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CURRENT EDITION - CONNECTIONS
MUSINGS OF THE SYNOD EXECUTIVE
Communications - Website
With regret, we accepted Marsha Anson's decision to resign as our “web goddess.” Marsha had made significant contributions toward an attractive and useful website. When I first arrived in the synod, our website was advertising the Western National Leadership Training Event (two events in the past!!) Marsha has helped us keep the site updated and with current information.
The other really significant improvement she made was to help us use the web site as a means for WNLT registration. This has been a help to Adele Groote, our WNLT coordinator, and to all who have registered in the last years.
But Marsha decided that it was time to let go of this responsibility, which she did with only token remuneration, and devote herself to other things. One of those other things was an extended trip with Dave to Scotland. Perhaps they will bring back part of the culture to share with us.
Meanwhile we have hired a web design firm in our area to provide web services. Any suggestions you have for improvements or information you think should be shared from your presbytery, church, or institution can be sent to Rebecca Kennedy, our Executive Assistant, at srm@presbynet.org.
Pakistan – the Continuing Saga
Just after I last wrote my Musings, I made the second trip to Lahore, Pakistan. It was my understanding that we would be wrapping up the affairs of the Pakistan Property Trust, eliminating a structure that was never able to perform the function for which it was created. In short, the Trust had never completed the transfer of property (acquired for mission purposes) from our church to the Presbyterian Church of Pakistan.
I regret to report that we made no headway on the winding up process. Issues of trust between leaders of the PCP and the representatives of mission agencies had deteriorated in the intervening months. We are now exploring what steps are necessary and possible. As I reported earlier, there is no intent of abandoning our partnership in mission in Pakistan. We simply need good property management agreements with several boards and with the PCP itself. The Trust is an impediment. So it looks like at least one more trip to Pakistan in October.
The side benefits of making the trips continued on the second trip. I was able to spend thirty-six hours in Taiwan on the way to Pakistan (even if it meant Easter over the Pacific). I spend the time under the guidance of Choon and Yen Hee Lim, who are mission workers in Hualein, Taiwan (see page 256 in the Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study ). Their work is with the Aboriginal College Ministry, carried out on six campuses.
Yen Hee, a registered nurse, works at a children's center for children with developmental disabilities. The Lims are of Korean background, but experienced the call to ministry while living in Chicago. In fact, Choon vaguely remembered my year as moderator of the Presbytery of Chicago (1991 for the curious).
I also had time for conversation with two officials of the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan, the Rev. Andrew T. C. Chang, General Secretary, and the Rev. Lyim Hong-Tiong, the Assoc. General Secretary. Even though they were preparing for the beginning of their General Assembly the next day, they took time for tea and to talk about their church and the urgent concerns for the many cultures in which the church tries to do ministry.
In Bangkok, on the way back to the U.S., I had enough time to take a walking tour of the Grand Palace.
I'm hoping that I will be able to spend some time in Seoul, Korea, on the October trip.
The Executive Director of the GAC
As I noted before, I served as a member of the Search Committee for the next Executive Director of the General Assembly Council. John Detterick, who ably served for two terms, retired at the end of the General Assembly in June.
Perhaps you have read about Linda Valentine, who was our candidate and who was elected to be the new Executive Director. She is an elder from Chicago, a member of Fourth Presbyterian Church, and has a background in corporate law.
She has assumed responsibilities for the guidance of the GAC at a very important point in its evolution. The elected GAC is reorganizing itself. The GAC is reorganizing its work to better reflect the mission goals assigned to the GAC. Keep Linda Valentine and all involved in the GAC in your prayers.
General Assembly in Birmingham, Alabama
In the mail yesterday I received a copy of the most recent edition of The Presbyterian Layman. Perhaps you received it as well. I mention the publication in order to say that on several key issues, I don't understand how the writers of the articles came to the conclusions they did.
Consider the paper on the theology of the Trinity. The emphasis in the periodical was on the variety of metaphorical language one might use in trying to understand the triunity of God. The paper itself, and the assembly in receiving it for study, emphasizes that the most common Biblical and theological language is that which comes readily to mind: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That is the language of some of Paul's benedictions, the language of the ecumenical creeds, and the baptismal formula.
The paper does say that all of our language about God is metaphorical, which is a common-place in theology. In fact, we have long known that we are better able to say what God is not, than to pin God down. We are all like Elijah, who could not have survived a direct experience of the holiness and glory of God.
Consider as well the report of the Task Force on the Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church. According to the articles in the Layman , the General Assembly violated the covenant with the whole church by its action, whatever that means. The Assembly is accused of having created opportunity for presbyteries and sessions to evade provisions of the Constitution of our Church concerning the ordination of gay and lesbian persons who do not abide by the requirement of celibacy in singleness. This is the accusation despite the clear statements of the task force members, the Advisory Committee on the Constitution, the Stated Clerk, and the Assembly itself that adopting the report in its slightly revised form did not change the ordination standards.
Enough of reflection on odd reporting. To see the papers and actions of the 217 th General Assembly for yourself, go to the PC(USA) web site www.pcusa.org and do a bit of exploring. Its all there.
My own reflections on the Assembly include the thought that the Peace, Unity, and Purity reflection process was a good one for the church. We had in their report (and in the Trinity report, for that matter) serious theological reflection on what it means to be a denominational church in the 21 st century. I wish more people would actually read the report, not just argue about the recommendations.
One of the other issues the Assembly dealt with was the fall-out from the actions of the previous General Assembly, which in 2004 called for a phased selective divestment strategy from companies facilitating the strategies of Israel to occupy more and more land that had belonged to Palestinians, many of whom are Christian. This assembly modified that directive to call for investment strategies in the Middle East that will promote peace. Maybe this is wiser. Though we may have simply decided to try to defuse a situation that troubled many Presbyterians and our Jewish neighbors.
A major stir was created in the early days of the Assembly by the announcement of a Presbyterian from Denver of the intent to donate $150,000,000 to the church through the Presbyterian Foundation to support the transformative ministries of presbyteries. It would have benefited the work of presbyteries, would have encouraged greater giving to the Theological Education Fund (which helps fund our seminaries), and would have encouraged greater mission giving in our congregations. Alas, it would appear that it is very unlikely that the donation will materialize.
This was our first Assembly in the new two-year cycle between Assemblies. I think many of us, while realizing all the practical reasons for having biennial Assemblies, found that it had been too long between the Presbyterian family reunions that Assemblies are. Now it will be two more years before we gather in Sacramento.
Conversation
I am always interested in your ideas about the health of the church and its responsibilities in mission, particularly your ideas about our shared regional ministry. Send me email (zbuxton@att.net), call me, or visit with me when I'm at your presbytery meeting or at your church.
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Why Do We Have a Synod?
By Bob Sheldon
Director of Funds Development
Why do we have a synod?
What purpose does it perform?
Is it worth our effort and our dollars?
These are questions I often hear as I travel around our synod, questions that deserve answers. Earlier this summer, Zane and I had a Consultation with the Presbytery of Denver in an effort to identify and articulate our shared regional ministry. A special thanks goes to Denver , who shared in the consultation and maintained their present level of support. It was a lot of fun! I think this is a good model to share with other presbyteries as a means to remind each of us what we're all doing and how important it is to those we serve. Here are some of the “answers” we discussed:
Where and how are the funds used?
The synod is in the “helping business.” We help others do their ministry more effectively. Most of our ministry takes place at the levels of the presbytery and congregation. These are our three main areas of helping and how we are doing:
1. Helping Congregations Grow through Presbytery Support: $410,000 (54% of mission budget and growing). Like in smaller congregations, small presbyteries require more funding per member to provide the same services. Seven of our eight presbyteries cover more territory to serve fewer people. This requires some creative servicing. And yet some amazing ministry is taking place! Our presbytery staffs are better described as “adjunct church staff members.” Here are a few examples made possible by your partnering together.
One of our presbyteries has gone as far as to rename their “executive.” Marvin Groote of Utah is called the “Executive Congregational Consultant.” The Presbytery of Utah is the largest protestant group in Utah—with 4,000 members. Yet these small numbers have undertaken an exciting task. Almost two years ago, they initiated the “Healthy Congregations Initiative,” a new approach to serving together that includes an emphasis on evangelism and outreach as well as mutual accountability to reach their goals. And they are seeing the fruits of their labors ripen. This presbytery one of the few in the PCUSA to show a net increase in membership last year. One small struggling congregation used their annual Easter Egg Hunt as an outreach opportunity and saw their attendance more than double. This congregation has become the home of many first-generation immigrants from Africa. Old whites with young blacks worshipping and serving together—in Utah ! This, and many similar, accounts are direct results of Marv's hands-on ministry with these becoming-vital congregations—made possible with your support.
New visions are being seen through the lenses of Bruce Ford's ministry in Wyoming. Bruce's specialty in small church development has encouraged the widely-dispersed congregations (Bruce drives over 100 miles in any direction to reach his closest congregation beyond Casper ) to look at ministry in new ways and reinvigorate ministry within Wyoming. Bruce leads at least eight leadership retreats each year, in addition to his countless consultations with congregations. The congregations are responding with numbers and support. Last year, Wyoming was one of just 23 presbyteries in the PCUSA to actually increase their mission support. In fact, two of the twenty-three presbyteries are within our synod ( Western Colorado was the other).
There are other presbyteries where the energizing is just beginning. Presbytery of Yellowstone covers the eastern two-thirds of Montana—a daunting amount of territory. George Goodrich is their first full-time General Presbyter and has found an equally-daunting task of supporting isolated congregations and their pastors. Because many of these congregations serve small, isolated communities, creativity in leadership is a fact of life. Presently 60% of George's congregations are served by first-call pastors, Commissioned Lay Pastors or are without pastors. These congregations and their leaders rely on George's experience and leadership. For example, George drives 2 hours one-way to meet monthly with three pastors (a CLP, a first-call pastor and a second-call pastor) for prayer, support and practical guidance on serving their congregations. He is helping these congregations benefit from his experience rather than suffering from the “rookie” mistakes of inexperienced pastors. George is planning to begin two more of these groups—which will take him at least two hours in other directions. Yellowstone is responding to this care with renewed vision and increase contributions of $35,000-$40,000 per year of direct gifts from individuals. The members believe in this ministry made possible by the direct support from the synod.
2. Helping Students Experience Faith: $150,000 (20%). This area of our ministry is undergoing some much-needed revision. In a spirit of partnership with our presbyteries, grants to support campus-and-church-based campus ministries will be awarded through the presbyteries, encouraging a closer relationship and more accountability. We are excited about this new development and looking forward to stronger stewardship of these funds.
3. Helping Congregations Fund Their Growth: $150,000 (20%). We are blessed with a special grant to initiate a unique ministry within the PCUSA—which is where I fit into this ministry. I have one responsibility: to help the church fund its mission. This ministry has helped countless congregations to enhance their ministries with $5-6 million of new funding for church budgets and special projects. A recent example is helping Arvada Presbyterian Church raise $200,000 to repair their roof and match a presbytery grant for new staff members. I am presently consulting with approximately 40 congregations to directly help them increase their giving and ministry. This is money well spent.
Our present agreement provides that we will pick up a growing percentage of the cost for my ministry. This is possible only as long as our funding allows. Your support provides part of this ministry. Simply put, this ministry goes away when the money stops.
Your support makes a difference. These examples are snapshots of the wonderful things happening around our synod. None of these ministries are possible without support from the synod. Thank you for making it possible with your gifts of partnership and financial support. I guess it really is true: “We're all in this together!”
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THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION FUND—A LITTLE HISTORY AND A BIG OPPORTUNITY
Back in the 1960s, Presbyterian congregations financially supported our Presbyterian seminaries at 23–45 percent of their operating budgets. The source was a portion of General Assembly general mission giving from all congregations. As congregations set aside more and more money for local mission, GA mission money declined until by the time of the reunion in 1983, GA giving to our theological schools had decreased, on average, to about 4 percent.
The Theological Education Fund (TEF) was approved by the 1986 General Assembly to help reverse this decline with a plan to ask each congregation to consider giving annually an amount equivalent to 1 percent of its operating budget. While financial support has steadily risen, on average it is still only about 4 percent of the operating budgets of our 10 Presbyterian seminaries. The notable exception is our racial ethnic school, Johnson C. Smith Seminary in Atlanta, which receives 28 percent of its operating budget from the TEF.
The Presbyterian Church has always demanded highly educated leadership and today is no exception. There is a growing scarcity of ministers in our denomination. It is projected that 80 percent of the ministers in the PCUSA will have retired by the year 2025. Congregations need to identify and invite promising women and men to consider ministry as a first vocation or a new vocation.
An average seminary graduate has a debt in excess of $13,000—difficult to pay back on an entry-level church salary. Interestingly, the cost of educating a minister is second only to the cost of a medical school education.
By giving to the TEF we assist those who are being prepared to be our future pastors, educators, chaplains, counselors and missionaries. Some seminaries may appeal broadly for financial support, but we cannot expect Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans and others to financially assist our theological schools. It is our privilege and responsibility.
Consider annual financial support for the TEF as a way to expand your congregation’s investment in future leadership for the mission of the whole church for generations to come.
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