimes contentious back-and-forth between members of the Agency Review Committee and the Board of Pensions’ President, the Rev. Dr. Frank Clark Spencer, over implementing a deliverance for the Board of Pensions.
Later, two members of the GA Relationships Committee announced they’d be writing a minority report in response to the referral. That minority report will be presented along with the motion to defer during a General Assembly plenary next week.
Two members of the Agency Review Committee, the Rev. Dale Jackson, the committee’s moderator, and Carla Campbell, stated clerk and general counsel of Pittsburgh Presbytery, presented to committee members.
Campbell pointed out that agencies of the General Assembly exist in two worlds, ecclesial and corporate. Bridging the gap is a deliverance, an ecclesiastical action by the Assembly to create a corporation or refine its relationship with a corporation that is empowered to do some aspect of the Assembly’s work in civil or secular form.
“The Board of Pensions touches every minister’s and congregation’s life,” Jackson said. “We can have honest conversations about what can be strengthened or clarified.”
There’s been a memorandum of understanding in place since 1994, Jackson said, but the lack of a deliverance has “created tensions and difficulties.”
“We’re Reformed and always being reformed,” said Jackson, executive presbyter for vision and leadership at Heartland Presbytery. “It’s reasonable to assume that adjustments to agreements should be made.”
April Davenport, general counsel for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation and for the General Assembly, said she engaged outside counsel to advise the committee. Davenport introduced attorney Mark Chopko, who told the committee his firm was engaged in part to see if a deliverance would change liability risk for the Board of Pensions. He said he didn’t believe that would be the case.
Jackson said members of the Agency Review Committee made “a good-faith effort to share the report [with the Board of Pensions] before it was published.”
Spencer said that none of the recommendations the committee made were shared with Board of Pensions staff or board members. He said staff learned about the recommendations when they read the report on MyGA, where General Assembly business is available to commissioners, advisory delegates and interested members of the public.
“We feel the spirit of collaboration was violated by the committee itself,” Spencer said.
Spencer said that under advice of legal counsel, the Board of Pensions determined it could not answer all the questions being asked by the Agency Review Committee.
Spencer said the Board of Pensions received legal advice that the proposed deliverance “would put directors in the untenable position of serving two masters and would expose them to liability.”
During a question-and-answer time, a committee member asked the Rev. Jihyun Oh, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly and Executive Director of Presbyterian Life & Witness, how disapproving GAR-03 might “jeopardize continued operations.”
“I believe we would continue as we have until now with the MOU that continues to stand between PL&W and the Board of Pensions. There would not be a document that further elucidates the relationship between the General Assembly and the Board of Pensions,” she said. “A deliverance flows into bylaws, which is a secular document. It’s about the relationship between the General Assembly as the highest council [of the church] and one of its agencies.”
The motion to refer was approved by a 32-27 vote. The proposal will be referred to a working group of no more than nine members, including representatives of the General Assembly Relationships Committee, the Board of Pensions, PL&W, the Agency Review Committee and at-large members, all charged with examining “the issues concerning a deliverance for the Board of Pensions.” They’ll be appointed by the next Moderators of the General Assembly “and bring further recommendations to the 228th General Assembly in 2028.”
“We fell the delay kicks the can down the road,” Jackson said. “We feel the Agency Review Committee did a good job working through legal and ecclesial issues.”
“This was really hard for the committee to navigate,” said Committee Moderator the Rev. Ruth Faith Santana-Grace, noting the work ahead for Spencer’s successor, Ruling Elder Krysten Carter Holloway. Spencer is retiring on July 1.
Other items of business
Committee members unanimously approved GAR-07, Recommendations for the Institutional Relationship between Presbyterian Women and the PC(USA).
“I love Presbyterian Women and all it’s done,” said the Rev. Laurena Will, a committee member from Northern New York Presbytery. “If you have not checked out Horizons magazine, it’s great.”
After lunch, the Agency Review Committee’ Campbell returned to present on GAR-04, the review of the Presbyterian Foundation and Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program.
The Foundation’s president and CEO, the Rev. Dr. Tom Taylor, said this was the third agency review he’s participated in. “The results have given us insights and led to lasting change and improvements,” he said.
Ruling Elder Clare Lewis, the president of PILP, noted that PILP leadership had already implemented some of the recommendations of the Agency Review Committee.
Members of the General Assembly Relationships Committee passed GAR-04 in sections, as amended.
They then passed GAR-08, Recommendation for Revised PILP Deliverance, and GAR-11, Confirmation of PILP Board of Directors.
Committee members spent considerable time and energy on GAR-02, On Reinstating the Immigration Attorney Position. The committee passed an amended motion with these requirements of PL&W:
- Provide the full budget required for the position
- Provide additional programmatic funds necessary to carry out the ministry on behalf of the whole denomination
- Ensure that the position is held by an attorney with demonstrated specialization and expertise in federal immigration law and religious-based employment
- Instruct PL&W to proceed immediately with a review and implementation of additional plans for immigration support.
The position “didn’t go away. It’s just vacant. It has been retained in the 2027-28 budget,” explained the Rev. Sarah Moore-Nokes of PL&W. “It is fully the intent of PL&W to support immigration needs in the PC(USA). We need to figure out the scope and scale.”
After committee members completed their business on their final day of online meetings, they participated in a responsive reading and listened to a recording of “God Be With You Till We Meet Again.”
During the responsive reading, commissioners and advisory delegates unmuted their microphones to produce a joyous cacophony.
“We deserve a little gracious chaos together,” said Santana-Grace.
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