What happened in Dallas in January seemed to be a turning point for many who were there: a coalescing of people from across the spectrum of Presbyterian life, joining together to sign a covenant promising to work together in support of international mission.
In the time since then, some of the groups those 64 people represent have endorsed the covenant — groups such as Presbyterians for Renewal and Presbyterian Global Fellowship. And others who weren’t at the Dallas consultation have also offered their support — including the Presbytery of Central Washington of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
“So far, every single board that has taken a look at it has approved it,” said Maria Zack, a professor from Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego who served as a facilitator for the Dallas meeting. “We have not gotten any rejection or hesitation.”
And the months ahead could be critical for this new venture into cooperation, with the picture perhaps becoming clearer by then what the priorities for international mission work are for the PC(USA), and what kind of funding needs to be in place to achieve them.
By the end of April, the General Assembly Council must propose a budget for the next two years for the denomination.
In February, Hunter Farrell, director of World Mission for the PC(USA), and Linda Valentine, executive director of the General Assembly Council, put the problem in plain terms. The number of international missionaries the PC(USA) has in the field has fallen steeply, down to 220 in January 2008 and with the number expected to dip to 190 by January 2009, through retirements and attrition. That compares with 250 missionaries serving the denomination in 2006 and 1,849 in 1959.
Other candidates are standing ready to go overseas and serve the church, and the PC(USA)’s international partners are clamoring for people to be sent. But there’s not enough money to send out more people, even though “sometimes it’s critical. Sometimes it’s life-and-death stuff,” Farrell told a General Assembly Council committee.
So the council must decide, at its meeting in Louisville April 23-25, how much money to propose that the denomination dedicate to sending international missionaries, and what budget cuts to achieve it.
In the meantime, the group that gathered in Dallas in January to forge a covenant that some have described as unprecedented — saying it represents a commitment to work together in mission across the lines of division in the church — continues to push ahead.
A coordinating group of eight people has been named to plan the next steps. The groups represented in Dallas have been given three months to present the covenant to their governing bodies for affirmation, a timeline needed because some of their boards did not have meetings planned immediately. A Web site, https://www.pcusa.org/worldwide/invitation.htm tracking the progress of the endorsements, is lodged for the time being on PC(USA) World Mission site, although it may move later — that’s still being worked out.
And those signing the covenant pledged to work together over the next year to “coordinate and collaborate in the sending of mission personnel” and “to expand Presbyterian funding for mission personnel.”
To jump-start that, the board of Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship voted in January to commit to provide $20,000 to a fund that’s been discussed, a potential $4 million revolving fund that, if created, could help pay the up-front costs for sending missionaries overseas, until more funds to support them can be raised.
The board of the Medical Benevolence Foundation is exploring whether it could devote some resources to supporting new medical missionaries for the PC(USA), said Will Browne, formerly a top staff person for the denomination in World Mission and now the foundation’s new executive director.
Browne said of the Dallas covenant. “I think it’s started some new conversations.”
Some of the results are tangible: the creation, for example, of a new network of Presbyterians interested in mission work in Pakistan.
And some of the impact is emerging slowly — partly as the sense of cooperation that developed in Dallas seems to be holding.
“I think it’s slow momentum that’s building,” said former General Assembly moderator Rick Ufford-Chase, now executive director of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship.
If groups — including presbyteries, synods, and sessions — continue to endorse the covenant, “the question then is, ‘What do we do with it to make sure it doesn’t die?'” Ufford-Chase said.
While fundraising to support mission personnel has been part of the discussion, it may take time to get that rolling. Some of the groups involved have a track record of raising funds for mission, others do not. And others may sign on too, including some large congregations already doing international mission work.
“I think this is a get-rich-slow scheme,” Ufford-Chase said. “Basically what happened is we’re turning the corner on the lack of trust,” so those who have access to funds may be more willing to use those dollars cooperatively.
As for the General Assembly Council’s impending decision on the budget, Ufford-Chase said that likely, “we’ll vote for a pretty painful budget,” but “we can re-think the budget any time we want if we’ve shown there’s actually money out there we can raise (for mission). Just because we pass a grim budget now doesn’t mean there’s not hope.”
And Zack said she’s looking to the combined financial resources of the groups represented in Dallas, plus others who may sign on, as the place where progress can be made. A good starting place, she said, is to gather information quickly about where both the resources and the needs currently are.
“As we get the feel of where the people are, where the hoped-for positions are, we begin to get a sense for what the real need is,” and what resources need to be made available, she said.
Bill Young, the executive director of Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship, said it’s not entirely clear yet what the next steps will be for those involved in the Dallas meeting. The groups represented are varied in structure and purpose, “so how do you put it all into one pot and figure out how to move forward? That’s one of the big challenges — but that’s something that will have to happen. … To keep moving forward and not lose momentum is another big piece of it.”
All of this conversation comes at a time when the PC(USA) seems poised for another round of discussion over ordaining gays and lesbians. With some recent rulings of the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission, that issue is likely to be front-and-center again when the General Assembly meets in June.
But some involved with the Dallas consultation say they do not want their work derailed by that debate.
“As a group, what we can all affirm is that we are focused on the gospel in word and deed,” Zack said. “Our call is actually not to get involved in all this political stuff.”
And Zack always gives the same answers when Presbyterians ask her what they can do to help.
“The first thing I tell people is to pray. There’s an opportunity here, and I think it’s important that we pray. The other thing is to get that document (the covenant) into the hands of anybody you think might care” about international mission work.
On behalf of the General Assembly Council, Ufford-Chase is helping organize a consultation on “out-of-the-box” thinking on evangelism, to be held at the Stony Point Conference Center May 9-10. So the conversation continues.
