Q - What is the Office of the
General Assembly?
Each
summer on even-numbered years Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) elders and
ministers of the Word and Sacrament representing the 173 PC(USA)
presbyteries meet together as the General Assembly. The General
Assembly is the denomination’s governing body.
During the
two years between General Assemblies, the PC(USA) agency that speaks
for the General Assembly, arranges future assemblies, provides staff
assistance to many General Assembly committees, and maintains
connections with PC(USA) ecumenical partners, synods, and presbyteries
is the Office of the General Assembly (OGA). The PC(USA) Stated
Clerk (elected by alternating General Assemblies) and the 15-member
Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA) oversee the work
of this office.
Presbyteries and congregations (through their presbyteries) finance the
work of the Office of the General Assembly and its $9 million annual
budget by making “per capita,” or per church member,
contributions.
More than half
of the Office of the General Assembly’s 75-person staff work at the
Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky. Most of the rest work
for the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia (and, between
2001 and 2006, in Montreat, North Carolina).
The
Office of the General Assembly is one of six national agencies that
carry out the work of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly
and serve PC(USA) synods, presbyteries, and congregations. The other
five agencies are:
- The Board of Pensions,
- General Assembly Council,
- Presbyterian Foundation (and its
New Covenant Funds affiliate),
- Presbyterian Investment & Loan
Program, and
- Presbyterian Publishing
Corporation.
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