That action is part of an effort to get the council to think in a concentrated way about the budget, to recognize that the PC(USA) can’t afford to keep doing all the things it has done — the money’s just not there — and to take responsibility for shaping the priorities in the budget for 2005 and 2006, which will be presented to the General Assembly in Richmond next summer.
The areas of focus are organized according to four priority goals — evangelism, justice, leadership and spiritual formation (although some have expressed discomfort with the phrase “spiritual formation” and a work group will consider whether it can come up with a better way of expressing that).
In November, a work group consisting of both elected council members and key representatives of the denomination’s staff will meet to do more work on the Mission Work Plan, which is the name being given to the blueprint for the 2005-2006 budget. A draft of that budget will be presented to the council in February — and it may include significant challenges, because Joey Bailey, the denomination’s chief financial officer, has given a very preliminary estimate that the PC(USA) may be facing a $4 million shortfall.
In coming up with areas of focus for that budget, the council is edging towards hard decisions — tucked into the process of saying what’s most important is the reality that other things won’t be considered so important, and are more likely to be cut. But the language considered in Montreat still was general enough that there was no discussion of specific programs or jobs being on the line.
In the months before the meeting, presbyteries and synods were invited to express their ideas — to say whether the priorities of evangelism, justice, leadership and spiritual formation made sense to them; to list their most important problems or concerns in each area; and to say, within each area, what resources and support they receive from the council that are most important. Twenty-five presbyteries and four synods had responded as of Sept. 1.
The council also spent time in small groups discussing the four areas (and with a fifth group talking about what “doesn’t fit” — things they saw as important, but which didn’t fit clearly into any other category).
Then, in the last chunk of its meeting, the council used a process of consensus decision-making – waving pieces of orange paper for “agree” and blue for “disagree” — to get a sense of when general agreement had been reached.
When they were done, here’s how the lists of priorities stood:
EVANGELISM
1. Recapturing, equipping and developing passion for sharing the good news of Jesus Christ throughout the world. Includes: camps and conferences as means and places for evangelism. (Someone noted that “equipping passion” was less than perfect grammar — the November work group will try to clean that up.)
2. Resourcing small churches. Includes: exploring potential shared ministry partnerships in ministry areas.
3. Providing resources for new church developments and congregational transformation.
Note — only this group prioritized its list with numbers.
JUSTICE
Inclusivity (both in and outside the church, to include age, gender/orientation, racial ethnic identity, disability).
Advocacy (for social witness, economic justice and security, including living wage, women/ethnic, legislative issues, fair housing, oppression, health care, environmental, international).
Peace (non-violence, domestic violence, oppression, nationalism, child abuse, terrorism, fair and equitable sentencing, fair and humane treatment of immigrants, illegal residents).
LEADERSHIP
Identify resources for sharpening skills with clergy and laity.
Enhance communication and awareness of shared ministries and best practices.
Support for congregations for pastoral leadership, including finances.
Encourage Christian vocation among young people.
SPIRITUAL FORMATION
Preamble: undergirded by an understanding that there exists and needs to be acknowledged, celebrated and developed different styles of Christian spirituality within the Reformed tradition.
Conferences and events already scheduled be available through video streaming, and electronically and later on DVD and video.
Resources across the board, keeping variety, electronic and multi-media, biblical studies.
Cultural differences can’t simply translate material from English; we must take into account differences within language groups. Also racial ethnic materials need to be culturally relevant.
That all church leadership model spiritual leadership especially in worship, different forms of prayer, calling all Presbyterians to a year of prayer (a daily discipline).
DOESN’T FIT
Communication — trust, public relations, face to face/personal, apathy, print and electronic.
Mission Funding (structure).
