GA Procedures Committee and Teaching Elder William Humphreys

Ruling elder Patricia Snyder (left), vice-moderator of the GA Procedures Committee and Teaching Elder William Humphreys, moderator, convene the committee on Wednesday morning, June 26, 2024. Photo by Randy Hobson

The General Assembly Procedures Committee used a divide-and-conquer approach for its work Wednesday, splitting into small online groups to discuss and make recommendations on its largest piece of business, GAP-03, Proposed Standing Rules of the General Assembly.

Those recommendations came to the GAP Committee from the Special Committee on Standing Rules, which has offered a report in four sections:

  • Foundations and Values of the General Assembly
  • The Worship of God
  • Creation of Community
  • Faithful Discernment and Governance

The General Assembly Procedures Committee made an effort to vote on Sections 1 and 2 on Wednesday but ran out of time by its announced close of business at 6 p.m. Mountain Time Wednesday. The committee will resume deliberations at 9 a.m. Mountain Time on Thursday, the final day of the 226th General Assembly’s online committee meetings.

“We are going to sleep on it,” said the GAP Committee’s Moderator, the Rev. William Humphreys of the Presbytery of Santa Fe. “We will be more confident of [the amendment] procedure and we will use it for tomorrow.”

“It’s been a full day for our committee,” Humphreys said, “and that warms us up for a very full day [on Thursday].”

The GAP Committee began its day on Wednesday hearing from members of the special committee, including co-moderators the Rev. Cindy Kohlmann and Adriana Soto Acevedo, as well as committee members Jeff Moles and the Rev. Andy James. Those four starred in this video explaining the special committee’s report; a Presbyterian News Service report on the video is here.

Once the four members of the special committee presented, the Rev. Greg Goodwiller, a member of the Advisory Committee on the Constitution, addressed the committee.

“By and large, we’re very supportive of the revision,” Goodwiller said, offering up what he called “a few tweaks” suggested by the ACC. Those suggestions are found under “Advice from the ACC” found near the end of GAP-03. For a side-by-side comparison of the special committee’s proposed changes and the current Standing Rules, go here.

Regarding section 3B2, on the site selection for in-person General Assembly meetings, Omar Gonzalez of the LGBTQIA+ Equity Advocacy Committee asked the committee to help ensure that GA planners look into state and local laws and policies “that might lead to unsafe spaces for LGBTQIA+ commissioners and advisory delegates,” Gonzalez said, citing states that have passed laws placing bans on transgender people using bathrooms according to their gender identity.

The Rev. Jeromey Howard of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy asked the committee for an amendment to the special committee’s proposal to ensure that all General Assembly participants, including commissioners and advisory delegates, have access to the required technology and internet access.

Ian Hall, the chief financial officer and chief operating officer for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation, said renting an iPad for the length of the assembly costs $72 without cellular data and about $140 if the device includes cellular data. If 75 people needed a rented device to participate in a General Assembly, the cost would thus be about $10,500.

Each of the breakout groups reported back to the entire committee ahead of making amendments and then voting on the special committee’s proposal.

“When we think of the mission of the church, we may think of the Standing Rules as not really germane,” said Kent Grimes of Charleston Atlantic Presbytery, the committee’s parliamentarian. “But they’re the foundation for the way we do work in the assembly. The Standing Rules are important and lead us to what the church is all about.”

“Thank you for the work you’ve done during these breakout sessions,” Grimes told committee members. “I feel much better today about the work that’s yet to be done.”

The Rev. Kevin Porter of the Presbytery of Philadelphia, GAP’s committee assistant, offered a prayer to conclude Wednesday’s session. “With gratitude for the ways you continue to nurture us, grant these commissioners rest and renewal,” Porter asked of the Almighty, “so we are ready to offer our all for the building of your kingdom.”