Presbyterian Outlook: #GA226 elects and installs first woman of color stated clerk
Seattle Presbytery
Jihyun Oh is elected Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, a position vacated by J. Herbert Nelson in 2023.
BY ERIC LEDERMANN
PUBLISHED: JULY 1, 2024
Photo: Rev. Jihyun Oh, newly elected stated clerk of the General Assembly, is surrounded by family in prayer. Photo by Jonathan Watson for Presbyterian Outlook.
Salt Lake City — The 226th General Assembly (GA) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) affirmed 420-2 the nomination of Jihyun Oh as stated clerk of the General Assembly, succeeding J. Herbert Nelson, who filled the seat for seven years and concluded his term in April 2023.
Oh, a 1.5 generation Korean American born in South Korea and raised in Kansas, is the first woman of color to serve in the highest ecclesial office of the PC(USA), Nelson being the first person of color to be stated clerk in the denomination’s 236-year history.
Bronwen Boswell has served as interim stated clerk since Nelson’s June 2023 departure. When Oh takes the reins on August 1, 2024, Boswell will return to her duties as the general presbyter and stated clerk for the Presbytery of Shenandoah, from which she was given leave.
The Stated Clerk Nominating Committee (SCNC), charged with bringing a nominee 300 days before GA, was elected by the 225th GA (2022) and interviewed nine candidates, according to SCNC chairperson Sallie Watson, a teaching elder from the Presbytery of Mission. Referring to the SCNC, Watson told the assembly, “These guys are rockstars!”