LOUISVILLE — The General Assembly Council is doing a lot of big-picture thinking — about how to set spending priorities when dollars are limited, about how decisions should be made and money raised and distributed in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
But sometimes, there’s a day for the smaller pieces — they don’t add up to the big picture, but can provide some clues as to what’s happening and to the complexity involved.
The General Assembly Council, in the third day of its spring meeting in Kentucky, met in committees — with each considering particular parts of the denomination’s work. Here’s some of what they talked about.
MONEY
Shared mission support funds — money that congregations send to the national church — fell more than $2.9 million (or 16 percent) short last year from what had been budgeted. In other words, congregations gave less than had been expected, and the amount received in 2004 was more than $334,000 (or 2 percent) down from the amount received in 2003.
Directed mission support — money congregations give for specific purposes — also fell short of projections, with about $674,000 (or 12 percent) less collected than had been budgeted, and with the donations down by more than $178,000 (or 3 percent) from the amount given in 2003.
There also were some painful reports about expenses. The Youth Triennium, an event held for high school students every three years, had expenses exceeding revenues of nearly $349,000, in part because attendance at the event was lower than expected.
On the council’s Mission Support Services Committee, which basically is the money committee for the council, some members asked questions about what those numbers mean — and about what bigger trends they might reveal.
“That’s a bigger drop than we anticipated by far,” David Van Arsdale of Michigan said of the shortfall in giving. “That’s major news,” and he speculated that the reasons for the decline probably are complex.
From 1995 to 2001, shared and directed mission support together totaled about $24 million annually, but in 2002 and 2003 that dropped to about $20 million — a “very significant drop” that reflected the national economic difficulties at the time, said W. Claude Godwin, the PC(USA)’s associate for stewardship and mission funding.
“We are at the mercy of presbyteries that either do or do not challenge their churches” to increase the amount they give, Godwin said — indicating that at least some presbyteries could show more leadership, and referring to a conversation he had recently with a pastor who left a big church he’d served for 25 years, and who said the presbytery had never once asked his church to consider giving more.
Also, the PC(USA) is losing about 40,000 members a year. If the average Presbyterian gives $1,000 a year, that’s $4 million a year lost, and “that money is just out of the loop,” Godwin said. “Until we do something about that we’re not likely to solve major funding problems.”
Michael Kruse of Kansas City said, “I’m feeling a greater sense of urgency and I feel we’re being slow to respond.” Might part of the problem, he asked, be that the PC(USA) isn’t providing the kind of ministry people really they want, or that Presbyterians don’t see a connection between what happens in their daily lives and what the denomination provides?
“We all sit here and contemplate our navels,” said Molly Baskin of Illinois. “The average person in the church doesn’t have a clue as to what this group does … We may be doing exactly what they want us to do, but they have no way of knowing it. We tend to be very insular with Louisville and not get out there and get the word out.”
She went on: “It’s not the people in the `in’ group who need to be addressed. Excuse me, but you need to get past the pastors.”
OTHER GIVING
In the midst of all that, though, there were some pieces of significant good news.
Church leaders had challenged Presbyterians to give at least $2.5 million following the December tsunami — and so far the giving has reached nearly $10 million. The generosity of Presbyterians “blew right through the goal,” said Joey Bailey, the PC(USA)’s chief financial officer.
. And more than $9 million has been pledged so far to the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts and Hands campaign, which is seeking to raise $40 million over five years for international mission and evangelism and new church development in the U.S.
MAINLINE DENOMINATIONS
Marian McClure, director of the PC(USA)’s Worldwide Ministries Division, spoke in her report to the council’s Worldwide Ministries Division Committee about this being a time when the council needs both vision — a sense of “the future of Presbyterianism” — and architecture, a better understanding of Presbyterians organize themselves to do the work they feel God is calling them to do.
And one piece of that whole discussion, (just one piece among many, McClure contended), needs to be attention to this question: what is the role of mainline Protestants in North America today?
Asked to talk more about that, McClure said that partner churches around the world “count on us. In some cases, we’re their mother church. Our decline in some ways devalues their identity and weakens their own voice” in their own countries, because the PC(USA) has helped those partners do more of what they want to do. “So there’s an anguish about this” internationally, not just among Presbyterians in the U.S., McClure said.
What’s missing from the discussion, she said, “is really naming that head-on and not dodging it, but really wrestling with that issue,” of what it means to be a denomination that’s declining in members, resources and influence.
There are different points of view about that, McClure acknowledged. Some see the PC(USA) as “the faithful remnant” that God will use as salt in the world, and say don’t worry about it. Others say there’s a lot to worry about.
And part of the question also is whether Presbyterians have anything really special to offer. Part of the Presbyterian tradition is that “we reflect deeply on how we know what we know,” and “this is a huge gift,” McClure said, to a nation that’s debating whether there are any universal truths.
“Even in dry times, we endure,” said Zane Buxton of Colorado. “We continue to do what we can, and try to find new ways to be faithful.” But “so much of what seems to be successful today will fade very rapidly. There still needs to be an enduring church.”
Buxton spoke of the Orthodox Church in Russia, or “the Chinese experience of discovering the church was still there. Our ability to say we don’t just throw in the towel but we maybe continue to endure even the silence of God while we try to be faithful to God is part of our gift.”
Michael Castronis of South Carolina said he hears some people say of the Presbyterian Church, “you’re no longer relevant.” But “I really feel like when we’re at our Reformed best, we reverberate still” and that “if our particular brand of Reformed faith is lost, the overall faith will be diminished … We can’t let that happen.”
RACIAL ETHNIC SCHOOLS
A number of the racial-ethnic schools with which the PC(USA) has connections are experiencing financial problems — in some cases so severe it’s not clear whether they will remain open.
Mary Holmes College, an historic African-American school, already has declared bankruptcy and closed, forcing the PC(USA) to write off a $456,000 loan it made to that Mississippi school.
Barber-Scotia College in North Carolina has only 92 students this academic year, and “they need money,” Michael Agamemnonos, the PC(USA)’s manager of financial services, told the committee. Barber-Scotia doesn’t have enough money in the bank to pay their bills for the upcoming months, Agamemnonos said. It’s already borrowed $290,000 from the 2005 Christmas Joy Offering proceeds and this week, officials from the school approached the denomination and asked to be advanced $250,000 more from the Christmas Joy Offering, according to Joey Bailey.
Bailey said Curtis Kearns, director of the PC(USA)’s National Ministries Division, told Barber-Scotia the denomination would only give $56,000 — an action Bailey said he applauded. “A ministry division has stepped forward and said, `You’ve got to do something different, and we’re not going to enable you by drawing funds in advance any more,’ “ Bailey said. “They’re drawing a line in the sand for the first time.”
Another school that’s struggling is the Menaul School in Albuquerque, New Mexico — a report to the council states that “Menaul’s continuing operating losses raise doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern.” The school faces a variety of challenges and is exploring options, including the possibility of selling some land and of renegotiating the terms on debt it already owes.
“It is a school that continues to have a mission,” said Conrad Rocha, a council member who’s also an employee of Menaul (and has signed a conflict-of-interest statement removing him from being involved in council decisions involving financial support of the school). Originally established by the church to serve children from northern New Mexico who didn’t have access to schools that would prepare them for college, it now serves a diverse population of about 220 students, with just over 60 percent minority students, the biggest group of which is Hispanic.
Away from the council meeting — he was there for the first part, but had to leave — Rick Ufford-Chase, moderator of the 216th General Assembly, was thinking about these schools too. Ufford-Chase posted an item on his blog https://what-i-see.blogspot.com/2005/03/supporting-our-racialethnic-schools.html March 30 saying he needed to make a confession, “the kind that comes from growing up with white privilege and having so much to learn.”
Ufford-Chase confessed that he’d been among those who considered these schools “a throwback to another era,” thinking they were no longer relevant, and “I WAS WRONG!”
Ufford-Chase described the visits he’s made to some of the schools in recent months, and what he’s learned from the students there.
“It seems to me that these institutions are all, in one way or another, committed to educating the teenagers and young adults who are on the underside of the global economy,” he wrote. “These are kids who, if they don’t go to one of these schools, are not likely to go anywhere. They’re bright, but they’re going to need a different kind of attention than I needed to get into school and to stick it out.
“The fact that these schools are alive at all is pretty miraculous. These schools aren’t looking for a handout. Most of them have a clear vision for how to become far more independent over time. This strikes me as one of the places where Presbyterians could be reforging a vision that goes back to our roots in education, but that takes a clear headed look at the future and commits to the folks on the margins. It won’t be in the form of block grants from our denomination, but these schools would welcome Presbyterians who make it their mission to help them survive and thrive.
“Something to think about,” Ufford-Chase wrote.
