Council committee says pull plug on money-losing PCUSA curriculum
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, September 28, 2001
TEMPE, Ariz.– A committee of the General Assembly Council has recommended that the denomination cut its losses by not publishing the remainder of what once was extolled as a major new curriculum.
Sales of the curriculum, Covenant People, had dwindled to 1,000 congregations in 2001 from a high of 4,000 in 2000. Continuing the press run this year would have increased the value of the unsold inventory from an estimated $1.3 million to $2.3 million.
The council committee overseeing the work of the Congregational Ministries Division voted without objection to recommend that:
- Publishing of Covenant People cease – as already is the case as a result of a conference call and temporary decision by the council’s executive committee.
- The council’s chair, the Rev. Jeff Bridgeman, send congregations a letter “interpreting” the reasons for the shutdown.
- The staff of Congregational Ministries Publishing “bring preliminary curriculum alternatives and proposed budgets” to the November meeting of the Congregational Ministries Division committee.
Sandra Moak Sorem of Congregational Ministries Publishing gave a number of reasons for the failure to sell enough of the curriculum to keep it going. Her principal reasons were that previous cuts in the publishing budget had virtually eliminated marketing and that many congregations found the material difficult to use.
But Mike C. Gillespie of Florence, Ky., a Christian education director and a member of the Congregational Ministries Committee of the General Assembly Council was not satisfied with those reasons.
Recalling that the Covenant People curriculum had been billed as what congregations needed and wanted, Gillespie said, “I’m not sure I share the feeling that this was one of our finer hours. I don’t think it was. During design, people were caught up in their imagination, but they were not asking, ‘Will most of our churches use this?'”
Gillespie wanted some answers. He proposed that the moderator of the Congregational Ministries Division appoint a task force to review what happened. He suggested that the task force ask a number of tough questions.
“I feel this issue is too important to be left to the staff to bring us back a recommendation. I think we have the ability to do good work in curriculum. However, I need some answers.”
Gillespie’s motion to appoint a task force drew a second and some discussion, but it was tabled on voice vote because, committee members indicated, there was not enough time to do the kind of job Gillespie wanted.
As a result, the staff of Congregational Ministries Publishing will present its suggestions – without official input from elected members of the General Assembly Council – at the next meeting of the Congregational Ministries Division committee in November.
The Rev. Lynn Shurley, moderator of the Congregational Ministries Division committee of the General Assembly Council, took note of the general agreement with Gillespie among the members of the committee. He expressed hope that Gillespie and others might unofficially seek answers to the questions he raised.
After its sudden and unexpected announcement in August that further development of Covenant People would cease, the Congregational Ministries Division was inundated by complaints from users.
Some of those complaints were registered on Presbynet’s Covenant People Curriculum discussion site. One synod executive declared that “it will be real hard to go back to these churches with any credibility any time soon.” A presbytery executive called it a “horrible decision” and said congregations would not reuse the first-year curriculum “and wait for a new and improved curriculum to be developed again!” “This is simply another ‘management decision,’ said another Presbyterian. “Hmmm … wasn’t Pilate’s a ‘management decision?'”
Sorem emphasized one point: There’s still a huge inventory of Covenant People curriculum that the denomination will continue to sell to congregations. Commission.”