LOUISVILLE — In what’s being described as a “huge transition” in the way the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) does its work, the denomination is cutting $9.1 million from its budget — which means 75 workers on the church’s national staff have lost their jobs and the positions of 55 overseas missionaries are being eliminated. (link to list of names)
But John Detterick, executive director of the General Assembly Council, said the real story isn’t only the numbers — the deepest budget cut and most extensive reordering of the denomination’s staff in nearly 15 years — but the intent of a shrinking mainline denomination to reconfigure itself to be more responsive to Presbyterians at the local level.
“We are at a watershed,” Detterick said during a news conference May 1 — shifting from a denomination that tells congregations from on high which programs the PC(USA) will offer to one that supports the mission work being done by individual Presbyterians and congregations.
Having said that, May 1 was a grim day for the PC(USA)’s national staff. Workers knew when they came to work at the denomination’s headquarters in Louisville that they would each be given an envelope saying whether they’d still have a job or not — and before noon dozens of employees were leaving for good, carrying their possessions out the door in cardboard boxes.
The $9.1 million in cuts will bring the budget to $97.3 million in 2007.
Among the details of the cuts:
· 75 positions were eliminated out of 505 positions on the General Assembly Council’s national staff. Another nine vacant slots won’t be filled. But 15 to 20 new positions are being created, which means some of those who lost their jobs could be hired back in reconfigured positions. The staff cuts in Louisville will produce $4 million in savings.
· 55 missionary positions are being cut, producing a savings of $1.2 million. Probably 40 of those 55 spots will be eliminated as missionaries leave their posts or retire, but that still leaves 15 spots to slash.
· Some programs are being eliminated entirely. They include programs in criminal justice and environmental justice; the Corporate Witness Office; programs for older adults; Church and Society magazine; the Global Education and International Leadership Development Office; and the Ecumenical and Mission Partnerships Office.
· The PC(USA)’s Washington office will lose about $100,000 of its $350,000 in funding.
· The denomination’s management structure also is being reorganized — five positions in the top tier of management are being consolidated into two. That means that the directors of the three ministry divisions (Don Campbell in Congregational, Curtis Kearns Jr. in National and Marian McClure in Worldwide) all will lose their jobs Oct. 1 as will the council’s deputy director, Helen Locklear, and the PC(USA)’s chief financial officer, Joey Bailey.
Two new deputy directors’ positions will be created — one for Evangelism and Witness, and one for Support Services — in October. Detterick will retire this summer. His successor, whom the council plans to nominate May 23, will name the new deputy directors.
How this will all play out remains to be seen. Several years ago, when the leadership proposed cutting back on missionaries, some General Assembly commissioners were furious, arguing that cutting missionaries meant undermining some of the most important work the PC(USA) does.
During the news conference, Detterick acknowledged that some people may be upset this time around too, but said both endowment funds and designated giving for mission co-workers have decreased.
“I offer this as a challenge to the whole church” to give more, he said. “I hope this is a wake-up call for the church.”
The problem is not that Presbyterians are giving less — they’re actually contributing more, but a bigger chunk of the money is being kept for use at the local level.
Over the last decade, adjusted for inflation, giving by Presbyterians has risen 5.8 percent, Detterick said. But the money that congregations passed on to support the larger church dropped by 15 percent.
And the PC(USA) has endured a series of budget cuts — letting go 52 employees in 2002, 17 in 2003 and 32 in 2004. If the revenue forecasts for 2007 and 2008 prove correct, Detterick said, “then I do not anticipate another cut over the next four years.”
The General Assembly Council met Apr. 26-29, much of it in closed session, to approve the budget. But because those sessions were private, it’s not known what changes the council made to the budget cuts the staff leadership team originally proposed, or why.
