Despite projected $5-million downturn, council OKs $8.6 million in new work
By Paula R. Kincaid, The Layman Online, February 17, 2004
LOUISVILLE – Early projections of the 2005-2006 unrestricted mission budget show a deficit of $5 million, but that didn’t stop the General Assembly Council from approving an estimated $8,585,000 of new work to help carry out the goals of the council’s Mission Work Plan.
Unrestricted funds account for about 30 percent of the total mission budget. The other 70 percent is restricted by donors to targeted programs. The council has to use the unrestricted money to pay for programs it prefers.
The Mission Work Plan, approved by the council during its February meeting, is the council’s two-year plan for mission work and funding for 2005-2006.
John Detterick, executive director of the council, explained to council members where the $8.5 million could be found:
- $1,301,000 for new mission, which will include staff and program area cuts. “We will find things we can stop to get $1.3 million for additional work in the priority areas,” he said.
- $1,569,000 in reallocations. He said these were funds that “exist in one place that will shift to another place.”
- $5,170,000 from the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts and Hands campaign. He called that figure an estimate, saying, “We don’t know if the funds will be available yet.” Later in the meeting, Detterick told the council that “we are not certain at all” about the amount of money that will be raised. He said he anticipated as “we get into October and November our Mission Initiative colleagues will be able to give us some idea about cash flow.” He said the council will implement the new work “to the extent the money is available.”
- $545,000 from other funds development.
The projected budget shortfalls in unrestricted funds are $1.85 million in 2005 and $3.15 million in 2006.
Following the council meeting, staff, along with members of the mission work plan team, will develop an actual budget from those projections and send it to all council members. The council’s executive committee will approve the budget at its May meeting. Council members were encouraged by staff and the mission work plan team to examine the budget and express their concerns to members of the executive committee before they meet to approve the budget.
The budget will be based on the four goals of the plan, along with the prioritized objectives for each goal.
When the council began discussion of the plan on Feb. 12, the five goals of the mission work plan were ranked in priority order as follows: 1. evangelism, 2. leadership. 3. spirituality, 4. justice and 5. GAC role/identity.
Council members objected to priority ranking.
Emily Wigger asked “was the intent in prioritizing the goals to say ‘yes, evangelism is more important than justice’ … is it to put justice at the bottom of the heap?”
Council member Jack Rogers, also a member of the mission work plan team, said Wigger’s question showed the “same kind of struggles we did as part of team, but in order to create a budget you have to have priorities.”
“We are facing the fact that there is not enough money to do everything we think we ought to do, or should do,” Rogers said. “We are not trying to be theological, just trying to be pragmatic. We have tried to say that all four of these goals are deeply rooted in our theology. Now we have to make some very hard decisions on what we can fund and what we can do … and we came out with this configuration.”
Following a small-group discussion, the mission work plan team renamed the goals and decided not to prioritize them. But it did leave the objectives under each goal in priority order. The council approved the following in the order in which they appear:
- Evangelism and Witness: We are called to invite all people to faith, repentance, and the abundant life of God in Jesus Christ, to encourage congregations in joyfully sharing the Gospel, and through the power of the Holy Spirit to grow in membership and discipleship.
- Justice and Compassion: We are called to address wrongs in every aspect of life and the whole of creation, intentionally working with and on behalf of poor, oppressed, and disadvantaged people as did Jesus Christ, even at risk to our corporate and personal lives.
- Spirituality and Discipleship: We are called to deeper discipleship through Scripture, worship, prayer, study, stewardship and service, and to rely on the Holy Spirit to mold our lives more and more into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
- Leadership and Vocation: We are called to lead by Jesus Christ’s example, to identify spiritual gifts, and to equip and support Christians of all ages for faithful and effective servant leadership in all parts of the body of Christ.
- GAC Role/Identity (to be retitled): We are called to address opportunities and concerns which clarify the role and responsibilities of the GAC in the life of the PCUSA.
The council also voted to approve the percentages of funds to be allocated among the goals:
- Evangelism and witness: 30 percent unrestricted; 26 percent restricted; for a total of 27 percent.
- Leadership and vocation: 29 percent unrestricted; 24 percent restricted; for a total of 26 percent.
- Spirituality and discipleship: 19 percent unrestricted; 14 percent restricted; for a total of 15 percent.
- Justice and compassion: 17 percent unrestricted; 35 percent restricted; for a total of 30 percent.
- GAC role/identity: 5 percent unrestricted; 1 percent restricted; for a total of 2 percent.
The large percentage of restricted funds in the justice goal includes the Jinishian Memorial Program, which “enables Armenians in need to move from poverty and despair to self-sufficiency and hope – through relief, development and spiritual uplift,” and is active primarily in Armenia, Lebanon, Syria, Istanbul and Jerusalem; and the Jarvie Commonweal Service, an organization that provides assistance to the aged in the New York Metropolitan area.
The plan begins with a purpose, vision and mission statements. It includes the council’s core values, which according to the plan “are not to be represented as the core values for the entire church.” They are:
- Celebration: Embracing our Reformed tradition through Word and sacrament.
- Proclamation: Listening for and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.
- Stewardship: Giving, working and living faithfully and responsibly.
- Nurture: Supporting and caring for each other.
- Trust: Communicating with integrity.
- Openness: Expecting to be transformed by the God of justice and love.
- Partnership: Living in community with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and people of the world.
- Vision: Serving with joy, living in hope, hearing and responding to diverse voices and obeying God’s will.