Reformed Identity Around the World Committee to consider overtures on World Mission restructuring

LOUISVILLE — The Reformed Identity Around the World Committee (RIW) of the 227th General Assembly (2026) will meet online June 22-24 to consider three overtures stemming from the March 2025 closure of Presbyterian World Mission. Ruling Elder Rachael Eggebeen of the Presbytery of de Cristo and the Rev. Dr. Matthew Bussell of Salem Presbytery will serve as Moderator and Vice Moderator of the committee with over 50 commissioners, 11 Youth Advisory Delegates and two Theological Student Advisory Delegates. 

The committee will take up RIW-01 and RIW-02 — both from the Presbytery of the Cascades — alongside RIW-07 from the Presbytery of Philadelphia. Together, the items address accountability, theological direction and reporting following the denomination’s shift to a new global engagement model. 

RIW-01 asks the assembly to create a commission to examine how Presbyterian World Mission was dissolved and replaced. The Presbytery of the Cascades proposes directing leadership “to review decision-making processes employed and actions taken that resulted in the elimination of the PC(USA) World Mission and the termination of all appointed Mission Co-Worker positions.”  

The overture further calls for determining whether those actions “conformed to or violated policy mandates of the General Assembly” and for assessing consultation with global partners. 

Its rationale highlights both procedural and relational concerns, noting that the action “deprived the denomination of opportunities to connect with, to learn from and to be led by the global church.” It also contends that consultations with global partners were insufficiently incorporated before decisions were finalized.  

RIW-01 is concurred by multiple presbyteries, including Baltimore, Central Nebraska, Charleston-Atlantic, Giddings-Lovejoy, Heartland, Lake Erie, Los Ranchos, Miami Valley, New York City, The James, Pueblo, San Gabriel, Shenango and Utah.  

The General Assembly Committee on Representation (GACOR), Racial Equity Advocacy Committee (REAC) and the Unification Commission (UC) have all provided comments. GACOR emphasized “the importance of giving voice, not just to global ministry partners or various constituencies within the PC(USA), but also to the people of color within and outside of the church who are the generational descendants of global mission work, including diaspora communities of countries where mission work or partnerships have taken place, in order to listen deeply and broadly to the complex and nuanced impacts of PC(USA) World Missions both historically and today.” 

REAC advises approval of the overture, stating that the restricting actions “represent a significant loss of infrastructure that has historically supported intercultural competency, shared mission across racial and ethnic lines, and the presence of U.S. Presbyterians living in solidarity with global communities.

REAC adds that “such a review is necessary to restore trust, correct harmful institutional practices, and ensure that the PC(USA) moves toward a model of global engagement that reflects justice, humility and mutual accountability.” 

The UC, which in its board capacity oversees Presbyterian Life & Witness, emphasizes that the restructuring emerged from a longer discernment process shaped by changing contexts and finances. It notes that decisions were “undertaken with awareness that we were engaging in an enormous paradigm shift” and included “many years of consultation and conversation.” The UC, tasked in 2022 with a mandate to oversee the unification of the Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency into what has become Presbyterian Life & Witness, commented that this newly unified agency “exists in a vast constellation of partnerships that extend and deepen the ministry of Jesus Christ in the PC(USA) and beyond and witness to the unity of Christ’s body” and urged commissioners to consult the ecumenical stance of the PC(USA) (2008) and the interreligious stance of the PC(USA) (2014) for a fuller scope of the ecumenical and interreligious relationships and witness of the PC(USA).  

A second Cascades overture, RIW-02, focuses on theological clarity for global mission. It asks the assembly to “develop a new missiological statement on which the global engagement of the PC(USA) will be founded” and to consult widely across the church and with global partners.  

The overture outlines key questions about mission identity, participation, funding and safeguards. Its rationale argues that “the termination of Presbyterian World Mission … exposes a profound lack of understanding by the denomination’s leadership concerning a Reformed missiological framework,” depicting the ministry of John Calvin as creating within 16th-century Geneva “a haven for Protestant refugees fleeing persecution throughout Catholic Europe.”  

RIW-02 has concurrence from a broad group of presbyteries, including Baltimore, Central Nebraska, Charleston-Atlantic, Giddings-Lovejoy, Heartland, Lake Erie, Los Ranchos, Miami Valley, New York City, Presbiterio del Noroeste, Pueblo, Southern New England, The James and Utah. 

The Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy recommends approval with the amendment that the advisory group accompanying staff in the work would include “at least one scholar of missiology and at least one former mission co-worker,” noting the importance of scholarly and experiential expertise in shaping the work. 

REAC also supports the overture with additional recommendations, emphasizing that “a new missiological statement is necessary to articulate a Reformed theology of mission that is grounded in justice, humility and intercultural partnership.” 

The UC, “acting as the Board of Presbyterian Life & Witness (PL&W),” recommends a process rooted in ongoing practice and relationships, saying the statement should “emerge in conversation and in practice and relationship with the many partners within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and beyond the denomination.

RIW-07, from the Presbytery of Philadelphia, requests a detailed report on the elimination of mission co-workers and renewed support for future missionaries.  

Unlike the two Cascades overtures, RIW-07 does not include additional advisory comments. 

The RIW Committee will deliberate during online sessions June 22-24. Information on streaming and viewing links will be available through the General Assembly website.