When the General Assembly comes home

Some moments in the life of the church are not merely announced —they are felt.

They are felt in the tone of a text message, in the excited pause of a phone call, in the look of someone who hears a piece of news and immediately thinks, “This is bigger than us.”

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That is how it felt for me when I heard the announcement that the Unification Commission received and voted favorably on the Unified Interim Agency’s recommendation to propose that the 228th General Assembly be held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from June 11-22, 2028, in collaboration with other presbyteries and the Synod of Boriquén.

For those of us who serve in Presbyterian leadership in Puerto Rico, this is not merely a logistical matter. It is a spiritual act. It is a pastoral gesture. And in many ways, it is a living image of what unification seeks: a church that learns to walk together, to recognize one another as part of the same body, and to reorganize not in order to preserve itself, but to serve God’s mission more faithfully.

Unification is not an administrative project. It is a discipleship decision

At times, when we hear words such as “structure,” “budget,” “reorganization,” or “unified agency,” it can feel as though we are talking about something distant — something that belongs to offices, committees, and long meetings. Yet the truth is that what is being done in this process has a direct impact on the heart of our congregations.

Unification, as it has been described along the road traveled by the Unification Commission, is not a sprint. It is a multi‑year process of discernment and transformation that seeks to respond faithfully to a changing reality. It is a journey that began, for me, in 2018, through my work on the Per Capita and Sustainability Committee. In words that have resonated deeply with me, unifying is not “a project with a quick delivery date.” It is a multi‑year journey rooted in decades of conversation and prayer about how to be a faithful and sustainable denomination.

And why does this matter at the level of the local church? Because our congregations do not live in a vacuum. Every pastoral call, every community initiative, every effort in Christian formation, and every response in the midst of crisis is supported — for better or for worse —by structures that either facilitate or hinder mission. A healthy structure does not replace the Holy Spirit, but it can remove obstacles so that God’s people may walk with greater freedom.

A table where many voices belong

Serving on the Unification Commission has confirmed something I have always believed about our Reformed tradition: the church discerns best when it truly listens. When the UC is described as “a remarkable mix of voices”— leaders from mid councils, pastors of small, medium, and large churches, students, ruling elders, and community leaders — it is not a slogan. It is the lived reality of a table where, over time, trust is learned.

That trust does not appear by decree. It is built in difficult conversations, in honest disagreement, in complex decisions, and also in moments of prayer and vulnerability. This human dimension of the UC is what I most want the church to know: behind every “recommendation” are people who love the PC(USA) deeply, who carry the hope of a possible future, and who also feel the weight of the painful transitions that every transformation entails.

That is why I value the way the process has insisted on principles that are not merely technical, but spiritual: being relational, simplifying with purpose, being agile, focusing on justice, and maintaining a clear vision. In other words, this is not only about “doing more with less,” but about “doing the right things in the right way.”

GA 228 in San Juan: more than a location, a message

When San Juan was recommended as the host city for GA 228, the report emphasized that this decision recognizes the importance of communities that have been minoritized within the denomination, and that the Assembly’s presence in Puerto Rico can be a concrete affirmation of the church’s inclusive values: linguistic diversity, broader worship experiences, local economic support, and strengthened community relationships.

In Puerto Rico, faith is expressed with a particular intensity — in music, hospitality, solidarity, and in the resilience of a church that has learned to care for its people in difficult seasons. For the Assembly to come here has immense potential: not simply so the rest of the denomination can “visit us,” but so the denomination can recognize us as an integral part of its identity.

And this touches the heart of the UC’s work directly: unification also means drawing closer. It means healing distances. It means remembering that the PC(USA) is not a center with peripheries, but a broad communion that lives out God’s mission in many languages, cultures, and realities.

From planning to implementation: what comes next matters

In the national conversation, it has been noted that the Interim Unified Agency is moving from planning to implementation, and that its vision is to “connect and equip the whole church” in discipleship and the fullness of God. That language is not accidental: the future of the denomination depends on our ability to connect what is national with what is local.

One of the most hopeful elements is that the design of the new organization places priority on strengthening mid councils, recognizing that they are not a separate “department,” but part of the fabric of the church’s whole mission. For those of us who serve in presbyteries, this is a concrete affirmation: our daily realities — congregational vitality, leadership transitions, and public witness in the community—are not footnotes; they are sacred ground where the future of the church is being shaped.

What unification can mean for an ‘ordinary’ congregation

Let me put it simply: when a congregation is seeking resources to form disciples, accompany young people, respond to a community crisis, or sustain a justice ministry, the question is not whether a national structure “exists.” The question is whether that structure serves —whether it responds clearly, accompanies with dignity, and walks with the local church instead of speaking to it from a distance.

A well‑done unification process can help make possible: clearer communication; more effective sharing of resources; more accessible leadership development and training; practical tools for mid councils to do their work; and mission sustained with greater integrity and less duplication.

The process also involves tensions, difficult decisions, and painful changes. The UC has acknowledged this honestly. Precisely for that reason, this work must be humanized — because it is about real people, real callings, and real congregations that are longing for signs of hope.

A final invitation: come to see, and see to understand

If GA 228 is officially approved for San Juan this summer by the 227^th General Assembly, my hope is that those who travel will come not only to “attend an assembly,” but to encounter a living church, an embodied faith, and a people who know both joy and grief — and who still keep singing.

And my deepest prayer is that, in coming, the denomination will also see with new eyes the meaning of unification: not as an institutional rearrangement, but as an act of trust that God is still guiding the church toward a future that is more faithful, more just, and more united. Because when the church walks together, it discovers something that was there all along: that in Christ we are not strangers, and that God’s mission always has room for all.

Ruling Elder José Rosa-Rivera is Stated Clerk of the Presbytery of San Juan and a member of the Unification Commission.