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What might replace per capita?  PC(USA) stated clerk urges consideration of new funding system

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J. Herbert Nelson, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is stressing the urgency of coming up with a new funding system for the denomination that ensures that the Office of the General Assembly has enough money to do the ecclesiastical work of the church. There also is a call emerging to quickly pull together some sort of high level work group – either a per capita table of the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board, or some less formal configuration – to consider possible structural changes in the PC(USA), to work through financial issues and to present a unified budget to the 2020 General Assembly. Nelson joined an Oct. 2 video conference call of the Financial Sustainability work team of the Special Committee on Per Capita Based Funding and National Church Financial Sustainability — a committee that the 2018 General Assembly created. That work team has already been discussing the possibility of denominational … [Read more...]

Tagged With: per capita

A storm called race

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STONY POINT, New York – “We are in the season of storms.” Kevin Johnson, a Presbyterian Mission Agency Board member and a minister from Detroit, led worship for the board Sept. 27 by asking whether the foundation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is solid – or cracked by its connection to racism. Confronting structural racism – one three focuses of the Matthew 25 vision of the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) – is the theme of the board’s fall meeting, which goes through Sept. 27 at Stony Point Center. In August 1619, a ship from Africa approached land near Port Comfort, in the English colony of Virginia, where 20-some Africans were taken off in chains and sold into slavery. “This time, the storm raged into this new country called America,” Johnson said. “I submit to you, this storm has been stationary” – hovering over the nation for 400 years and counting. “Come on! Preach it!” board and PMA staff members responded, as Johnson’s sermon caught fire. Many of those … [Read more...]

Tagged With: PMA board

Board approves initial spending to redevelop Stony Point Center

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STONY POINT, New York – Wanting to invest in the hope of Presbyterian transformation, the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board voted to support the first steps of a plan for significant redevelopment of Stony Point Center. Stony Point Center is a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) conference center located about an hour north of New York City – a place that’s home to a multifaith community of Christians, Muslims and Jews, and has a track record of commitment to justice, peacemaking and earth care. The board voted to “affirm the basic direction” of a 75-page vision plan for Stony Point – a report that’s the work of the Run River Enterprises consulting firm and that calls for making at least $10.3 million in capital improvements at Stony Point over the next decade. The board’s vote Sept. 27, following a closed-session discussion, does not commit major dollars yet – the financial starting point is in endorsing the baseline phase totals of $295,000: providing $220,000 for … [Read more...]

Tagged With: PMA board

From World Mission to budgets: Presbyterian Mission Agency Board considers widespread issues at fall meeting

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STONY POINT, New York – Work is underway to develop a Presbyterian Mission Agency mission budget for 2021 and 2022 – with the initial look at that to be presented when the board meets in Baltimore in February. An update on that was on the dance card of business items the board considered Sept. 27 during its fall meeting, taking place at Stony Point Center outside New York. The board discussed feedback it received following a two-day consultation with mid council leaders convened in Baltimore just after Big Tent in August – an attempt to hear from synod leaders (and about a half-dozen presbytery leaders) what they wanted to see in PMA budget priorities for the next two years. Some responses: Talk to more presbytery folks in future consultations. Figure out ways to have a particular mission focus – such as PMA’s Matthew 25 vision. Guide the budget for more than just one or two years. Barry Creech, director of policy, administration and board support for PMA, said the plan is … [Read more...]

Tagged With: PMA board

Engaging frontline communities: Presbyterian Mission Agency Board learns about environmental racism

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STONY POINT, New York – When the committee in charge of socially responsible investing in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) visited the bayous of southern Louisiana last spring, Native American leaders who led the tour spoke of roads that used to be shown on Google Maps. Now those roads are under water. Familiar trees and landscape – part of these people’s personal history – had disappeared, the result of flooding of marshland and erosion of the coastland as oil and gas companies have dredged and damaged the wetlands. Last spring, the city of New Orleans filed a federal lawsuit against a number of the firms. And with many environmental crises, the impact hits hardest on people of color and those with little money or resources. On Sept. 26, representatives of the PC(USA)’s Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) led a cultural humility training session for the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board on environmental racism – a term used to describe the often … [Read more...]

Tagged With: fossil fuels • PMA board

Hoping for transformation at Stony Point

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STONY POINT, New York – The big issue up for consideration as the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board meets this week is a vote on the future of Stony Point Center. Essentially, it’s the question of whether the board will support an enhanced Presbyterian commitment to this conference center north of New York City, and will provide $75,000 to explore the feasibility of launching a $10.3 million fundraising campaign for major capital improvements there. The board – meeting in person at Stony Point – is expected to vote on that Thursday (Sept. 27). The board began its meeting on Sept. 26 with worship, led in part by Rick Ufford-Chase, who is co-director of Stony Point Center along with his wife, Kitty. Ufford-Chase traced the history of Stony Point, located near where the Hudson River narrows before it widens – a natural trading and meeting place for the Native Americans who lived in the region. The focus and fortunes of Stony Point have shifted over the decades, he said – it’s … [Read more...]

Tagged With: PMA board

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