Two years from now, our fair city will be totally overrun with Presbyterians. Really.
In June 2018, the 223rd General Assembly (GA) of the Presbyterian Church USA will be held here in St. Louis. Pastor Erin is serving on our presbytery’s Committee on Local Arrangements (COLA), which has already started meeting and discussing, dreaming and organizing, plotting and planning to welcome elected commissioners- ruling elders and teaching elders, from all over the country, and participants from all over the world.
Every two years, our church gathers in this way to discern where the Spirit is leading us as a denomination, to discuss and vote on the work of our ministry, and deal with matters of common concern for the greater church. Also we worship and eat and chit-chat and eat and listen to reports and eat and pray and eat and eat, and well, you get the format.
Tomorrow, Pastor Erin will travel to the 222nd General Assembly in Portland, Oregon. She will observe how they host this gathering and take notes back for when it is our turn. She’s also being sent as a advocate from our presbytery for an overture we voted to send on racial justice.
If you would like to follow along with the worship and work of the 222nd General Assembly, you can read updates and watch the livestream at: www.pcusa.org/ga222.
The business of the gathering- the overtures, committee actions, and more- are available at www.pc-biz.org. And you can follow along on social media with #ga222 and like the event’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/spiritofga. Pastor Erin will also be posting updates (although be warned, as some of them may be of the snarky variety) on her twitter: @erincounihan.
Finally, you can read the article below from the Presbyterian Outlook on what to expect from this year’s General Assembly.
As you follow along (or ignore it completely) please do join our church in prayer as we gather June 18-25. Pray for our leaders and commissioners, for presenters and committee members, for preachers and volunteers, for observers and guests. Pray for the chefs and cooks and snack machine vendors. Pray for the custodians and cleaning staff. Pray for the coffee makers!! Pray for all who gather and make the work of the church possible. Pray that God’s Spirit will guide us to follow the way of Christ in this season of ministry for our denomination.