Commissioners and Advisory Delegates serving on the Moving Forward/Vision 2020 Committee will have, as the committee’s name implies, two items of business to consider when the committee meets at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky, June 30 through July 2.
Both are recommendations from special committees: the Vision 2020 Special Committee and the Moving Forward Implementation Special Committee. Both were among the business items carried forward from the 224th General Assembly. Shenandoah Presbytery’s Gusti Newquist will be vice-moderator.
Patrice Cummings of the Presbytery of Southern Kansas will moderate the committee.
The committee’s first item is to consider the Guiding Statement from the 2020 Vision Team, found here.
“In light of the events of the last two years, the 2020 Vision Team recognizes that the words of the Guiding Statement have become touchstones for inspiration and direction in the ever-changing landscape of our life together,” the 2020 Vision Team states. The team is asking commissioners to approve its call for the PC(USA) to be prayerful, courageous, united, serving and alive, matching the denominational acronym.
It also commends the Guiding Statement and additional resources — including an original song — for Presbyterians to use. It’s seeking the appointment of an Implementation Team to “introduce the Guiding Statement and to integrate it into the life of the denomination.” And it’s asking the Presbyterian Mission Agency and the Office of the General Assembly to recommend to the 228th General Assembly (2028) that a 2030 Vision Team be formed to review, assess, affirm and update as necessary the guiding statement “with the intention to help us name and claim our denominational identity as we seek to follow the Spirit into the future decade.”
The Moving Forward Implementation Special Committee Report, found here, has eight recommendations. Among them:
- Move Mission Engagement & Support from the PMA to the Administrative Services Group.
- Create an Unrestricted Receipts Distribution Policy that provides for the distribution of unrestricted funds received by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation, which will allocate them 50-50 to the PMA and the Office of the General Assembly.
- Direct the executives or presidents of PC(USA) agencies and entities to continue the work of the Diverse Voices Table, which will report on its activities to each General Assembly. The DVT will be the connection point for consultants to conduct equity and inclusion assessments every six years.
The recommendations come with estimated cost of $460,000 in 2023 and about $469,000 in 2024.