GA225 Medallion

Among the baker’s dozen business items slated for the General Assembly Entity Policies and Procedures Committee is whether to approve a second four-year term for the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s president and executive director, the Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett.

The committee meets June 30 through July 2 during the fourth and final wave of committee meetings at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky. Roxie Holder of the Presbytery of Eastern Virginia will moderate the committee, with Wilfredo Garcia of the Presbytery of New York City the vice-moderator. The committee’s business and information items are listed here.

Moffett’s re-election is GA-PAP-13. The PMA Board “unanimously and enthusiastically” recommends four more years for Moffett, whose first term was confirmed by the 223rd General Assembly (2018). Among the reasons for the PMA Board’s vote to give Moffett four more years in office are, according to its rationale:

  • Moffett is a “bold and visionary leader” who has “embedded Matthew 25 into the life of the denomination.”
  • She’s “an agent of change” who, with the help of outside consultants and others, developed “a blueprint for action” designed to “deepen PMA’s work in three areas of focus: building congregational vitality, dismantling structural racism and eradicating systemic poverty.”
  • Moffett is “an innovator who is eager to find new and more faithful ways of doing ministry,” including the planned Center for the Repair of Historic Harms and the Office of Innovation, Futuring and Discernment.
  • She “has the ability to frame concerns that are painful, challenging and complicated.” The PMA Board said it supports Moffett “in her belief that the church is ready for a sustained agenda of social justice engagement. If we fail to engage with these issues as a church — and on related intersectional issues of climate change, militarism and gender discrimination — the authenticity and credibility of the denomination will be lost.”
  • Moffett “has a gift for identifying and looking for ways to do PMA’s work more responsibly and in connection with the broader church.” The PMA Board credited her for being “open, inclusive and transparent.”
  • She’s also a “powerful, sought-after preacher” who brought 30 years of varied experiences in church and community leadership to her current position. “Many of her best moments,” the board said, “are when she is in the preacher space, reaching out to people and bringing them in.”

A native of Oakland, California, Moffett earned her undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley and her master of divinity and doctor of ministry from San Francisco Theological Seminary.

Among the other items of business for committee consideration is GA-PAP-16, a recommendation from the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly that the Organization for Mission be amended to allow for electronic meetings when necessary.

Another recommendation from the PMA Board is GA-PAP-18, the Institutional Relationship Agreement between Presbyterian Women and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). “Over the years,” the rationale states, “it became apparent that a clear understanding about the relationship between Presbyterian Women and the national church structure needed to be articulated.” The agreement lays out the responsibilities of Presbyterian Women, the Presbyterian Mission Agency and the General Assembly.

In GA-PAP-19, the Moving Forward Implementation Special Committee’s proposed changes to the Organization for Mission are found.

Among the informational items are reports without recommendations from the PMA; four years of A Corp Board meeting minutes, found here, here, here and here; COGA minutes found here and here; PMA Board minutes; and the report of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation.