General Assembly 2010

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Click here for resources used during the event

A church-wide exploration of next steps in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s peacemaking witness, which was approved by last year’s 219th General Assembly, will be staffed, in part, by the Rev. Roger Scott Powers, pastor of Light Street Presbyterian Church (Baltimore) and co-moderator of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship. He will represent the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program as a part-time consultant to the General Assembly Peace Discernment Steering Team. The Rev. Christian T. Iosso, Ph.D., coordinator of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP), will also be staffing the Steering Team.

Despite Constitutional Court Striking Down Base Agreement

The Fellowship of Reconciliation’s article on the expansion of US military presence in Colombia gives an important view into how the US military’s reach in Colombia continues to adapt to potential roadblocks to the US/Colombia Base Agreement of 2009—so that military intervention is not lessened or weakened. It is also important to note that military aid to Colombia does not just “benefit” military expansion in Colombia, but has regional and worldwide implications, that stretch beyond Colombia even to the Afghanistan War.

RECOMMENDATION
The Presbytery of Providence respectfully overtures the 219th General Assembly (2010) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to:

1. Pray for

The complete final text approved unanimously by the 219th General Assembly, 2010:

http://www.pcusa.org/get/resources/resource/10850/ (pdf)

Also available: working version & vote details from GA: https://www.pc-biz.org/Explorer.aspx?id=3215

by Marilyn White

Dozens of volunteers from the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship attended the 219th General Assembly in Minneapolis this summer to help make PPF's GA witness stronger than it has ever been before. We were present at General Assembly in four significant ways: with our exhibit hall booth, at the Peace Breakfast, through advocacy for peaceful perspectives in General Assembly committees, and through our communications outreach to the wider church during and after the meeting.

GA made significant and substantive statements on the Middle East, Afghanistan, Colombia, and Gun Violence. But perhaps the action of most consequence was the decision to begin a four-year study to “Seek clarity as to God’s call to the church to embrace nonviolence as its fundamental response to the challenges of violence, terror, and war.” The GA urged that the steering committee in charge of the study develop a broadly participative process. We certainly look forward to engaging in such a study and learning more about nonviolent alternatives to war.