wfn.org | Consultation Opens up Governing Body Boundaries

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10-June-1998 
98202 
 
    Consultation Opens up Governing Body Boundaries 
    for Soliciting Extra Commitment Funds 
 
    by Bill Lancaster 
 
CHICAGO-The synods and the General Assembly Council are giving Presbyterian 
Church (U.S.A.) governing bodies permission to do what parachurch 
organizations such as the Salvation Army, World Vision International and 
Promise Keepers already do - go directly to congregations, presbyteries or 
synods to seek funds. 
 
    As they do so, they are adopting guidelines to ensure that this takes 
place in an orderly process that respects the integrity of the solicited 
governing bodies. 
 
    Representatives from the 16 synods and the General Assembly Council of 
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)  met here May 28-30 to polish the 
guidelines.  They also approved a distribution of the 1999 National Mission 
Partnership Funds, approved principles for using 10 percent of those funds 
as seed money for developing other funds and discussed issues to be dealt 
with at future consultations. 
 
    The guidelines cover the national mission partnership section of the 
Extra Commitment Opportunities Program already familiar to many 
congregations.  These projects or programs fall into four areas: vital 
ministries in congregations, campus ministries, racial/ethnic ministries, 
and presbytery or synod administrative or mission staff. 
 
    Any governing body may initiate a national mission partnership project. 
Each project must be validated and accountable. 
 
    The guidelines state that validated projects have the right to seek 
access to all synods, presbyteries and sessions.  However, project 
fund-raisers must consult with the appropriate governing bodies ("synods 
before contacting presbyteries; presbyteries before contacting 
congregations; sessions before contacting members") before asking for 
funds. A "soliciting body" must agree to inform the other governing bodies 
of its "intent to solicit funds for a validated project and agrees to be 
guided by the counsel and advice of the governing body as to (1) the 
desirability of funds solicitation within its bounds and (2) the most 
effective methods of soliciting funds. ..." 
 
    The consultation rejected stronger language that would have given veto 
power to the governing bodies being solicited.  This would have substituted 
"abide by" for "be guided by" in the above statement. 
 
    Synod and presbytery officials at the consultation believe this process 
will be received without problems at the local level if dollars are given 
over and above Basic Mission Support and if these guidelines are understood 
as a matter of fairness. 
 
    "I think there will be some that want that kind of relationship and 
will value that personalizing of mission and partnership where they can put 
names and faces on what they wish to support," said the Rev. Tom Johnston, 
executive of the Synod of The Trinity. 
 
    "There  are other parts of Trinity," he said, "that have a long 
tradition of supporting Basic Mission Support of the church and have 
preferred not to try to designate dollars to any particular mission.  I 
think that continues to be strong, and in some presbyteries, therefore, 
there will be a desire to assure that these extra commitment projects 
beyond the budget are not eroding Basic Mission Support. 
 
    "Once the consultative process satisfies the fact that this is not 
going to be taking away from a holistic supporting of basic mission 
worldwide of the whole church," Johnston said, "then I think there is some 
excitement that will generate new dollars for extra commitment partnerships 
in national mission." 
 
    One of the reasons for consulting is to assure that the solicitation 
does not lead to competition for undesignated or Basic Mission Support 
funds. 
 
    "For instance," Johnston said, "it could be that a program wishing to 
have such partnership within our synod would consult with a presbytery, and 
the presbytery  would say, `We would prefer you not go to these churches 
because they have a tradition of supporting basic mission and do not have 
extra commitment projects.  But these [other] churches do not support basic 
mission and prefer to support designated mission and have shown that their 
people get generative around personalizing mission and giving new dollars 
for new partnerships in extra commitment opportunity giving.  And we would 
suggest it is to these churches you  would make your contact.'  That's what 
partnership and consultation are about." 
 
    The Rev. David Dawson, executive of the Presbytery of Shenango, said 
congregations there are already doing this.  He said the presbytery 
encourages congregations to give to extra commitment opportunities by 
choosing three extra commitment projects and saying to its churches, "These 
might be of particular interest to you."  He said they receive about 
$150,000 for the three extra projects, and this summer they will probably 
add two or three more to the list. 
 
    "That way," Dawson said, "we're trying to say to our churches,  `We 
want you to be supporting things you believe in.  We want you to support 
basic mission, too - we think that's important.  But we want you to 
challenge your people to grow in areas that are of particular interest and 
concern to your church so you will see that mission is your responsibility 
as a congregation.'" 
 
    He does not think congregations give much unified (undesignated) funds 
to these extra opportunities.  "I think it's a mixed bag," he said, "but I 
don't think particularly so, because the unified is not really going down. 
 ... I think if they weren't giving to these they'd be giving to something 
else, outside the denomination.  And if they are decreasing their Basic 
Mission Support, at least we're getting it back into the Presbyterian 
stream. Otherwise it would go somewhere else.  What we would say to 
[leaders] is, `Basic Mission Support is very important. You need to 
maintain that.  What portion of your mission giving it is is your decision. 
 ...' But we say to them, `You ought to use a personalized, designated 
pattern as a way to help your people grow,' because that is what people 
respond to in our contexts.  So we're trying to get growth out of 
designations." 
 
    The Rev. John Bartholomew, executive of the Synod of South Atlantic, 
sees a rougher reception for the funds solicitation.  He said,  "There's 
going to be problems with it.  I think if folks understand it as a fairness 
issue - that everybody else is free to come in except Presbyterians - that 
they will be much more sympathetic. Why shouldn't we ask among the family 
when so many groups from outside the family feel so free to come in?" 
 
    As a new feature of the division of funds this year, the consultation 
split off 10 percent of the total to use for funds development.  For 1999, 
four synods - Alaska-Northwest, Puerto Rico, Rocky Mountains and Southwest 
- will receive portions of the $300,000 available. 
 
    The purpose of funds development dollars is to enable synods to do more 
themselves.  Johnston said,  "I think it's a new strategy to use the 
strength and resources of the whole church to strengthen and to develop the 
synods [that] have sought to avail themselves of the resources of the whole 
church in funds development.  We've all put money at the disposal of synods 
that say, `We want to get serious about strengthening the funds development 
of our own synod and not continue a pattern of having to reach into the 
circulating funds for meeting all of our own needs.  We'd like to be able 
to do more ourselves.'" 
 
    The four synods are to design and perfect proposals for use of the 
development funds through a process that draws on expertise from the whole 
church. 
 
    The total amount of mission partnership funds to be distributed in 
1999, minus the $300,000 for funds development, is $3,517,427.  The amount 
has trended lower each year from 1995 through 1998.  The amount to be 
distributed to nine receiving synods would have been up in 1999 were the 
$300,000 not split off. 
 
    The recommended 1999 distribution by synod: 
 
      Alaska-Northwest - $565,337 
      Lakes and Prairies - $387,334 
      Living Waters - $303,791 
      Pacific - $340,245 
      Puerto Rico - $431,429 
      Rocky Mountains -  $266,179 
      South Atlantic - $233,685 
      Southern California and Hawaii - $156,566 
      Southwest - $832,860. 
 
    All allocations of national mission partnership funds must be approved 
by the General Assembly Council. 
 
    Participants in the consultation also identified issues to be dealt 
with at future meetings. Diana Barber, associate executive for leadership 
development in the Synod of Lakes and Prairies, was the process facilitator 
for the gathering.  She said, "We had an opportunity to actually identify 
some of the things that we need to have conversation about besides dividing 
up dollars - issues that underlie some of the tension that happens in all 
of these conversations that we have about money." 
 
    One of those issues is to "really look churchwide at who we are and 
what we are about and how all of our systems work together," she said. 
Another issue "lurking behind this consultation" is "What do we really mean 
by national mission?  What's included in it besides our memories of the 
past?  How can we have the kind of conversation that will allow us to say 
in fact, `This is what we all agree to be the national mission of the 
church, and these are the roles of the governing bodies in making that 
happen'?  We've not had a unified definition of what we mean churchwide by 
national mission." 
 
    One of the main issues expressed was trust. 
 
    "I think it's a complicated one," Barber said, "but I really do think 
part of it is we simply have not had opportunities to talk about issues but 
rather to resolve budget dilemmas.  We haven't had the table at which we 
could talk to each other across governing body lines to know that we were 
operating on the same page." 
 
    She said that because of this lack of common understanding, "suspicion 
that you are operating under a different set of assumptions than I am feeds 
our distrust.  And when it's in areas as important to us as the mission 
that we're trying to do in our area, and the funds that are available to 
make that happen, that gets really personal and really testy." 

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