Presbyterian committees gear up for General Assembly: COGA and PMAB to meet this week

Think of this as the month of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) meetings – a prelude in intensity to the 2018 General Assembly.

It’s crunch time. Between Feb. 5 and Feb. 16, which is the deadline for submitting reports to the Office of the General Assembly, three big-picture committees considering the structure and future of the denomination – the Way Forward Commission, the All Agency Review Committee and the 2020 Vision Team – plan to hold seven conference calls.

Both the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA) and the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board (PMAB) will meet this week – COGA from Feb. 6-8 in St. Louis and PMAB Feb. 7-9 in Louisville. It’s hard to tell what’s likely to draw the most attention, as some potentially significant reports for the meeting were not yet posted as of the morning of Feb. 5.

Here’s some of what’s expected to surface.

Per capita
Both COGA and PMAB are expected to vote on a proposal for a significant increase in the per capita budget for 2019 and 2020. Details are not being made public yet.

Last fall, leaders of the Office of the General Assembly tested the waters with what was described then as a “joyous” budget proposal that would include a per capita increase from $7.73 per member in 2018 to $10.11 in 2019 and $10.82 in 2020.

That proposal – which may not be what’s still on the table this week, it’s too soon to say – recommended a 30 percent per capita increase from 2018 to 2019, and overall a 44 percent increase from the current rate of $7.50 per member in 2017 to $10.82 per member in 2020.

The PC(USA)’s stated clerk, J. Herbert Nelson, spoke of the request for a per capita increase recently to the All Agency Review Committee – stressing the importance of a connectional church.

In recent years, “we have continually tried to keep per capita low,” Nelson said, acknowledging that the proposed increase “raises some real questions” – with some mid councils saying the additional amount they would be expected to pay (even if some congregations don’t remit the per capita) could pay for an additional staff person.

“That might be true,” Nelson said. “The question I’m raising on the other side of that is what do we mean when we’re talking about connectionalism?” With declining resources, “the strong will be required to support the weak,” Nelson said. “And the vessel for that is per capita.”

Both All Agency Review and the Way Forward Commission are also looking at issues regarding the funding streams for the PC(USA). The Presbytery of Newton in New Jersey has sent an overture asking the 2018 General Assembly to create a team to review the financial sustainability of the PC(USA)’s current per capita funding system. Way Forward has set up a work team to explore issues related to funding streams and financial sustainability at the national levels of the denomination. And All Agency Review is considering recommending that the six PC(USA) agencies engage in a self-study of funding that would evaluate the impact of per capita.

Way Forward and All Agency Review
PMAB is scheduled to spend time during its first plenary session Feb. 7 discussing possible recommendations from Way Forward and All Agency Review – with time on the docket for “PMA responses and options.”

That conversation is likely to include proposed changes involving PC(USA), A Corporation, the corporate entity for the Presbyterian Mission Agency and the Office of the General Assembly. The board for the A Corporation currently mirrors that of the PMAB. The recommendation coming to the 2018 General Assembly is that the reconfigured A Corporation board would have nine members – one from each of the six PC(USA) agencies plus three at-large members.

As the bones of these recommendations take on more flesh, it would not be surprising for some concerns to rise up – including regarding the role that a reconfigured A Corporation board might play; what financial assets and policy decisions it might control; what power it would have; and whether the Presbyterian Mission Agency wants or needs its own corporate entity.

Stony Point
A PMAB task force is expected to report on the financial sustainability of Stony Point Center. As of Feb. 5, that report was not yet available.

Mission Work Plan
PMAB will be asked to approve a Mission Work Plan for 2019-2020 – a document with a theological foundation that will guide the development of PMA’s operating budget for those two years.

That proposed document (P.002 Mission Work Plan 2019 2020) includes these directional goals with specific emphases:

• Evangelism & Discipleship.Grow, proclaim and live out our faith in Jesus Christ by working with our partners, here and around the world, to build communities that witness to the gospel of Christ’s love for the rich diversity reflected in all humankind.
  • 2019-2020 emphases:
    • Congregational Vitality, where churches prioritize faithfulness over self-sufficiency;
    • Poverty, where the denomination fights unjust economic systems perpetuating destitution and need.
  • Leader Formation. Seek, develop and energize diverse leaders who are answering God’s call to equip the church to be a welcoming place of worship, mission and spiritual nurture for all of God’s children, especially those who have been marginalized.
    • 2019-2020 emphasis:
      • Structural Racism/White Supremacy, where Presbyterians dismantle structures and ideologies oppressing people of color.
    • Justice & Reconciliation. Galvanize the church to act on issues of racism, violence and poverty as a prophetic witness to Christ’s transforming justice by speaking and living out God’s truth and compassion as we call ourselves and the world to account for injustice and oppression.
      • 2019-2020 emphases:
        • Poverty, where the denomination fights unjust economic systems perpetuating destitution and need;
        • Structural Racism/White Supremacy, where Presbyterians dismantle structures and ideologies oppressing people of color.

Congregational Ministries Publishing
Last September, PMAB voted to move Congregational Ministries Publishing to the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, with the transition expected to take place as of January 1. That hasn’t happened yet.

The board is being asked to approve making a grant of $840,000 to the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, payable in three disbursements, to help fund Congregational Ministries Publishing.

Marc Lewis, the president and publisher of the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation (PPC), told All Agency Review recently that the grant would give PPC time to try to turn Congregational Ministries Publishing into a self-sustaining operation.

Kathy Francis, communications director for the Presbyterian Mission Agency, said via email that PMA has been spending $130,000 per year in restricted or designated funds to support Congregational Ministries Publishing (in addition to money spent for translation services). The additional funds being proposed for the next three years would come from funds being managed by the Presbyterian Foundation that were earmarked for Christian education, Francis said, and are not currently being used. (Read the report: C.105 – Action to approve revision of CMP-PPC Transfer Agreement)

Leadership
The PMAB’s Personnel and Nominating Committee is recommending that Joe Morrow be elected as the board’s chair from 2018 to 2020 (beginning with the adjournment of the 2018 General Assembly) and that Warren Lasane be elected vice chair.