A group within the Presbyterian Mission Agency considering the future of Stony Point Center is recommending spending at least $10.3 million on capital improvements at Stony Point over the next decade, plus $300,000 over the next three years in additional staffing and another $75,000 in a capital campaign feasibility study. The future of the Stony Point – a conference center just north of New York City – has been an enduring question for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in recent years, as Stony Point has not been financially self-sustaining and has required periodic infusions of cash from the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA), both for urgent deferred maintenance and to support operational costs. This new recommendation – which the board will consider during its Sept. 26-28 meeting at Stony Point – describes a vision in which Stony Point becomes “the conference center for PMA” and a “Christian conference center designed for transformation.” Diane Moffett, executive director and … [Read more...]

BALTIMORE – Here’s an idea. What if the Presbyterian Mission Agency picked one clear mission focus for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – the idea of being a Matthew 25 denomination – and stuck with it for five or 10 years? The Matthew 25 vision that the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) unveiled in April has three key emphases – on congregational vitality, confronting structural racism, and eradicating systemic poverty – so the work it calls Presbyterians to is important. One approach for building PMA’s budget for 2021 and 2022 might be to stick with Matthew 25 for at least two more years – making that the top funding priority – and continue to build on the energy of that biblically-based vision. That possibility got some traction in the last day of a consultation on budget priorities that the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board held with mid council leaders August 4-5 in Baltimore. The board wanted to get a sense of what mid council leaders are seeing at the grassroots and … [Read more...]

BALTIMORE – What priorities should shape the budget of the Presbyterian Mission Agency for 2021 and 2022? What are presbytery and synod leaders seeing at the local and regional levels of the church that members of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board should take into account as they craft the budget? Those questions are at the heart of a 24-hour consultation being held August 4-5 in Baltimore, just after Big Tent 2019. Joe Morrow, a minister from Chicago and chair of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board, said this is the first time such a consultation has been held – and said the intent is to “ask deep questions about what the church should be doing” as the board begins the process of developing PMA’s budget for 2021 and 2022. Close to two dozen mid council representatives are attending this consultation — representatives from the denomination’s synods, and from a mixture of small, medium and large presbyteries as well, plus two non-geographic presbyteries (Presbytery … [Read more...]

Diane Moffett, president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, wants all Presbyterians to hear of the Matthew 25 vision in the next two years – “to make sure it gets down to every level” of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). And she told members of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board during a June 17 conference call meeting that “I’d like you to be an advocate and a cheerleader on every level” for the Matthew 25 vision, which the agency unrolled April 1. So far, “people are very open to this,” she said. “We have not gotten a lot of push back at all,” but Presbyterians seem eager for something that unites and connects the denomination. Moffett is careful to describe Matthew 25 as a “vision” and not an initiative – with board member Marci Glass of Idaho saying she’s heard people asking questions about what’s the difference, for example, between Matthew 25 and other PC(USA) endeavors, such as Hands and Feetor 1001 New Worshipping Communities. (The short … [Read more...]