Synod of the Trinity
2026 Assembly Report
Omni Bedford Springs Resort, Bedford, PA
October 25-27, 2026
Scott Hagley, the Professor of Missiology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, delivers his keynote address during the Synod Assembly at the Omni Bedford Springs Resort.
The 2026 Synod of the Trinity’s annual Assembly in late October was a gathering held in-person in Bedford, PA. Below are some of the highlights of the meeting.
MISSION AND THE CHURCH
Dr. Scott Hagley, the Professor of Missiology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, was the keynote speaker and spoke Monday afternoon on Presbyterian mission in the wake of the denomination’s decision to rework its global engagement plan. In January of 2025, the denomination cut funding for the 60-plus mission co-workers it had been supporting around the globe. One of Scott’s opening slides showed headlines of stories about the change, including one that read “Dying Denomination Abandons Global Missionary Effort.”
“I want to take a step back from this,” Scott said, “and I want us to think together about Christian mission and the invitation to the church for mission.”
“We have to get outside of culture-war categories in order to rightly reflect on and think through the changes that have been made to World Mission in the PC(USA).” He offered three theses on mission, which were:
- Mission is not primarily a practice of the church, but rather the basis for the church.
- Mission has to do with God’s purposes in relationship to creation. The church exists to witness to and participate in the missio Dei.
- There is not, nor has there ever been, a standard or common way to practice or organize mission.
- The church has had many different paradigms for mission over the centuries. All offer insight into the nature of mission. All are imperfect. The present mission paradigm, which has its roots in the Enlightenment, has been winding down for several decades for all sorts of reasons having to do with cultural and economic shifts, along with some of the problems associated with the model (like its ties to colonialism and Enlightenment notions of benevolence).
- The PC(USA) decision marks the end of a paradigm, not the end of PC(USA) mission.
- If it is the end of PC(USA) mission, then it is also the end of the PC(USA). What is needed now is to cultivate a new missional imagination, one that better integrates the congregation with the purposes of God (the missio Dei) at a local and global level.
“A way of kind of summarizing this, David Bosch said, ‘Mission is God’s ‘yes’ and God’s ‘no’ to the world,” Scott said. “Mission is God affirming that the world is beloved by God. But mission is also a way of helping us recognize that how we think the world is beloved by God is not always the way God loves the world.”
Scott concluded that, “Mission is who we are and why we exist. Freeing mission from its capture by a board or committee or specific office creates an opportunity for missional renewal.”
LARS AND THE REAL GIRL
The Assembly opened Sunday evening with the showing of a Ryan Gosling movie “Lars and the Real Girl,” which is about a well-loved but lonely young man in a small town named Lars who develops a nonsexual emotional attachment to a life-size doll named Bianca. Lars’s strange behavior sets off alarm bells while loved ones, community members and his church scramble to respond. In a rough nutshell, the movie raises several questions pertinent for discerning the shape of hospitality – and thus, by extension, mission – in our churches and communities today.
“Part of what is happening in the movie is it’s an ongoing journey in discovering the nature of love,” Scott said.
WORSHIP & DEVOTIONS
Jane DeFord from the Synod’s Presbyterian Women’s group distributes communion elements to commissioner Stan Howes during opening worship at the Synod Assembly.
The Assembly’s opening worship was led by Destini Hodges-Sackey, a teaching elder commissioner from the Presbytery of Carlisle who preached on Luke 10. This scripture speaks about Jesus sending out disciples ahead of him to towns he plans to visit. The disciples were told to travel light and to rely on the hospitality of others.
“The first thing Jesus teaches us is no one goes alone,” Destini said. She continued that Jesus sent the disciples to go together, joining the work that is already being done. She reflected on the “Lars and the Real Girl” movie, saying that the women from the town came and sat with Lars and listened to him but more importantly “they stayed.” Destini challenged those in attendance to sit with members in the pews who are unsure of the future.
On Tuesday morning, Alex Hendrickson (Mountain Laurel) led morning devotions. She invited those in attendance to be engaged in small-group prayers around their tables.
YOUNG ADULT VOLUNTEER PROGRAM
Destini Hodges-Sackey is not only a Synod commissioner, she is also the manager of the PC(USA)’s Young Adult Volunteer program. YAV provides an ecumenical, faith-based year of service for young people ages 19-30 in locations around the country and across the world. Destini spent a few minutes answering questions about her work with the program.
PRESBYTERY HIGHLIGHTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS
Each of the Synod’s 15 presbyteries were given an opportunity to share about new and exciting work and ministries occurring in their regions. Reports ranged from congregational outreaches that are having important impacts in their communities to a new presbytery logo.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE LAND
Co-moderator Susan Nesti, a full-blooded Chickasaw Native American from Oklahoma who now lives in the Presbytery of Redstone, spoke about those native to the Synod of the Trinity region. She presented information about the Native American peoples who historically lived in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, within the bounds of the Synod of the Trinity. She said some people describe indigenous people as “Apple Indians,” meaning they are white on the inside and red on the outside.
“Today, Pennsylvania has no federally recognized Indian tribes and has never contained a reservation,” Susan said. “The state government’s position is that there are no Native Americans in the state.”
SYNOD LEADERSHIP UPDATES
Synod Executive
Outgoing Synod co-moderator Susan Nesti installs Destini Hodges-Sackey and Mark Juengel as co-moderators for 2027.
Forrest Claassen was elected for a second five-year term as the Synod’s executive, which will extend his time through the end of 2031. This was a recommendation from the Governing Commission, which received a similar recommendation from the Synod’s Personnel Committee after it held conversations with Synod staff and other leaders around the region.
Forrest was unable to attend the Assembly as he continued to recover from a health issue. In a pre-recorded video that was shown later in the gathering, Forrest thanked the Assembly for its confidence in him as he heads into his second term.
Co-Moderators for 2027
Mark Juengel (Mountain Laurel) was elected for a second term as co-moderator of the Synod. He will be joined next year by Destini Hodges-Sackey (Carlisle), who will fill the vacancy of Susan Nesti (Redstone). Susan will end her two-year stint as a co-moderator on Dec. 31.
GIVING OPPORTUNITY
Opening Worship Offering
The offering benefited Peace Promise, which addresses the complexities of sex trafficking in the Harrisburg area. The organization offers outreach, intervention and advocacy for those involved in sexual exploitation, healing support and restorative care for survivors, and community education and awareness regarding the dehumanization and identifiers of sex trafficking and exploitation. Peace Promise Co-Founder and President Susan Vigliano explained that the organization partners with survivors in their healing process to provide for practical needs like housing and employment while also addressing emotional support and life skills training to equip survivors to thrive in their journey to freedom. More than $1,300 was collected for this outreach.
GOVERNING COMMISSION ELECTIONS
New members to the Synod’s Committee on Representation and Nomination (CoRN), Governing Commission (GC) and Permanent Judicial Commission (PJC) were elected. The incoming class for CoRN includes Dan Klaproth (Mountain Laurel), Martha Manning (Northumberland), Susan Nesti (Redstone) and Mark Woomer (Washington). New GC members consist of Pam Meilands (Northumberland), Anita Perry (Pittsburgh), Curtis Paul (Redstone) and Meg Steele (Washington). Also, John Reed (Shenango) and Beth Farmer (Huntingdon) were elected to the Synod’s PJC.
FINANCIAL REPORT
2028 Per Capita
The financial report included a 2027 budget overview. The Synod’s per capita amount for 2027 will remain at $2.40, which was announced at last year’s Assembly. It was also reported that the per capita figure will stay at $2.40 for 2028, marking the ninth consecutive year without an increase in this amount.
REPORTS FROM SYNOD PARTNERS
Synod’s Presbyterian Women
Jane DeFord, the moderator for the Synod’s Presbyterian Women, provided updates on the group’s work in 2026. Among them is the PW’s annual mission project, which this year benefits the Nursing and Midwifery program in Mulanje, Malawi. The 2027 recipient will be Project H.O.P.E. (Home of Outreach Possibilities and Empowerment), a New Worshiping Community in Charleroi, PA. More information on the Synod’s PW is available on the Synod website by clicking here.
Bettie Stammerjohn spoke about her experiences at the United Nation’s 70th Commission on the Status of Women, which was held in New York City in March. She was among 35 PW delegates from the denomination who attended. Suzanne Herger, from the Presbytery of Philadelphia, also attended as an observer. “We think we’re doing really great here in the U.S.,” Bettie said, referring to the treatment of women in America. “We still have our issues. But around the world there are still areas where women have little to no rights. And no country has achieved 100 percent full gender equality.” For more on her experience, click here.
Board of Pensions
Emily Chudy, a church consultant who works with Carrie Mitchell to serve the Synod region, provided updates about the changes to the medical benefits plan for 2027. She reviewed changes to the retiree healthcare plan and discounts offered to those churches with families in the congregational pastor’s plan.
Presbyterian Foundation
Ellie Johns-Kelly, a Ministry Relations Officer who covers the Synod region along with Rose Niles, reminded attendees that, thanks to a Lilly Grant the Foundation received a few years ago, it offers a grant program to assist church leaders with continuing education costs.
Presbyterian Life & Witness
Deputy Stated Clerk Kerry Rice provided updates on some recent work of PLW. He mentioned that PLW has recently taken a stance against a proposed plan to livestream an execution, that PLW calls for accountability and federal oversight regarding recent ICE killings, and that PLW is working on plans for a fully in-person General Assembly in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 2028.
MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT
Rod Horner, the church musician at Bedford Presbyterian Church, provided keyboard accompaniment throughout the morning portions of the Assembly on Monday. He was joined at times by his wife, Sonia, who provided soloist accompaniment. Ela Robertson also performed on the cello throughout the gathering, and she was assisted by her husband William Cullingford, who performed on Celtic whistles that he handcrafted and tuned.
2027 SYNOD ASSEMBLY
Next year’s Synod Assembly will be held Oct. 17-19 back at the Omni Bedford Springs Resort.
Synod Executive Forrest Claassen speaks at the Synod Assembly during a recorded greeting. Claassen was re-elected for a second five-year term as Synod executive during the October gathering.