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Overtures regarding the Korean translation of Living Faith and The Book of Forms, and simultaneous Korean translation during future General Assemblies were referred to Assembly Council.
The Presbyteries of St. John and Miramichi will amalgamate, effective Sept. 16, 2007. The new presbytery will be known as the Presbytery of New Brunswick.
The Women's Missionary Society and the Atlantic Mission Society have both ushered in new presidents. Druse Bryan succeeds Margaret McGillivray, who served the WMS for three years, and Helen Humphreys will be replaced by Ann Taylor at the AMS.
The UN policy on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) deals with the right of the international community to step into another country when it sees extreme human rights abuses taking place. The policy was adopted by the World Council of Churches last year and deals with prevention, protection and rehabilitation. After much debate, the assembly decided that presbyteries, sessions and synods be requested to discuss the document The Canadian Churches and the Responsibility to Protect and submit their comments to the International Affairs Committee by Dec. 31, 2007.
The assembly re-iterated the fact that costs to ministers for study leave should not be considered part of the minister's stipend, but additional payment from the congregation. A sentence was removed from The Book of Forms to clarify this understanding.
The revised policies on professorial and executive stipends — which are now separate policies — were approved. Assembly Council will recommend any future changes to the grid to the General Assembly.
An increase in travel allowance for multiple-point charges was approved, and is effective Jan. 1, 2007. The change — an increase to 35 cents/kilometre from 30 — brings the allowance more in line with the increasing costs of travel that have taken place since 1994.
A draft policy on racial harassment, which offers guidelines on how congregations should deal with such incidents, will be sent to presbyteries and sessions for study and report by Feb. 28, 2008.
Any savings achieved by the reduction in the church's compensation contribution under the overall settlement agreement on residential schools will be used only for healing and reconciliation initiatives.
The assembly endorsed the World Alliance of Reformed Churches' document Covenanting for Justice in the Economy and the Earth. The Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations Committee was instructed to create a study guide on the long and sometimes confusing document. The church was invited to “seriously examine” the implications of the document with respect to global economics and ecological contexts.
The history committee has been asked to discern an effective way to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Calvin's birth in 2009. The Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations Committee had proposed a five-year plan, which was defeated by the assembly.
Presbyterian World Service and Development thanked congregations for supporting its Towards a World Without AIDS campaign (which surpassed $1 million in donations), and for their overall generosity over the last year. The assembly agreed to keep the issues of HIV and AIDS before the church. Rev. Rick Fee, former PWS&D director and now General Secretary of the Life and Mission Agency, was thanked for initiating the campaign, and Karen Plater, who will go from being PWS&D's communications coordinator to associate secretary for stewardship and education for mission, was thanked for her dedication and hard work.
The Pensions and Benefits Board will not index PCC pensions in order to protect the fund's sustainability, and prevent members from having to pay pension increases that would benefit those who are retired but never had to pay the higher amounts. Also, pension plan members can now postpone receiving their pension to age 71, a change from the previous 69. The change reflects the federal government's decision to do away with the mandatory age of retirement, which was set at 65.
Every congregation is encouraged to study the document Sunday Schools In 2007: Does It Still Work? The document notes that growing Sunday schools have good teachers, focus on connecting with families, offer staff support, offer something new, are Christ-centred and Biblically-based, and take the current context seriously.
In a response to growing concerns about the environment and how the church can be an example, congregations were encouraged to have an energy audit of their buildings and to implement energy conservation measures that are financially feasible.
Candidates for ministry must comply with the church's Leading With Care standards, which includes volunteer police screening checks.
Congregations were encouraged to establish clear policies for handling planned gifts, to review these policies regularly, to share these policies with the planned giving office, and designate one Sunday during the year to planned giving.
