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Consensus approach being tried in budget-building

MONTREAT, N.C. — The hope is that by the time they leave this weekend, the General Assembly Council will have set some priorities around which the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) budget for 2005 and 2006 will be built.

The details of the budget won’t come until next year — including decisions, if it comes to that, of what jobs and programs might need to be cut.

Council members share their dreams for the PC(USA)

MONTREAT, N.C. — One of the jobs the General Assembly Council has at its September meeting is to start working on priorities for the two-year budget, the budget for 2005 and 2006, which must be approved by the General Assembly in Richmond next summer. As part of that process, council members spent some time talking in small groups about their dreams for what the denomination might look like in 10 years.

GAC Chair Carroll seeks more than status quo

MONTREAT, N.C. — Vernon Carroll, chair of the General Assembly Council, has a vision for what that group can be, for how it can lead the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) And it’s not, Carroll says, that "we’re just custodians trying to maintain the status quo."

Seminary offer specialty programs to meet needs, attract students

The University of Dubuque Seminary, in the heartland of the country, offers programs both in rural ministry and in the church and technology, tying theology to the land and to the wireless world.

Both San Francisco and Princeton seminaries have programs focused on spirituality and young people — recognizing, perhaps, that the music and preferences and questioning of teen-agers and young adults signal both a real hunger for God and a desire for things in churches to change, not later, but now.

Endowment-driven seminaries seek to secure future despite poor economy

Editor's Note — This report was prepared by the Office of Theological Education of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Recent economic events have had a major impact on Presbyterian theological institutions. Many seminaries have been affected by falling markets, because they are heavily dependent on endowment and other invested assets. As President Thomas Gillespie of Princeton Seminary explains, "Endowment plays a more critical role in theological education than it does in the funding of colleges and universities, which are largely tuition driven."

Moderator shares her joys and concerns for PC(USA)

MONTREAT, N.C. – She calls them joys and concerns.

Things she’s seen and heard as she travels to Presbyterian churches, things that excite her and give her hope, things that have given her some pangs.

Susan Andrews, moderator of the 215th General Assembly, talked to the General Assembly Council Sept. 24 about what she’s noticed so far, based on her first four months on the job and talking to everyone from the national staff of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to the faithful in some of the smallest churches.

Council to consider fee on restricted giving

MONTREAT, N.C. — When folks are out trying to raise money for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), one of the selling points they sometimes use is that all of the money given will go for a particular cause — to help hungry people in a particular part of the world, or the victims of a hurricane or drought or some other natural disaster.

The Gift of Theological EducationL Learning to Read before Learning to Talk

Deep in the South Georgia forests, perched up on the fender of a Ford tractor at eight years of age, I was surprised when Henry slammed it to a halt. Moving carefully, he took his single-shot .22 rifle from where it had been stowed behind his seat and fired a bullet through the brain of the largest rattlesnake that I had ever seen. We carried the dead snake with us back to the house, where Henry, the plantation superintendent, proceeded to skin it and cut off its rattles for all to see.

Paul and Theological Education for Mission Funding

In the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) we are short on members but still have substantial funds for mission. Churches in the "Two-Third’s World" have greater and greater numbers of people but are short on funds for ministry. How can we best become partners in mission? Surely some special "theological education" is required.

Short-term mission trips are a popular form of ministry that bring different parts of the body of Christ together.

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