LOUISVILLE — The General Assembly Council approved — with relatively little debate — the report of the Mission Funding Task Force, which recommends that the council develop a funding system for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that recognizes the “equal worth” of money that’s given with no strings attached and donations designated for particular uses.
The task force describes both as “faithful ways” to support the church.
The new approach is a recognition that donors will insist on having a say in how their money is spent, and a reflection of an evolving relationship in the denomination in which those at the grassroots are more directly involved in mission work.
This task force has been working for three years, and its chair, Conrad Rocha of Albuquerque, has said it has supplied no “magic pill” to fix the PC(USA)’s financial difficulties.
But Rocha has said the task force is recommending a new approach, one that will give the PC(USA) a simpler system for accepting donations, more accountability, and better ways to communicate with Presbyterians why the denomination’s work is worth supporting and to encourage them to give.
It would establish a “season of interpretation” to tell Presbyterians about PC(USA) mission work around the world and to make the case for financial support as a form of Christian discipleship.
The council, voting Sept. 21, did remove one provision from the task force’s recommendations with Rocha’s concurrence. That measure would have established a common central database of membership information, which the denomination could use as a way of contacting church members in fundraising efforts.
That concerned some on the council.
“It may raise issues of trust, with people wondering exactly how this information will be used,” said Ann Moe, a council member from Michigan.
But Michael Kruse, a council member from Missouri, said it’s not necessarily unreasonable for a denomination to collect a central database of church members; it happens now, he said, in some denominations that are more congregationally based.
The PC(USA) may want to communicate directly with church members, Kruse said, so it may soon need their names and information about how to contact them.
“We have to develop a way we can communicate with the rest of the denomination,” he said.
But Rocha acknowledged that the idea “is a bit controversial,” and said the task force did not oppose its removal from the overall plan.
Here’s a recap of some other actions the General Assembly Council took in its meeting in Louisville Sept. 18-21.
Washington office. The council voted to thank Elenora Giddings Ivory, who has been director of the PC(USA)’s Washington D.C. office for 18 years — through the terms of three U.S. presidents and nine sessions of Congress. She is leaving to become director of the World Council of Churches’ Public Witness: Addressing Power and Affirming Peace program area.
Giddings Ivory told a council committee that she’s learned, in her years in Washington, that “at the root of almost all the issues are race and gender,” leavened with questions of access and power.
Seminary leaders. The council voted to invite deans of seminaries related to the PC(USA) to attend the council’s meeting Feb. 13-15, 2008, to discuss issues of common concern to the denomination and the seminaries.
Evangelism consultation. Council chair Allison Seed will appoint a group to start planning for a possible consultation on evangelism — a consultation that would encourage “bold, outside-the-box thinking” on how the General Assembly Council can support evangelism strategies at all levels of the church.
“Historically there have been numerous fissures that have made collaborative efforts impossible,” states a report suggesting the consultation. But the consultation could be “an opportunity to build on the new, collaborative style that the GAC is trying to model in all of its work. … “
The group considering such a consultation will report back to the council in February, including the cost implications of any potential event.
Salaries. The council approved a 3 percent salary increase for Linda Valentine, the council’s executive director. Her base salary will be $164,800 in 2008, which a report from the council’s Personnel Committee stated is “considered to be equitable,” based on comparable positions in the market. The salary ranges for General Assembly Council staff also will increase by 3 percent.
Investments. The council approved several actions regarding how PC(USA) investments are used to try to influence the ways in which companies do business.
Some have raised questions about whether the PC(USA) can use its investments to influence companies at work in Sudan. But the denomination’s Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) staff has determined that the Board of Pensions and the Presbyterian Foundation do not own securities in any of the 23 companies ranked as “highest offenders” by the Sudan Divestment Task Force, a project of the Genocide Intervention Network, secular group working to end genocide in the Darfur region.
But the council is being asked to file shareholder resolutions with three companies that MRTI is concerned about for other reasons.
The Carnival Corp., which operates Carnival Cruise Lines, has been urged to adopt a code of conduct intended to prevent children from sexual exploitation — a code that’s been developed by a network that’s working to end child prostitution, child pornography, and the trafficking of children for sex.
The network is trying to encourage hotel chains and other companies involved in the tourism industry to sign the code of conduct. So far, the Carnival Corp. has not responded to a request to discuss it. MRTI also wants to file a shareholders resolution seeking information on foreign military sales with ITT Industries, a military contractor that supplies night vision equipment and communications equipment to the Israeli military, and which uses that equipment in the Palestinian occupation, according to a report to the council.
And it wants to file another resolution regarding United Technologies, another military contractor. Both ITT and United Technologies are on the list of companies that MRTI has raised up as being of concern because of their business connections with the Israeli military. This resolution would allow MRTI to join with Roman Catholic religious orders asking United Technologies to consider ethical criteria for military contracts.
So far, said council member Carol Hylkema, who serves on the MRTI committee, “they will not talk to us.”
