A Report from The Episcopal Church’s Ecumenical Advisory Delegate
By Elise Johnstone
Salt Lake City’s Salt Palace Convention Center holds fond memories for me, because that is where we, as Episcopalians, affirmed same-sex marriage and elected the Most Rev. Michael Curry to be our presiding bishop in 2015; and it was with those lovely memories that I entered the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s General Assembly as The Episcopal Church’s ecumenical advisory delegate on June 30.
The PCUSA has a unicameral governing body, the General Assembly, and while there are many similarities to The Episcopal Church’s General Convention, the PCUSA commissioners (who are ordained and lay members of presbyteries) receive advisory input (in the form of an advisory vote) on every vote they take from the advisory delegates, of which there are four types: young adult, theological student, mission, and ecumenical. There were many, many matters that were passed as we do at General Convention by means of a consent agenda, and some matters were discussed for votes on the floor of the Assembly.
Of particular interest to The Episcopal Church was the passing (via consent agenda) of receiving the final report of this round of bilateral dialogues between the PCUSA and The Episcopal Church, and calling for a new round of dialogues. A number of people told me how excited they were for the possibility of deepened connections with The Episcopal Church.
While the PCUSA decided more than a decade ago to be a tradition that fully includes LGBTQ+ clergy and marriages in the church, one of the matters discussed on the floor was amending the Book of Order to include sexual orientation and gender identity among the categories against which PCUSA communities do not discriminate. This passed easily. There was also faithful work around changes in polity—the PCUSA continues its efforts to unify its governance and mission arms into one body, which should occur in the next year, and a unified budget was passed to make this more feasible.
New leadership was elected: the Revs. CeCe Armstrong and Tony Larson to co-moderate the General Assembly, and the Rev. Jihuyn Oh as the new stated clerk, who serves as head of communion.
There was also dancing on the floor during breaks—I had not done the “Electric Slide” in a few years, but I found myself dancing along with hundreds of Presbyterians on an evening break in legislative session, which was a lot of fun!
It was a privilege to represent The Episcopal Church with this important ecumenical partner, and I was glad to both strengthen current relationships and form new ones.
The Rev. Canon Elise B. Johnstone serves as the Episcopal co-chair of the Presbyterian-Episcopal Dialogue, and is The Episcopal Church’s ecumenical advisory delegate to the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board. She is the rector of St. John the Baptist, Seattle, Washington.