The Committee on the Office of the General Assembly meets one final time

LOUISVILLE — Meeting for the final time on Thursday, the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly unanimously adopted its one main item of business and then spoke lovingly about the work they’ve completed together on behalf of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

In August, the Unification Commission voted to sunset both COGA and the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board and will itself take on the interim governance of what is now know as the Interim Unified Agency.

In addition to approving its agenda and minutes, COGA voted to ask the Rev. Jihyun Oh, the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly and Executive Director of the Interim Unified Agency, to present by April 1, 2025, a recommendation to the Unification Commission and its Ministry Relations Committee outlining the proposed format of the 228th General Assembly (2028). That recommendation “should take into consideration previous COGA discussions and actions,” COGA said, and address these values:

• Stewardship of resources, including per capita, as well as the time commitment and energy required for all participants
• Effective discernment practices and venues that assist commissioners and advisory delegates to know the mind of Christ
• A format and docket that allows for the forming of community through the building of relationships and allows everyone to engage the church more broadly
• Centrality of worship that brings glory to God while uplifting, honoring and uniting participants
• Opportunities for the assembly to examine and enact just and equitable practices.

The recommendation as approved by the UC would then be submitted to the 227th General Assembly (2026) for consideration.

The format of the GA228 “determines where we will be able to look” to host that assembly, said Kerry Rice, the Deputy Stated Clerk. Those conversations among staff will pick up after the holidays, he said.

Kate Trigger Duffert, Director of General Assembly Planning, said that joining the former Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency into the Interim Unified Agency — together with some personnel changes — means that new voices are being brought into the planning process. “My hope is it strengthens the assembly,” she said. The team should be gathered and working on a recommendation during the first two months of 2025, she said.

Both Oh and the Rev. Tony Larson, Co-Moderator of the 226th General Assembly (2024), offered up brief reports. Oh said two weeks spent in Europe with colleagues meeting with partners including the World Communion of Reformed Churches and the World Council of Churches yielded “stories of faithful witness.”

They were excited to meet with us,” she said. “It was a good reminder of the ways we need to continue investing in those relationships, especially in this time for the world, so we can have a common witness together.”

“We can do more when we do that together,” Oh said. “That’s an important part of our Reformed identity — being ecumenical.”

She noted she continues to meet with members of the Unification Commission and its consultant, Kelly Beeland, and is still working to assemble the Interim Unified Agency’s senior leadership team.

COGA’s moderator, the Rev. Dr. Dave Davis, asked his colleagues for any closing thoughts before COGA adjourned into closed session.

“I feel like I have learned so much. We have had a little fun along the way,” said the Rev. Dr. Sallie Watson. “I feel a whole lot smarter than I did when I started this work 6½ years ago. Thank you for the education and collegiality.”

“Six and a half years ago, we were dreaming about ways to do things differently, and then we were forced to do things differently” once the Covid pandemic struck in March 2020, said the Rev. Leanne Masters. “I am thankful for all the relationships, friendships and community that has developed since then. I am grateful for everyone who steps up to serve, and grateful to you.”

“I think I can honestly say I knew the least about our denomination, and so I learned the most,” said the Rev. Joe Chu. “My life is richer now, and I look forward to bumping into you” down the road.

Davis shared some of these words from Dr. Howard Thurman as well as Thurman’s beloved poem, “The Work of Christmas.” Then Davis offered a moving prayer of his own, which included these words:

“It is you who knew each of us before our birth, you who call us by name,” Davis told the Creator. “Draw near to us this Advent day and shine your glory around us through the presence of Christ.”

“As you came all the way down to us in the birth of Christ, come all the way down to us right now and hear this prayer. We lift before you with gratitude the lives of all who served the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly. The accumulated faithfulness and dedication of our forebears in this work is humbling, Merciful One. We give you thanks for the work, the legacy, that shaped the General Assembly of our Church for generations.”

With the “confidence of resurrection life, loving God, we acknowledge the end of this work so that you might do a new thing in the life of our national church,” Davis prayed. “We lay it down before you and we hand it over to you, and right now we pause to give thanks to you for one another, for our elected members, for our co-moderators, for our stated clerk/executive director, and for every staff member on this call and throughout the unified agency.”

Davis offered prayers “for those around this virtual circle” who have “served together, discerned together, laughed together, cried together and, yes, prayed together.”

“Come, Lord Jesus, quickly come. When we don’t have the words to pray, when we stumble along this pathway of ministry and discipleship, when we cover our ears, deaf to the comfort and challenge of your call — even then, right then, come, Lord Jesus. Like a father who rocks a child and wipes the tears away. Like a mother whose determination and perseverance rubs off on a child like nothing other than unconditional love, come.”

“Bless us with your presence in the ordinary times and places and experiences of life, so that we can trust and not be afraid, knowing that we now and forever shall live in your glory, and you will be our light. We ask this as we would live, in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.”