wfn.org | [PCUSA News] Joint PPC/GAC Planning Team Irons out

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96215         Joint PPC/GAC Planning Team Irons out 
                 Details of Curriculum Transfer  
 
                         by Julian Shipp 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--Anticipating final decision at this year's General 
Assembly, the joint Presbyterian Publishing Corporation (PPC) and General 
Assembly Council (GAC) Planning Team began ironing out the details May 30 
of the GAC assuming total control of the current "Bible Discovery" and 
"Celebrate" curricula. 
 
     The target date is July 7 for new contracts and understandings to be 
in place to assure a smooth curriculum transition from PPC to the GAC's 
Congregational Ministries Division (CMD). 
 
     Top priority at the meeting was given to the expectation that an 
estimated 31 to 39 employees, will transfer from PPC to the GAC as the 
transition is completed. Consequently, a significant portion of the meeting 
was held in executive session and closed to the media while participants 
discussed personnel issues. 
 
     Terri B. Parker, associate for benefits and personnel in Corporate and 
Administrative Services and a PPC/GAC Planning Team Personnel Work Group 
member, said a recommendation regarding staff transitions is expected June 
6, but no job openings will be posted nor any resumes received until the 
transition plan is completed. 
 
     Another major concern among meeting participants centered on 
reassuring congregations and middle governing bodies that both PPC and the 
GAC are working collaboratively to ensure that there will be no 
interruption of services during the transition period should the General 
Assembly approve the joint recommendations coming from PPC and the GAC on 
the move of the curriculum operation. 
 
     The Rev. James D. Brown, GAC executive director, likened the overall 
feel of the meeting to "climbing aboard a rather rapidly moving train" and 
said that the consultation marked "an historic moment in the life of the 
church." 
 
     "We really are in earnest trying to have a full-scale transition plan 
together and I cannot emphasize enough that there is a tremendous amount of 
good faith that is going into this transition," Brown said. 
 
     To expedite the process, meeting participants divided into nine work 
groups that were established to research the necessary actions and 
implications involved in transferring curriculum.  In addition to staffing 
matters, work group members also discussed the location of office space in 
the Presbyterian Center and the transfer of curriculum inventory.  
 
     Representatives from each work group presented brief reports that 
included general background information, a listing of  basic curriculum 
issues, areas of agreement and items yet to be resolved. Also present, in 
addition to GAC and PPC staff leaders,  were elected persons from both PPC 
and the GAC. 
 
     "This is a very complex procedure," said Davis Perkins, PPC president 
and publisher. "Once the decision was made to move [curriculum to the GAC], 
the mode changed dramatically regarding when we disengage [from curriculum 
operations] and how we disengage and the final implications for both 
sides." 
 
      But despite the looming deadline, church leaders and educators seem 
eager to meet the challenges ahead. 
 
     "We've made more [curriculum transition] progress  than I thought was 
possible and I'm just delighted," said Price H. Gwynn III, PPC Board chair 
of Charlotte, N.C. 
 
     "I'm optimistic that this move will make all of our resources easier 
to order and use," said Y. Dianne Wright, an educator at New Harmony 
Presbytery in Florence, S.C. "Perhaps at last we'll have a single point for 
ordering all of our Presbyterian resources." 
 
     The Rev. Eunice Poethig, CMD director, said that among other 
advantages the transfer will alleviate conflicts that have sometimes 
occurred when the General Assembly mandates resources that PPC considers 
too expensive to publish.  The move will also enable the division to work 
more effectively with colleagues throughout the Presbyterian Center as it 
produces study resources for the denomination's congregations, she added. 
 
     Mina Grier, who retired last winter as PPC's director of curriculum 
publishing, said she believes that "far better resources than we've been 
able to provide in the recent past," will result from the decision to place 
all the denomination's curriculum resources within the CMD. 
 
     "I've worked with both the church and PPC," Grier said. "I know the 
people who work on the Christian Education Resource Team and I know the 
people who do the work in PPC's curriculum production area. All are 
committed to creating the finest resources possible. I know that these two 
groups will be able to really come together, that this will happen." 
 
     "We're delighted that the working relationship with our curriculum 
production colleagues will not only continue but improve greatly," said 
Donna Blackstock, the CMD's Resource Development Team coordinator. "All of 
us have enormous respect for our colleagues on the PPC staff, and for their 
professionalism and dedication. These have been challenging times, but 
we're delighted at the prospect of better days ahead both for curriculum 
and for PPC's book publishing operation."  
 
     Brown said that between now and the next scheduled GAC meeting June 26 
- 28 in Albuquerque, the joint planning team's work will culminate into a 
proposal for approval by the PPC Board and the GAC's CMD committee. Once 
the proposal is approved by the GAC, it will be submitted to the General 
Assembly for action.   
      
     Brown said the goal is to have "definitive contracts" centered around 
curriculum, personnel and assets and liabilities by this year's Assembly, 
with leasing and other areas to follow soon afterwards. 
 
     Although mixed feelings regarding curriculum remain among some 
denomination leaders and educators, all appear to agree that the good of 
the church and an effective educational ministry is ultimately more 
important than where the curriculum operation is lodged.      
      
     "We are a church and as a church we teach," said Dr. David Ng, 
professor of Christian Education at San Francisco Theological Seminary in 
San Francisco. "We are not in the curriculum enterprise to make money and 
we do not publish curricular resources to pay for various ecclesiastical 
activities. 
 
     "Teaching and curriculum development are so central to the church's 
identity and purpose that the church should provide whatever resources are 
needed to ensure that teaching is effectively accomplished," Ng said. 

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