Doska's Corner

Please use scroll bar as needed, or read as single column HERE. A list of archived reports is available at the same link.

July 19, 2016

Historic Elections at the 222nd General Assembly (2016)

          At the 222nd General Assembly Co-Moderators were elected, and a Stated Clerk of the PC (U.S.A.) was elected to succeed Gradye Parsons, who is retiring after eight years as stated clerk. If you happened not to have followed the activities of this year’s General Assembly I’d like to briefly introduce these three individuals to you through a few excerpts from articles by Mike Ferguson for the General Assembly News, the daily publication from the 222nd General Assembly.

Co-Moderators Denise Anderson and Jan Edmiston

          On the 60th anniversary of making women eligible to be pastors, and the 85th anniversary of ordaining its first woman elder, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) made history again, electing two women as co-moderators for the first time.
          Denise Anderson, a pastor from National Capital Presbytery, and Jan Edmiston, a presbytery executive from Chicago, were overwhelmingly elected Co-Moderators of the 222nd General Assembly (2016).
          This was the first-ever election of co-moderators, which was possible because of a change made in the standing rules just two years ago. Moreover, in the history of the denomination, women had never been elected as both moderator and vice moderator.
          “It is is simply historic,” said Anderson, the pastor of Unity Presbyterian Church in Temple Hill, Maryland. “It is the first time our denomination has elected co-moderators.” She also noted that she is the youngest person ever elected as moderator or vice moderator.
          “It is is very humbling,” said Edmiston, associate executive presbyter for ministry at the Presbytery of Chicago. “This is is the 60th anniversary of the ordination of women to Word and Sacrament and the 85th anniversary of the ordination of women as ruling elders. Now, we will be modeling a new way to be the church in the 21st century.”
          Edmiston and Anderson acknowledged that how a co- moderator model will work is yet to be determined. “We are going to have to work out the nuts and bolts,” Anderson said. “as this has never been done before.” Each of them expects to handle about half of the moderator’s role. “We don’t have to be at everything together,” Edmiston said, “but there is the advantage that people always want to see the Moderator, not the Vice Moderator. Now, whichever one of us they get, it will be the Co-Moderator.”

Stated Clerk J. Herbert Nelson

J. Herbert Nelson was overwhelmingly elected Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in an historic vote, becoming the first African- American elected as the top ecclesial officer of the nation’s largest Reformed body. Nelson, director of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness, succeeds Gradye Parsons, who is retiring after eight years as stated clerk. “Today is is a powerful day, a powerful day in my life, and for many people of color who did not envision the possibility of this ever happening,” Nelson told the assembly.
He said he asked only one thing of commissioners: “Pray for me and work with me – and not on me – and we’ll get some things done in the name of the Lord.”
During the question-and-answer session after the candidates’ speeches, Nelson said the denomination can “no longer be 93 percent white and expect to grow.” He said each Presbyterian can be “a committee of one” working on the issues that divide them.
He suggested that Presbyterians who attend upcoming general assemblies in St. Louis (2018) and Baltimore (2020) – two communities dealing with the effects of police violence – arrive early to build Habitat for Humanity homes and engage in other helpful ministries. “We would be celebrated for coming to St. Louis and Baltimore, not just for spending a bunch of money (at the assembly) and leaving the city in the same way we found it,” he said.

Please keep these three new officers, as well as Tony de la Rosa, Interim Executive Director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, in your prayers. His appointment was reported earlier, HERE.

Doska Ross
Synod Executive & Stated Clerk