God is at work. The devil is in the details.
“The world is littered with statistics, and the average person is bombarded with five statistics a day,” says the BBC Web site. They footnote that claim with, “This is an example of a made-up statistic.”
It was in that spirit that Mark Twain popularized that great quote, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.”
We at the Outlook have been combing through studies of the Church — Presbyterian and beyond–asking what statistics might we publish that would rise above that cynical analysis, and would, in fact, help our readers better serve the greater purposes of God?
The answer: lots. Studies upon studies. Page limitations forced us to leave out many other reports we wanted to include.
At the same time, don’t miss the analysis of a new world initiative arising on the wings of the new organization, the Presbyterian Global Fellowship (see news report page 3). The launch of this organization signaled two key turns in the church–the implications of which will be huge.
First, this signaled a change in direction for the self-described “right wing” of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), symbolized by the juxtaposition of this event with the Presbyterian Coalition’s “Y’all Come” meeting held the day before. “The vocabulary at the Coalition meeting was ‘staying vs. leaving.’ The vocabulary at the PGF was one of ‘sending and going out,'” said attendee Quinn Fox. After a couple of decades trying to tamp down the initiatives of the self-described “left wing,” this group seemed to be turning its attention toward positive initiatives of its own.
The real difference? The movement seemed to be shifting from CONSERVATIVE-evangelical to conservative-EVANGELICAL.
Second, this signaled a change in the direction of Presbyterian missions. After several decades of centralized mission-sending efforts, the funneling of all mission monies through the denominational offices has run into a culture of hands-on, focused interest. Many mission supporters want to know their missionaries directly and support a few substantially rather than spread their monies across an expanse of anonymous recipients. Such a shift has fostered a precipitous decrease in Presbyterian global missions involvement. The number of fulltime, career missionaries–two-year commitment or more–decreased from more than 2,000 in 1959 to a present level of 235 (yes, yet another set of negative statistics that get kicked around these days). While those statistics reflect some legitimate changes in missions approach (more short-term workers and volunteers in mission), the net difference certainly does not constitute progress.
The launch of the Presbyterian Global Fellowship signals a determination to reverse these trends, increasing the Presbyterian presence in global missions. Given the facts that money follows passion and giving to local churches from their own pews continues to increase, the GPF will provide channels for givers to translate their passion for the gospel into generosity toward the needy.
This initiative could backfire. It could drive a wedge between its supporters and the denomination’s missions leadership. Thankfully, leaders from the GAC and the national staff have magnanimously offered to work in coordination with PGF leaders so that all PC(USA)-related missionaries can work in mutual support and complementary efforts, and that our international partnerships can be strengthened in the process.
The devil is–or will try to be–in the details. So we would plead with all the leaders of Presbyterian global mission: please bring your best efforts, your resources, and your diverse constituencies together to expand the presence of effective mission workers around the world. We ask you all to look for the best intentions in others. Most folks talking about the global mission of the church are heading in the right direction; they’re just using different vehicles to get there.
God is on the move.
