Unification Commission votes to establish a Unification Management Office
The new office will help commissioners implement their decisions, set up a program plan, and develop a change management and communication strategy
LOUISVILLE — A Unification Management Office will be hired to help support the work of the Unification Commission.
After commissioners spent most of Thursday and Friday in closed session meeting online and at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky, Commissioner Carson Brown made this motion, which received quick approval:
“I move that the Unification Commission establish a Unification Management Office (UMO) for the purpose of managing unification of the Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency at the direction of the Unification Commission. The UMO will be charged with:
- Implementing the commission’s decisions
- Setting up a comprehensive unification program plan
- Developing a change management and communications strategy that supports the unification program
- Implementing and monitoring progress against the program plan and change management/communications strategy.
“The UMO Program Lead shall report to the Unification Commission until such time as the executive leadership of the new agency is established and the Unification Commission directs the UMO to report to the new agency.”
“Our commission recognizes that it’s the right time to establish an office charged with implementing the decisions the commission makes to move unification forward,” the Rev. Dr. Felipe Martínez, the commission’s co-moderator, said in a news release. “I think it’s important to emphasize that the commission will continue to lead unification and make decisions about how the work will unfold. We’re excited to build on the momentum of our work to date by creating this office to support us in implementing our decisions.”
During a 13-minute public session on Friday, Brown said the commission is “at a unique juncture.” After working with consultant Kelly Beeland and meeting over the last two days, “we are at a place where the organizational rubber can meet the road,” Brown said. “That is what this motion seeks to do. There will be decisions that need to be implemented somehow, and this is the how of that happening.”
“I want to emphasize the Unification Commission continues to be the body making the decisions,” Martínez said. “We are tasking the UMO to work at our direction and implement the decisions that are the commission’s decisions.”
“It’s the way to move the ball forward,” Martínez said of establishing the new office. The UMO “will take the tasks and the programmatic aspect of what needs to happen forward at our direction.”
The Unification Commission’s Finance Work Group will be tasked with bringing forward the financial implications of opening the new office. “The idea is to have people focused on this work, connecting with the staff and reporting back to us,” Martínez said.
Martínez offered “a word of gratitude” to Beeland, “as she helped us articulate what ended up as this motion.”
According to the news release, the Unification Commission was established in 2022 by the 225th General Assembly to oversee and facilitate the unification of OGA and PMA into a single agency, revise the Organization for Mission to reflect this change, and work to align the entities, boards, committees and constituent bodies of the General Assembly toward long-term faithfulness and financial sustainability of its mission within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
The new office “and the process it enables is part of the work the commission has been discerning over the past several months with help from our consultant,” Martínez said. Among those Martínez thanked for their recent efforts was the Rev. Tony Larson, co-moderator of the 226th General Assembly (2024), who was able to participate in much of the commission’s work Thursday and Friday.
Beeland “led us in workshop-style conversations on the concept of culture in the organization” and delivered preliminary findings and draft recommendations, Martínez said. Her full report has not yet been presented to the commission.
Commissioners also held small-group conversations “on top elements of culture, which our system would do well to focus on,” Martínez said.
“It has been a busy and rewarding couple of days,” Martínez said. “I am grateful for all those able to participate, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to work on behalf of the church.”
Commissioners meet via Zoom on Sept. 14 and in person in Denver Oct. 10-12.
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