The Synod of the Northeast recently took two significant actions during a special called meeting.
The synod voted and installed as its leader the interim leader, the Rev. Dr. SanDawna Gaulman Ashley. It also approved a new vision proposal, “Reimagining the Church in the World,” which, as Gaulman Ashley said, “balances governance and mission through a decentralized structure, grounded in the core values of stewardship of gifts, flexibility, accountability and leadership development.”
The vision identifies the synod’s four commitments:
- to social justice through the Matthew 25 core foci
- to diversity and inclusion
- to leadership development
- to innovation.
The report notes that traditional governance structures “provide stability and accountability, yet they can sometimes limit the ability to respond quickly to emerging needs and opportunities.” The hybrid-missional approach “maintains the financial and governance structures necessary for trust, transparency and sustainability, while at the same time distributing leadership responsibilities in ways that allow ministries to adapt in real time.”
The model “creates space for commissions, committees, task force and teams to emerge as needed, with participation shaped by gifts and passions rather than by office or ordination status, unless otherwise required,” the vision states. “Flexibility is not only an organizational strength but also a spiritual discipline. By integrating stability with adaptability, the synod affirms that the church thrives when it honors the gifts of all, encourages collaborative discernment and responds faithfully to the movement of the Spirit.”
Six “ministry pillars” provide foundation and direction under the new alignment: theology and spiritual formation, governance, storytelling and communication, regional learning, grants, and collaboration.
The synod “remains dedicated to helping presbyteries thrive” by increasing organizational grants and fostering deeper collaboration with other mid councils. “By encouraging partnerships and shared resources, the synod ensures that smaller presbyteries remain resilient,” the report states. “We envision a future where our core values are reflected in every initiative we undertake.”
Details of the six pillars include:
Theology and Spiritual Formation — The synod “nurtures discipleship and spiritual depth through intentional practices of study, prayer and discernment.” By “fostering spaces of spiritual growth, leadership development and faithful imagination, the synod equips individuals and communities to live out their callings with courage, clarity and hope.” The synod “seeks to bring renewed intentionality to spiritual formation as an integral dimension” of synod assembly life with the formation of a Spiritual Formation Team.
Governance — Rooted in Presbyterian polity yet open to innovation, “this pillar ensures that the synod carries out its work with transparency, integrity and faithfulness.” In the hybrid-missional model, “governance balances the fiduciary responsibilities of the Synod Corporation with the missional commitments of the whole body, ensuring that decisions are both responsible and visionary.”
Finance and Fiduciary Management — This work “supports the synod’s mission and vision by safeguarding resources” in part by “aligning financial practices with strategic priorities and ensuring compliance with PC(USA) polity and best practices in nonprofit management.” It includes a Missional Strategy Team to review current missional activities and recommend new initiatives and fundraising strategies.
Grants — This pillar is designed to “build community, embrace diversity, deepen accountability and cultivate sustainable gospel-rooted ministry.” Proposed changes “aim to reflect spiritual practices around community justice and discernment, around forming people instead of just funding, hearing prophetic witness rather than reviewing paperwork, and becoming connectional partners rather than institutional gatekeepers.”
Collaboration — This pillar encourages sharing resources, nurturing innovative partnerships “and, where appropriate, supporting presbytery mergers.” It’s designed to resource presbyteries “committed to innovation, mission-focused partnerships and sustainability.” It is “particularly targeted toward declining or under-resourced presbyteries seeking new pathways to sustainability, mid councils aiming to strengthen connections and collective mission withing the synod, and leadership structures exploring collaboration, mergers or shared resource models.”
Storytelling and Communication — This pillar emerged “from our conviction that faithful storytelling is itself a ministry — one that weaves together identity, mission and witness so the whole church may see, hear and be moved by God’s transforming work,” the report states. “Missional storytelling is not simply about branding or promotion; it is about discipleship and witness. It is about lifting up stories that reveal God’s justice, Christ’s love and the Spirit’s renewing power.”
Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service (Click here to read original PNS Story)
Let us join in prayer for:
Cole Norgaarden, Summer Fellow, Office of Public Witness – Washington, Presbyterian Life & Witness
Matt Sumrow, Summer Fellow, Office of Public Witness – Washington, Presbyterian Life & Witness
Let us pray:
Loving and liberating Jesus, grant us the humility to recognize you in others and to receive the gifs that the Holy Spirit has given to communities and churches. May all our encounters give witness to your transformative and liberating power. Amen.
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