LOUISVILLE (Outlook) — The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has appealed a defamation case involving Eric Hoey, who was formerly the PC(USA)’s director of evangelism and church growth, to the United States Supreme Court. Hoey was one of four men caught up in an ethics investigation involving the 1001 New Worshipping Communities program, and lost his job with the denomination in 2015. Not long after that, he filed a defamation case against the PC(USA). The PC(USA) is now appealing a 2018 ruling of the Kentucky Supreme Court involving that case. On April 30, John Sheller, an outside counsel representing the church, filed an application for a stay of that Kentucky Supreme Court decision with Justice Sonia Sotomayor. On May 6, Sotomayor denied that application. On May 8, Sheller filed an application again, this time with Justice Neil Gorsuch. On May 14, that application was distributed for conference by the full Supreme Court, scheduled to be considered at conference on May … [Read more...]
Special committee delves deeper into questions of sustainability and per capita
FORT WORTH, Texas – The Special Committee on Per-Capita Based Funding and National Church Financial Sustainability is starting to identify next steps — including developing a list of questions about finances in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) it wants to ask, and arranging a schedule of meetings with mid council leaders to talk about finances. The committee held its first in-person meeting May 13-15 in Fort Worth — well-aware of pending deadlines (Dec. 31 for the financial sustainability report and Feb. 21 for per capita). As the gathering came to a close, committee members voiced feelings of excitement, trepidation, of making progress and feeling a little in the fog. Part of the final morning of the meeting was spent with committee members divided into two work teams: one on per capita and one on financial sustainability. The per capita team is scheduling listening sessions with presbytery and synod leaders in the coming months. And the financial sustainability … [Read more...]
Making sense of money and church culture: Financial sustainability special committee continues discussion
FORT WORTH, Texas – Let’s talk about money and the way things work in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A). How about power and church culture too? Because that’s what the Special Committee on Per-Capita Based Funding and National Church Financial Sustainability spent part of its time May 14 discussing. For example: “I don’t think per capita is the big issue,” said Scott Lumsden, a committee member and co-executive presbyter of Seattle Presbytery. “I actually think we have all the resources we need as a denomination to do what we want,” but the problem is how the resources are allocated and distributed (and who gets to make decisions about that). Or the fact that in a connectional denomination, the budgets of Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency depend on funding from per capita – but those of the other four PC(USA) agencies do not, creating a sense of unevenness. “These are the two agencies that take the hit,” said committee member Kevin … [Read more...]
Financial health and stability: Per capita special committee gets to work in Texas
FORT WORTH, Texas – The timeline is tight. The work is immense. And the questions being explored go to the heart of the concerns of local Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations — most of which are small and struggling with money. The PC(USA)’s Special Committee on Per-Capita Based Funding and National Church Financial Sustainability is holding its first in-person meeting May 13-15 in Fort Worth – beginning to dig into its work and to unpack both financial details and big-picture implications. The 2018 General Assembly, which created the committee, gave it two big tasks: By the end of 2019, “to provide a comprehensive resource projection analysis and summary assessment — in conjunction with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Foundation and representatives of all other agencies — of national church assets and income for financial sustainability review.” The deadline for that was set early so that the analysis would be available to other groups (such as the 2020 Vision … [Read more...]
Moving Forward Implementation Commission to assess agency culture
The Moving Forward Implementation Commission has voted to proceed with an “agency culture assessment” that will include the six agencies of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Administrative Services Group that is a part of the PC(USA), A Corporation. The commission also voted during a conference call May 7 to invite Presbyterian Women to have its employees participate as well, although it doesn’t have the authority to require Presbyterian Women to participate. The idea is this: to get a sense of what people working at the national staff level of the PC(USA) think about the culture within their agencies – both what’s working well and what might need improvement. The commission is particularly interested in focusing on the culture at the denomination’s national office building in downtown Louisville – but has broadened the initiative in the hope of identifying “best practices” or what may be working well in some agencies as well. The commission is working to … [Read more...]
Board approves funds for Stony Point Center improvements
The Presbyterian Mission Agency Board continues to struggle with a question that it’s been poking at for years: how much it’s willing to spend to continue the operations of Stony Point Center outside New York City. The board, meeting by conference call April 24 (part of that in closed session) voted to authorize spending up to $630,750, for “critical expenditures” for capital improvements at Stony Point, a conference center about an hour outside New York City that also is home to an interfaith community. The board also gave permission for the board’s Coordinating Committee to approve additional spending for a roofing project involving two buildings at Stony Point should bids for doing that work exceed initial estimates, and once money from a fund held at the Presbyterian Foundation for support of one of those buildings has been used. Discussion during the open portion of the meeting, however, showed that some board members still are uncomfortable with how much the … [Read more...]
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