wfn.org | Deep Cuts Balance 1998 Mission Budget

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18-December-1996 
 
 
96502         Deep Cuts Balance 1998 Mission Budget 
 
                      by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--After two intense days of meetings the Corporate and 
Adminstrative Services (CAS) committee hammered out a 1998 General Assembly 
mission budget here Dec. 6-7 that includes a $2.4 million cut in the 
unified portion of the $111.3 million budget. 
 
     Despite the deep cuts, Synod of Lincoln Trails executive the Rev. Vern 
Sindlinger -- whose synod along with most others is directly affected by 
reductions in unified (undesignated) giving -- said the budget meeting 
"felt like a consultative process -- one of the few in recent years that 
has felt like that." 
 
     Other participants expressed similar thoughts and praised General 
Assembly Council (GAC) interim executive director the Rev. Frank Diaz, GAC 
chair Youngil Cho and CAS chair Fred Denson for the "improved atmosphere of 
this year's budget consultations."  They also thanked the division 
directors and CAS director G.A. "Pat" Goff for providing more thorough 
background materials than have been prepared in previous years. 
 
           The bottom line: a continuing downward trend 
 
     The $111.3 million budget for 1998 represents a decrease of $5.8 
million overall from the 1997 budget of $117.1 million.  The 1996 mission 
budget totaled $121.2 million.  And unified receipts (unrestricted giving 
by congregations, presbyteries and Presbyterian Women, unrestricted 
endowments, sales of resources and income from unrestricted investments) 
are projected to continue a downward slide that has averaged between 5 and 
6 percent per year for a number of years now.  Unified giving for 1998 is 
budgeted for $34.3 million, down from an estimated $37.5 million in 1996. 
 
     Reductions are also projected in selected (restricted) giving, which 
includes designated giving by congregations and presbyteries, churchwide 
special offerings, restricted endowments and gifts and income from 
restricted investments.  Selected giving is budgeted for $56.9 million in 
1998, compared to $59.7 million in 1997 and $61.5 million in 1996. 
 
     Supplementary giving is also projected to decrease in 1998 to $20.1 
million, compared to $21.7 million in 1997 and $22.2 million in 1996. 
Supplementary giving includes receipts resulting from special appeals (such 
as disaster relief), designated mission support from organizations 
affiliated with but outside church structures (such as the Outreach 
Foundation and the Medical Benevolence Foundation), grants and gifts to 
programs that are not included in the mission budget. 
 
              Why not talk about increasing revenue? 
 
     Eugene McKelvey, chair of the Worldwide Ministries Division (WMD) 
committee, said "a new paradigm" is needed for the church's budgeting 
process.  "Organizations that only adapt to reduced income streams are dead 
in the water," he noted.  "We need to focus on revenue enhancement." 
 
     "We have talked about revenue enhancement since 1991," Goff replied, 
"but we have yet to put the first concrete plan in place."  National 
Ministries Division (NMD) director Curtis Kearns suggested putting in place 
a five-year projection for revenue.  "The church can rise to the challenge 
of a rising trend in revenue," he said, "if there is a coordinated program 
in place to do that." 
 
     Raising a theme he has often repeated during his tenure as GAC chair, 
Cho insisted that goals be established quickly for 1999, followed by action 
plans for achieving them.  CAS member David Greer said Presbyterians 
respond better to need than to budget appeals.  "Don't start by talking 
about dollars," he said. "Start by talking about programs." 
 
                    Biting the unified bullet 
 
     Each unit of the General Assembly Council organization came to the 
consultation with suggestions for how its portion of the $2.4 unified 
shortfall would be covered.  The division directors, Goff and Diaz had 
agreed to that plan after efforts to make the cuts on a GAC-wide basis had 
failed. 
 
     Under the previously agreed upon formula, the breakdown of the cuts 
was as follows: 
 
     *    Office of the executive director -- $81,600 (3.4 percent of the 
          total cuts needed) 
     *    Worldwide Ministries Division -- $679,200 (28.3 percent) 
     *    Congregational Ministries Division -- $465,600 (19.4 percent) 
     *    National Ministries Division -- $763,200 (31.8 percent) 
     *    Corporate and Administrative Services -- $410,400 (17.1 percent) 
 
                 The executive director's office 
 
     The administration of the office of the executive director, including 
the Office of Communication and the Advisory Committee on Social Witness 
Policy (ACSWP), is largely funded by unified giving. 
 
     Cuts in the Communication budget will eliminate money for research and 
media literacy advocacy and reduce funds available for development of a 
publication specifically designed for Presbyterian elders.  ACSWP cuts will 
mean the curtailing of the committee's work on its next major policy paper, 
"Building Community Among Strangers," as well as a number of other social 
policy-related projects. 
 
                  Worldwide Ministries Division 
 
     Programs of the Worldwide Ministries Division funded primarily by the 
unified budget include the entire mission personnel recruitment and support 
office and the ecumenical and interfaith relations office.   
 
     The cuts here mean reduced travel by staff to partner churches and 
mission fields in other countries, the closing of the field office in 
Brazil (home to the largest Presbyterian population in Latin America) and a 
reduction in the missionary staff of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). 
 
                Congregational Ministries Division 
 
     Programs of the Congregational Ministries Division funded primarily by 
the unified budget include theology and worship, media services, 
stewardship education, pastor/educator/lay leader support, spiritual 
formation, the Institute for Christian Formation, mission interpretation 
and promotion, research services, and presbytery and synod resource 
centers.  
 
      The cuts here mean reduced staff travel, some administrative 
reorganization within the division, and reduced contributions to some 
ecumenical programs.   
 
     The division has projected increases in the sales of its resources, 
increased sales of Presbyterian curriculum, and recovery of administrative 
expenses and salaries associated with special offerings from offering 
receipts as revenue enhancements that will make up for much of the cut. 
 
                   National Ministries Division 
 
     Programs of the National Ministries Division funded primarily by the 
unified portion of the mission budget include evangelism and church 
development, racial ethnic congregational enhancement, Mission 
Responsibility Through Investment, environmental justice, churchwide 
personnel services, middle governing body partnership funds, racial ethnic 
leadership development, criminal justice, "Church and Society" magazine, a 
number of women's ministries, the Presbyterian Washington Office and the 
urban ministries office.   
 
     Cuts here mean reduced staff travel, the elimination of two associate 
director positions (social justice and churchwide partnerships) and at 
least four program positions (preparation for ministry and enlistment, 
church professional development, leadership development and spiritual 
growth in the women's ministries office and racial justice leadership 
development) and the shifting of some programs in the higher education 
office from unified funding to selected funding. 
 
              Corporate and Administrative Services 
 
     Programs of Corporate and Administrative Services funded primarily by 
the unified portion of the budget include accounting and treasury services, 
Office of Information Services (computers), personnel and property 
management and Presbyterian Distribution Service (PDS).   
 
     CAS has projected increased cost savings by implementation of 
standardized, streamlined and automated systems that will reduce the amount 
of manual labor needed for record-keeping and make all activities more 
cost-effective.  CAS also expects to recover costs by fully assessing 
occupants of the Presbyterian Center for expenses associated with their 
occupancy of the building. 

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