PC(USA) General Assembly

CANDIDATES FOR CO-MODERATOR
OF THE 225th PC(USA) GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Rev. Ruth Santana Grace (Executive Presbyter, Philadelphia Presbytery)
Rev. Shavon Starling-Louis (Pastor, Memorial PC, Charlotte Presbytery)
Bio: The Rev. Shavon Starling-Louis comes from St. Petersburg, Florida, graduating from Saint Leo University and Columbia Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity. She previously served as pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Midwest City, Oklahoma, Providence Presbyterian Church in Providence, and Meadowlake Presbyterian Church in Huntersville, NC.
She currently serves as pastor of Memorial Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, NC. 

Starling-Louis believes the challenges for the church are emerging in the congregational and wider church settings.

“The first is the challenge of sharing the journey of communal self-discovery or rediscovery with a vision for where and how God is calling us to embody our vocation now. We are being invited in the varying yet interconnected contexts of our ministries to organize in ways that are creative, authentic and with deeper clarity. We have a challenge to articulate our theology of God’s calling in all the ways we are called to show up as Jesus followers,” she said. “The second challenge I am noticing as we emerge from the disorienting season of pandemic isolation and the rupture of social and political unrest too long dismissed is how do we gather together in ways that are faithful? We have real grief to lament. We have lost loved ones in the body, and we have lost loved ones in severed relationships.”

The third challenge, according to Starling-Louis, is how to cultivate, promote and embody life more abundantly in a society that is full of “quick quips and clickbait.” She says the church is challenged to interculturally, joyfully, inclusively humbly and creatively co-create with the ever creating-liberating-sustaining God a richer “theology of flourishing for the creation we have in our humanity been called to steward.”

All candidates for moderator/co-moderator will be presented at the 225th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on Saturday evening, June 18 during a session open only to commissioners and advisory delegates. All others may follow via the livestream on the GA225 website.
The election will be held at the close of the evening.

The 225th Assembly will be hybrid this year, with committee members attending in person at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville for the first two weeks of meetings.
The final week of plenaries will be held exclusively online.

GA 225 Docket
Important Dates for GA 225:
Saturday June 18, 2022 – Online: Plenary 1, 2, 3
Sunday June 19, 2022: Worship – Juneteenth Service
June 20 – July 2, 2022 – Louisville, KY: Committee Meetings
July 5 – 9, 2022 – Online: Plenary 4-17