New York City Presbytery Meets on Staten Island - Approves 08-B 76-25

Members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) regularly come together on a regional basis to meet in regional governing bodies called Presbyteries. There are 173 Presbyteries in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) covering all fifty states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. I and the church I serve as Designated Pastor, North Church Queens, are members of The Presbytery of New York City. The Presbytery of New York City includes churches in all five boroughs, the Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island, Queens and Brooklyn.

The Presbytery of New York City met this past Saturday, March 28, 2009 at the Calvary Presbyterian Church on Staten Island. About one hundred voting Ministers and Elders attended the meeting as well as many other nonvoting observers.

For me the two highlights of the meeting were opening worship and the Report of the Task Force for the Ghanaian Fellowship. The low point was the Report on Standing Rules and Overtures when we became bogged down in process and more concerned about time rather than debating the substance of the many Proposed Amendments to the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Proposed Ecumenical Statements and giving them the time they deserved. At least we passed 08-B 76-25!

Words alone, however, can never fully describe a meeting of any presbytery because before they are debates and votes, presbyteries are people. So here is a slideshow from the meeting. Most of the photos are of people, some are not.