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$5.3 million under consideration: Coordinating Committee examines costs of recommendations to 2018 General Assembly

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ST. LOUIS – The Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) is hoping to help commissioners at the 2018 General Assembly better understand budget implications of some of the recommendations the assembly is considering — costs it estimates at about $5.3 million for the agency, if the assembly were to approve all the recommendations before it this year. Among the big-ticket items: about $3 million (over two years) to set up a department within PMA to focus on the ministry of small congregations, which an overture from Grace Presbytery is recommending. Also: about $855,000 if the assembly adopts a recommendation from the Way Forward Commission that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) prioritize translation services. Those figures were presented to the Coordinating Committee of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board, meeting in St. Louis just prior to the start of the 223rdGeneral Assembly, which opens for business June 16. PMA’s senior leadership is strategizing how best to present … [Read more...]

Tagged With: GA223 • PMA board

PMA board concludes spring meeting with prayer and gratitude

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CINCINNATI – The Presbyterian Mission Agency Board has approved a mission budget for 2019 and 2020 that’s balanced and calls for no layoffs – what Ken Godshall, the board’s chair, has described as “a good news budget” for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The board approved a mission budget (F.104 - 2019-2020 Budget) of $71.6 million for 2019 and $70.5 million for 2020. That budget now goes to the General Assembly in June for its approval. The adjusted 2018 mission budget stands at $68.2 million. No unrestricted reserves were used to balance the budget, and Denise Hampton, controller for the Presbyterian Mission Agency, reported that the unrestricted reserves stood at $12.5 million as of December 31. Here’s some of the other business the board dealt with in the closing session of the April 25-27 meeting. Prayer for North Korea The board approved this call for prayer suggested by Heath Rada, moderator of the 2014 General Assembly: “In light of last night’s announcement … [Read more...]

Tagged With: PMA board

Don’t water it down: PMA board votes against new language concerning PC(USA), A Corporation

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CINCINNATI – By a 13 to 12 vote, the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board voted April 27 not to accept a substitute comment to the 2018 General Assembly regarding the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation. That substitute would have still raised concerns and questions the board has regarding a joint A Corporation recommendation coming from the Way Forward Commission and All Agency Review Committee, but struck a more conciliatory tone. That’s something the board was not willing to do. With the proposed substitute, “what we’re doing is we’re watering it down and trying to make nice,” said Conrad Rocha, a board member from New Mexico who serves as co-chair of the board’s Governance Task Force, which recommended the original comment.  “We have to be clear.” The board had voted April 26 to approve the original comments — despite a caution from J. Herbert Nelson, stated clerk of the PC(USA), to consider what kind of witness the disagreement sends about the church. At the … [Read more...]

Tagged With: PMA board

Stony Point to receive year-by-year funding from Presbyterian Mission Agency

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CINCINNATI – The Presbyterian Mission Agency Board voted April 26 to provide at least a year’s funding to Stony Point Center for capital improvements – and voiced its support of Stony Point as being an important ministry of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The board’s Stony Point Sustainability Task Force had asked the board to approve spending $3 million over three years for deferred maintenance and capital improvements at Stony Point, a facility of more than 30 acres about an hour outside New York City. That money, however, would have had to come from Presbyterian Mission Agency reserves – either capital reserves or unrestricted operating reserves – and some board members seemed hesitant to take so much from reserves at a time when the funds might be needed for other purposes. So board member Marci Glass, a pastor from Idaho, suggested the idea of funding the project year-by-year. The motion was amended to say that $650,000 in funding would be provided for the first … [Read more...]

Tagged With: PMA board

Dispute over Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation appears to be headed to the 2018 General Assembly

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CINCINNATI – The Presbyterian Mission Agency Board voted April 26 to send a set of comments to the 2018 General Assembly regarding the proposals of the Way Forward Commission and All Agency Review Committee. Those comments (P.002 Governance Task Force WFC AARC comment) express the board’s disagreement with the recommendations involving the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation, saying the proposal lacks vision and focuses too much on technical change and suggesting that the assembly might take more time to consider all this – putting off changes to the denomination’s national structure until 2020. So for now: This complicated, messy, periodically rancorous dispute over the A Corporation is heading straight for the 2018 General Assembly, unless some sort of compromise can be reached before the assembly convenes in June. Several speakers at the board’s meeting in Cincinnati raised concerns about what kind of message that might send. “Please consider how we might be … [Read more...]

Tagged With: PMA board

Seeking a way together: Groups process disagreements on PC(USA), A Corporation recommendations

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CINCINNATI – The frustration from both sides bubbled to the surface April 25 when representatives from the Way Forward Commission and All Agency Review Committee made a presentation to the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board on recommendations coming to the 2018 General Assembly. It’s no secret there are enduring disagreements regarding those recommendations – particularly involving what should happen with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation. Some of that involves the details – what’s the best approach? And some involves the tension that has permeated these conversations for months – and which, so far, has led to a disagreement that both sides are sending to the 2018 General Assembly to resolve. In their 45-minute presentation on the evening of April 25, Deborah Block, a minister from Wisconsin who serves as moderator of the All Agency Review Committee, and Eileen Lindner and Eliana Maxim, ministers who serve as vice moderators of the Way Forward Commission, … [Read more...]

Tagged With: All Agency Review • PMA board • Way Forward Commission

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