Get to know the moderator
Moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow has served at all levels of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) over the past 20 years and has provided leadership at a variety of events and conferences. An ordained minister since 1995, Bruce Reyes-Chow is a 39-year-old Northern California native and the founding pastor of Mission Bay Community Church, a new church development of San Francisco Presbytery.
Get to know the new moderator — watch his opening statement at the 218th General Assembly in San Jose, California, in this five-minute video.
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A church for future generations
Bruce Reyes-Chow responded to a series of questions published in
a booklet distributed to commissioners and advisory delegates
prior to the convening of the 218th General Assembly. Here’s
the Moderator’s response to the question:
In what new ways can the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and its congregations place a focus on
ministry to and with youth and young adults to ensure a church for future generations?
First we must decide if we truly wish to be a church for future generations. I am not sure that we see our roles as preparers for the future, but rather we are more focused on our role as caregivers of the now. To be compelling to young folks would require us to admit that others discover, connect with and live out their faith in Christ in ways different than our own. To be authentic, we must embrace these realities and find joy in the ways future generations experience the church. Not an easy task, but transformation is not easy.
Continue reading.
Nurtured by our past, embracing our future: read the blog
In January 2008, Bruce Reyes-Chow received an endorsement from the San Francisco Presbytery to stand for moderator of the 218th General Assembly. With this announcement he began the blog, Nurtured by our past, embracing our future, to chronicle his experience standing as candidate for moderator. With his recent election he has now turned his focus to his new role and how he will serve.
june 28, 2008
Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The 218th General Assembly adjourned just a few short hours ago. Even now, 973 commissioners and advisory delegates are making their way back home from San Jose, Calif., where they worshiped daily, discussed and debated overtures, and celebrated the countless ways Presbyterians are engaged in ministry near and very far away—all with a focus on discerning the mind of Christ for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and seeking ways to live out this assembly’s theme: “Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6:8).
Beginning today and continuing over the next two years, elected commissioners will be about the task of interpreting the actions they took at this assembly. Already, their decisions have been broadcast across the church and, in this Internet world — with information received in real time, live blogs, and more — many people have already weighed in on the assembly’s actions, sharing their thoughts and feelings about the implications of those decisions on our life together in the PC(USA).
Read the rest of this letter.
Subscribe to the GA Moderator updates email
Subscribe to receive occasional email updates from the GA moderator. These messages will be similar to what a pastor might write to a congregation in the weekly newsletter, only in this case, the denomination is the congregation. These communications will reflect on the experience of being moderator as well as thoughts, readings, meditations on scripture and experiences in mission throughout the church.
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