Minute for Mission: General Assembly is underway

Presbytery and synod leaders heard from Kate Trigger Duffert, an Associate Stated Clerk and the Director of General Assembly Planning, about what to expect during General Assembly, the 227th in denominational history — and the important role mid council leaders have in making the Assembly a success.

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Kate Trigger Duffert, director of General Assembly Planning, speaks to mid council leaders on Tuesday (photo by Rich Copley).

Speaking at the recent Mid Council Leaders Gathering, Trigger Duffert called the biennial Assembly, which began June 21 and concludes July 2, “the broadest council of the whole church.”

“The business that comes to GA does not come from some mystical location,” she said, but instead originates in conversations in sessions across the country, from people elected to serve on committees, and from staff. “It all comes together for conversation and discernment,” she said.

GA is also an event, one that’s important to thousands of Presbyterians, and it’s “a community of faith where we worship together,” she said.

The General Assembly Standing Rules “are our core values,” she said. Those values include the worship of God, creation of community and faithful discernment. “That’s the foundation we work with planning the Assembly,” which carries the theme “Persevering Toward Wholeness” and uses Rev. 22:2 as its featured Bible verse.

When Trigger Duffert displayed a slide of the proposed docket for the 227th General Assembly, which is being held online and at the Baird Center in Milwaukee, some of the mid council leaders actually whooped it up. The biggest change in the schedule, she said, is the Community Day set for June 27. That day will include a community action and a Town Square, where Presbyterian-adjacent groups can set up tables to interact with those in attendance.

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Tony de la Rosa, the general presbyter for Salem Presbytery, had a question Tuesday following a presentation by Kate Trigger Duffert (photo by Rich Copley).

The election of the Moderators will be on July 2. It’ll be commissioners’ final action before engaging in closing worship.

The Rev. Jihyun Oh, the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly and Executive Director of the Unified Agency, asked the first question: How can mid council leaders be helpful in helping to select GA committee leaders?

Those selections are ultimately made by the Moderators of the 226th General Assembly, the Revs. Tony Larson and CeCe Armstrong, Trigger Duffert said. But mid council leaders are encouraged to forward the names of people they know who have the skills needed to moderate a committee. “Let us know,” she said, “and we will pass those names along to the Co-Moderators.”

Larson said that commissioners to the 225th and 226th General Assembly are also eligible to serve as committee leaders, but the priority is commissioners to the 227th General Assembly.

Trigger Duffert said the Town Square is the successor to exhibit halls of past Assemblies. “It’s not a massive production,” she said. There won’t be any booths — just tables so that groups can interact with those in attendance.

Once again, seminary luncheons will be available, she said.

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Joseph Moore, Ministry Relations Officer, Development Office, The Presbyterian Foundation
Roberto Morales, Research Analyst, Research Services, Administrative Service Group 

Let us pray:

Father, may we, empowered by the Spirit, follow the example of your Son, whose incarnation brough healing, wholeness and redemption. Be present to your church in difficult places as we witness to the good news until “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.” In Chrit’s name. Amen.

Minute for Mission: Father’s Day

“Father” imagery and language have been a topic of theological discussion for the past quarter of a century, at least.

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The writers of “A Brief Statement of Faith,” the confession created at the time of Presbyterian reunion, addressed the matter this way: “We trust in God, who Jesus called Abba, Father.”

A popular book when I was in seminary, some years ago, published by the then Westminster Press, was “Is God the Only Reliable Father?” by Diane Tennis. It continues to provide important food for thought for me.

Plus, we know right now that fatherhood, and all manner of cultural and social issues, are hot topics of conversation, some more beneficial than others. Bruce Springsteen’s “My Father’s House” speaks to these eloquently. 

I think about all of these things, including my own father and grandfathers, now gone. I think about my own experience of fatherhood, and where I’ve done OK and where I’ve fallen short. I think about those whose memories are not so fond, or whose experiences are not so positive, or those who have sought — unsuccessfully — to become fathers.

That’s a lot to overlay on any one particular holiday.

All of which is to say, Happy Father’s Day to those for whom this is a good day. I hope the day is filled with gratitude and joy for you and those you love.

And perhaps, along the way — and with a sense of gratitude — this day can include a gift to the Presbyterian Giving Catalog. It will for me.

Our theme this year is “Celebrate Your Dad, the Giver: A Gift That Fuels His Passion.” Your gifts will support commitments and themes that are very important on this day, and that reflect the best of paternal values:

• Building communities → Support for farming tools or water systems.
• Teaching and mentoring → School supplies or teacher training.
• Caring for family → Hygiene kits or food relief.

These commitments were important to my dad, and they are to me. I hope I have imparted those values to my children. That would be a terrific Father’s Day gift!

I invite you to join me in supporting them.

John Wilkinson, Vice President and Director, Stewardship and Funds Development

Let us join in prayer for:

Lee Mitchum, Trust Services Manager, Trust Services, The Presbyterian Foundation
Chesimon Moore, Accounting Analyst, Controllers, The Presbyterian Foundation

Let us pray:

God, thank you for your presence and for your listening ear during every season of our life. Continue to care for your people as we do our best to minister to the ones you entrust to our care. Amen.

Minute for Mission: World Refugee Day

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Outside U.S. District Court to support resettlement.

You cannot turn on the news these days without hearing about violence and displacement. We live in turbulent times. According to the United Nations, we are witnessing record high numbers of forced displacement and migration — over 100 million globally.  The causes are many — civil wars, the rise in autocratic governments who violate human rights with impunity, drug wars and even domestic violence. Natural disasters, too, such as hurricanes, droughts and flooding. And when asked, most migrants will tell you that they have left home for a combination of these factors. Their destinations are often determined by where they have family or friends and the financial resources to get there. 

June 20 is World Refugee Day. A day to remember and acknowledge all those who have had to seek safety outside their country. We take time to remember and pray for the situations that caused them to leave in the first place. We pray for their safety as they journey and where they settle. We recognize the many gifts they bring with them and the contributions they make to their new homelands. We pray for our own communities to be a place of welcome, comfort, joy and new possibilities for all of us. 

June 20 is also a day to recommit ourselves to living into the type of world that God envisions for us. As Christians living in the United States, we have a particular responsibility to speak up with our elected officials. To speak out against xenophobia, racism and hatred. To speak for the dignity and rights of every human being — in our foreign development policies and in our immigration policies. 

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance has compiled World Refugee Day resources from across our denomination and from our ecumenical and interfaith partners to offer a number of ways that we can honor refugees and displaced people. How will you honor this day? 

Susan Krehbiel, Associate for Migration Accompaniment Ministries, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance

Let us join in prayer for:

Victor Min, Translator, Global Language Resources, Administrative Services Group
Carrie Mitchell,  Church Consultant – Princeton, NJ, Engagement & Church Relations, The Board of Pensions                    

Let us pray:

O God of the sojourner, today we remember those who have set out on journeys not of their own choosing. We pray that you may guide them to safety and give them courage to face the challenges that lie ahead. And may our hearts be open to meet Jesus in each encounter. Amen.

Minute for Mission: Juneteenth

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Juneteenth, the official freeing of enslaved people on June 19, 1865, in Texas, is one of the most important events in American history — but most students haven’t even been taught it. Maybe that will change now that Juneteenth is a national holiday. 

It makes sense to acknowledge the day when Union troops arrived in Galveston a full 2½ years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation — it is the start to remedying one of this country’s darkest sins.

However, it also sets in motion the maintenance of Black subordination in the country’s postbellum society. Yes, Black people were no longer enslaved, but white supremacy ideology is still openly and unapologetically killing Black people and people of color because of extreme ignorant terrorist cells of hatred and silently approved all around this country.

Yet, more than 20 states are moving to strike aspects of American history and anti-racist teaching from public school curricula. Their argument is that examining our history of racism breeds contempt that is racially divisive. On the contrary, discussing history truthfully and using its lessons to inform our future breeds empowerment and is racially unifying. Instead of seeding anger and blame, it allows us to approach solutions to current and future problems with the greatest insight, and it helps build trust and accountability within our systems.

A white supremacist, neo-Nazi, mass murderer and domestic terrorist was convicted for perpetrating the Charleston church shooting on June 17, 2015, in South Carolina. During a Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the terrorist killed nine people, all African Americans, including senior pastor and state senator Clementa C. Pinckney, and injured one other person.

And in 2022, a white adult male gunman entranced by a white supremacist ideology known as “replacement theory” opened fire at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. He methodically shot and killed 10 people and injured three more, all of them Black, in one of the deadliest racist massacres in recent American history.

Knowledge of our history is essential to inform solutions to future problems.

Gunmen have referenced the racist idea known as “replacement theory” during a string of mass shootings and other violence in recent years. It was once associated with the far-right fringe, but has become increasingly mainstream, pushed by politicians.

Knowledge of our history is necessary for accountability – not retribution or atonement.

Without a clear understanding of what led to these boiling points through an examination of history, we cannot create systems of accountability that are strong enough to maintain order. Studying history does not involve retribution, revenge or atonement. It involves an understanding of why one inciting event can lead to such outrage and mistrust that we need to examine the efficacy of the system itself.

That is what anti-racist teaching does: It does not retroactively place blame on the perpetrators of negative acts. Instead, it examines the role of different systems in allowing repeated negative acts and offers solutions to strip away some of the negative relics of the system that causes these acts to occur. In this case, it is examining the criminal justice system’s history of police brutality in Black communities and adjusting laws and policies that intentionally targeted these communities, while holding wrongdoers accountable in the moment.

Knowledge of our history is empowering and can shift entire narratives about people.

Learning history can be extremely empowering: It provides a portal into what we can achieve, while helping us put current, often negative, conditions into better context. It also provides a crucial opportunity to change the narrative for entire populations of people. 

Michael Moore, Associate for African American Intercultural Congregational Support, Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries, Presbyterian Life & Witness

Let us join in prayer for:

John Merten,  Data Entry, Funds Development, Operations, Administrative Services Group
Terri Milburn, Accounts Payable Manager, Accounts Payable Office, Administrative Services Group

Let us pray:

Eternal and Divine God, we honestly lament how disheartening it is to still not be free from the bonds of the sin of racism. We lament that the ever-present pain of injustice is like an anchor around the necks of Black people since our enslaved presence in this land. God, help us to see you as the God of the oppressed and savior of those who seek liberation. We ask that you empower those in positions of power to be positive and vocal agents of change instead of silently complicit in the pain of those most marginalized in our world. We thank you for the freedoms obtained and yet we pray for your guidance to achieve that which is still not yet reality. In Jesus’ name we pray this solemn prayer. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: Rev. Jihyun Oh speaks on changing and courage

Speaking on “Changes, Curiosity and Councils,” the Rev. Jihyun Oh told mid council leaders she suspects they’ve been addressing those realities as much as she has over the past year or so.

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The Rev. Jihyun Oh

“You are stewarding and midwifing change too, as the church seeks to be faithful to the changes we are experiencing almost daily,” the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Executive Director of the Unified Agency told those gathered online and at the Presbyterian Center for the recent Mid Council Leaders Gathering. Oh named a few changes: society undergoing deep polarization, the rise of white Christian nationalism, the worsening climate crisis and increasing marginalization.

“We need to shift because … things can no longer be assumed,” she said, and the PC(USA), through its unification process, must “get to a place where we are structured for the 1-million-member denomination we are and not the 3.5-million-member denomination we once were.”

In a world that’s rapidly changing, one characteristic that’s been lifted up is curiosity, and that was the focus of most of Oh’s talk. “There is a need for innovation and for people with a growth mindset,” she said. “We sometimes don’t recognize new models are needed, and we need to develop them while dealing with reality now. We have to develop the models while we’re doing the changes.”

But what folks need is more certainty, she said. “They want to know where we’re headed and what the topography is like, and that’s not something we have the luxury to do right now,” Oh said. “I trust you are inviting your faith leaders to do the same.”

She said she’s been drawn to the work of Jean Piaget, the Swiss psychologist. Piaget has written extensively on curiosity being an innate characteristic in babies and children. “Children develop a hypothesis, conduct experiments without knowing it, test it out, and then shift their hypothesis depending on what they experienced,” Oh said. “Curiosity helps in the developmental function of human beings.”

It's not just about “innovation and openness to change and having a growth mindset and achieving your goals,” she said. “Curiosity is critical to human well-being. It helps us make sense of reality, helps us find meaning in our lives, develop our minds and cultivate care for what’s beyond ourselves.” It’s “an innate characteristic of all people that needs to be nurtured.”

As colleagues, “we might ask, ‘what am I seeing and what are the assumptions I have that keep me from seeing new possibilities?’” she said. “What happens if we shift those assumptions?” Asking questions about our foundational assumptions “might help us find new ways if we don’t take it as disrupting or threatening, but an exercise in curiosity, like children do.”

We need answers to important questions, including “whose lens is missing?” she said. “Asking who is not at the table isn’t just about diversity. It is the difference between seeing the whole picture versus not seeing it.”

That discussion elicited one of Oh’s favorite jokes: Some muffins are cooking in an oven. One muffin says it its neighbor, “it’s really getting hot in here.” The other muffin replies, “Wow! A talking muffin.”

“Are there ways we miss the rising heat?” Oh asked. “How might we open ourselves to see what God is doing in the world? What happens when we take seriously God saying, ‘behold, I am doing a new thing.’”

She asked: How will joining God require us to change the way we’ve always done things or things that have given us joy in the past but are not the way to go forward anymore?

Oh finds herself turning again and again to one of her favorite verses in the Bible, Romans 12:2: “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

“Curiosity is one of the ways our minds get renewed,” she said. “It helps us deepen learning, it rewires our minds for caring and compassion, it helps develop our brains and it’s a way to participate with the Holy Spirit’s invitation to renew our minds.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Andrea McNicol, Assistant Controller & Budget Manager, Budgets & Forecasting, Administrative Services Group
Brianne Merten, Operations Associate, Operations, The Presbyterian Foundation

Let us pray:

Lord of all Creation, we pray for an end to hostilities, prejudices and hatred everywhere, especially in the land we call Holy. Gather all your children in your loving arms and shield them from the terrors of war and violence. Amen.

Father's Day Message 2026

Father's Day Message from the General Secretary, Rev. Dr. Gina C. Jacobs-Strain, American Baptist Churches USA Office of the General Secretary Happy Joy-filled Father’s Day!   3 John 1:4 “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”   On this Father’s Day, we offer our sincere gratitude for the many expressions of fatherhood that bless our families, congregations, and communities.   We honor fathers, grandfathers, godfathers, uncles, brothers, guardians and all who embody a fathering presence through love, affirmation, encouragement, guidance, integrity, compassion, and care. We celebrate each of you on Father’s Day and pray the day will be special for you.   We also recognize that this day holds a range of emotions. We lift in prayer those who grieve, those who long for connection, those who have lost fathers and children, and those whose experiences of fatherhood are complex or painful. May God’s abiding presence and love bring comfort, healing, and peace.   On behalf of American Baptist Churches USA, we extend deep appreciation for your witness and wisdom. We give thanks for you and for the many ways your lives reflect God’s love. May you be strengthened and renewed and may the love you share continue to reflect God’s enduring grace.   Grace and peace to you this Father’s Day. Rev. Dr. Gina C. Jacobs-Strain General Secretary American Baptist Churches USA

American Baptist Churches USA | P.O. Box 851 | Valley Forge, PA 19482 US

Mission Yearbook: Mid council leaders meet to spread hope

The Rev. Sheryl Kinder-Pyle

Billed as “hope multipliers,” a quartet of mid council leaders recently told their colleagues about the good things going on in their presbytery.

Their talks were part of the Mid Council Leaders Gathering that took place online and at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville.

“We’re going to try to multiply some hope today,” said Dr. Corey Schlosser-Hall, who organized the panel. “I’ve never done a hope multiplier with a group of mid council leaders, but we will put on new habits and see what happens.

Presbytery of the Inland Northwest

The Rev. Sheryl Kinder-Pyle is executive presbyter of an immense presbytery with 4,000 members and 37 churches, half of them with fewer than 100 members. The Presbytery of the Inland Northwest used a Thriving Congregations grant from the Lilly Foundation to partner with Rooted Good and its Good Futures Accelerator, where a congregation aligns its building use with God’s mission in order to increase its impact on the community.

One church in northern Idaho has 16 members and is led by a commissioned ruling elder. Meetings with some of the 2,500 community members revealed people’s desire for the church to provide an arts venue in its basement. Over the past six months, six events have been held, including four community concerts. “Now this little town in Idaho knows [the church] is alive and connected to their community,” Kinder-Pyle said, “and the congregation is totally energized.”

Presbytery of Chicago

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The Rev. Dr. Craig Howard

The Rev. Dr. Craig Howard told how four of the presbytery’s largest churches purged their rolls at the same time three years ago. As a result, that year the presbytery lost more members than any other presbytery in the country. “You get serious when you say, ‘we are the worst in the country,” Howard said.

In response, the presbytery developed a Faithful Innovation Team, with the goal of opening at least four new worshiping congregations each year for the next five years. Funding comes from congregations that have closed. “We are following other presbyteries with this type of incubator,” Howard said.

He told the story of being in the Seattle area and being disappointed with the far-off photo he’d taken of Mt. Rainier. An online map suggested he turn in the opposite direction, where he saw a long line of tall peaks to photograph.

“What if we start looking at what God is doing in the community?” Howard said. “If we just change the direction of our gaze and stop focusing on one big mountain, we may find a whole mountain range of what God is doing.”

Presbytery of East Tennessee

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The Rev. Dr. Wendy Neff

The Rev. Dr. Wendy Neff, the presbytery’s general presbyter, discussed the need to overhaul the presbytery’s committee structure. “I like structure in my life. It was a challenging thought to me,” Neff said. The presbytery’s stated clerk thought it was just what the presbytery needed, and so the two of them created Jubilee language, “that we would Jubilee our standing committees. We are going to let those go so we can move into the new thing God is calling us into.”

“I have a whole cadre of pastors and elders excited to let things go and Jubilee” so that “we can look forward with real openness of what God is calling us to do,” Neff said. “We are very excited in the Presbytery of East Tennessee.”

Presbytery of San Gabriel

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The Rev. Wendy S. Tajima

The presbytery’s executive presbyter, the Rev. Wendy S. Tajima, discussed a pair of neighboring churches — one large, the other dying. The smaller church ended up calling an associate pastor from the larger church to do ministry for people without homes.

“The session of the dying church met the young pastor and they fell in love,” Tajima said. “They put together an amazing ministry that has been doing well for three years — and by the way, they joyfully acknowledge the presbytery’s role in helping to make this happen.”

“Our church leaders have seen and heard that miracles can happen, if we take discerned risks,” Tajima said.

After thanking the panel, Schlosser-Hall, a member of the Unified Agency’s senior interim leadership team, reminded mid council leaders that “we get to choose what kind of environment we want to steward.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Terri McCurdy, Operations Specialist, Operations, The Presbyterian Foundation
Robyn McEvilla, Accountant, Treasury Office and Central Receiving Services Administrative Services Group 

Let us pray:

Gracious God, may we be open to your freshness and your recreative work in our midst. Repurpose us to do your work as we live into your kingdom. Amen.