One of the challenges for seminaries: how to prepare people for ministry that deals with contextual change. That was part of the message that J. Herbert Nelson, the stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and Diane Moffett, president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, brought Sept. 22 to the Committee on Theological Education, meeting virtually via Zoom. These denominational leaders told the committee, whose membership includes presidents of Presbyterian seminaries, that one of the biggest challenges is finding ways to prepare church leadership for a world in which change is a constant and in which many PC(USA) congregations – most of which are small, white and aging – don’t reflect the demographics around them. “We are too insular,” Nelson said of the church. And “the biggest struggle we have in the denomination right now is with classism” – with congregations that are not looking for “who God sends to us and calls us to” – the full … [Read more...]
Diving into the Matthew 25 vision: Presbyterian Mission Agency leaders look to immediate issues facing the church and post-pandemic steps
Leaders of the Presbyterian Mission Agency are trying to look ahead to what the vision of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) should be once the COVID-19 pandemic has ended — and how the PC(USA) can live into the realities of being a Matthew 25 church. “Where is it we want to be two years down the road?” asked Warren Lesane, chair of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board, during a Zoom meeting that the board’s coordinating committee held Sept. 17 in preparation for a full online meeting of the board Oct. 7-9. The Presbyterian Mission Agency has claimed Matthew 25 as a vision, so “let’s live into it,” Lesane said. “If I had a pulpit, I’d be preaching right now.” In part, that work involves collaboration with three work groups the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly has convened that are digging into specific issues — including what the shape of the 2022 General Assembly might look like; what changes in policies and procedures are needed; and issues of church unity, … [Read more...]
Ohio food pantry responds to food insecurity during COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has taught Kathy Kelly-Long, director of the Broad Street Presbyterian Church Food Pantry in Columbus, Ohio, about the connections between food insecurity and systemic injustice — and just how close many Americans live to the financial brink. Analysis of weekly Census Bureau surveys by the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University found food insecurity rates becoming “sharply elevated” during the pandemic for U.S. households with children. There are clear racial disparities: The rates of food insecurity among Black households with children were nearly twice as high as they were in white households, and that rates for Hispanic families were 60% higher than whites. “Our numbers have gone up drastically” in recent months, Kelly-Long said. “April was like, ‘Oh, my goodness, how will we ever do this?” May and June brought a bit of a plateau and a chance to breathe. “July was above April. August will likely be another 10 to 20% above July” — … [Read more...]
Mindset of abundance: California churches feed communities during COVID-19
Over the last several months, as COVID-19 has turned so much upside down, the Presbytery of the Pacific has experienced in Los Angeles what a lot of other communities have seen: more hungry people needing help. In July alone, the churches in the presbytery provided food to more than 49,000 food-insecure people. What’s also emerging: new creativity in the way congregations are responding and developing connections with the community. Even when the pandemic subsides, things will not be the same. Feeding this many people depends on partnerships. The need evident in the lines at food pantries is leading Presbyterians to ask others for help, to work collaboratively and to network in new ways — sometimes with the ideas for what might be possible coming from the people who are standing in line to receive food. “We saw an initial surge in April” from those who had lost jobs or hours or been furloughed, said Sunny Kang, pastor of Hope on Union Church near downtown Los Angeles. Then … [Read more...]
PC(USA) shortfall projected: Dealing with the financial fallout of COVID-19
Financial projections from now through the end of 2020 are showing the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is likely to experience a budget shortfall related to the COVID-19 pandemic of around $9.1 million by the end of the year, if current giving patterns continue. Those projections include likely shortfalls in per capita giving of about $3.1 million, and in giving to the Presbyterian Mission Agency of about $3.7 million. And other shortfalls are expected as well, including in income at Stony Point Center outside New York (which has already laid off most of its staff). From March through July this year, per capita collections were down 22% or $1.16 million over the same period in 2019, with $4.1 million collected during those months this year compared to $5.3 million in 2019. During those same months – as the pandemic was hammering the United States - giving to the Presbyterian Mission Agency was down 30% or $4.1 million compared to last year, with $9.8 million donated from … [Read more...]
Presbyterian Church considers budgets during COVID-19
Months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the financial situation of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) continues to look troubling — with contributions to the national church in the first seven months of this year down $4.8 million from the same period in 2019, a 14% decline. Among the contributing factors: contributions from congregations were $1.5 million less compared with the same time period last year, and giving to the denomination’s Special Offerings was down $2.3 million. “The number are not encouraging,” said Kathy Lueckert, president of the PC(USA), A Corporation – the denomination’s corporate entity – speaking Aug. 20 during a Zoom meeting of the A Corporation board. Investment income through July 31 was down $24 million — although that is mostly unrealized losses in the endowment funds held by the Presbyterian Foundation, said Denise Hampton, the PC(USA)’s controller. The Foundation uses a spending formula to determine how much money to send to the Presbyterian Mission … [Read more...]
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