wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Special offerings referred for further study

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #7794 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Special offerings referred for further study
GA03105

Special offerings referred for further study

$40 million Mission Initiative campaign is off to $6 million start

by Jerry L. Van Marter

DENVER, May 29 - The 215th General Assembly on Thursday referred for further
study proposals for two special offerings to support overseas mission
personnel.

Commissioners voted to pass along the proposals, made in overtures from
Coastal Carolina and San Gabriel presbyteries, to a task force that regularly
reviews church-wide special offerings of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

	The task force had been scheduled to report on its next review to the
2006 Assembly. The current Assembly has asked it to accelerate the process
and report to next year's Assembly in Richmond, VA.

	Coastal Carolina Presbytery suggested a renewal of the Witness
Offering for mission personnel, leader training and ecumenical cooperation.
San Gabriel Presbytery proposed a new offering solely for the support of
full-time mission personnel.

	Although the Assembly Committee on Mission Coordination and Budgets
recommended the referrals, Chairman Robert Forsythe, of Eastminster
Presbytery, assured his fellow commissioners that, although "we need the task
force to look at these, we want to express our strong support for them."

	In a related report, Bill Saul, an elder from Long Beach, CA, and a
co-chair of the steering committee for the "Mission Initiative: Joining
Hearts and Hands," reported that $6 million has been raised toward the
campaign goal of $40 million over five years.

	The original thinking about the campaign, approved and launched by
last year's Assembly, was that it would seek contributions of "major" donors
able to contribute $100,000 or more. But "before we thought it would happen,"
Saul said, "presbyteries wanted to partner with us."

	He said eight presbyteries have enlisted in "pilot projects" to
combine fund-raising for their own needs with support for the Mission
Initiative, and one - Los Ranchos - has approved a $4.5 million campaign, the
first $1 million to go without restrictions to "Hearts and Hands."

	Saul expressed thanks to "the family of Elizabeth Green in Dallas,
and the Ford family in Huntington Beach, California, for their generous
support." He didn't mention the size of those gifts. Elder Chuck Ford, of
Huntington Beach, is a member of the MI steering committee.

	On other items from the Mission Coordination and Budgets committee,
the Assembly:

	* Reaffirmed its support of older-adult ministry, including
"sufficient" budget and staff,	and authorized a task-force review of
older-adult programs in the PC(USA) in the past decade;

	* Encouraged presbyteries to equip pastors and sessions for ministry
with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered members and their families, and
asked the Congregational Ministries Division to collect and distribute
resources to assist with these ministries;

	* Urged the General Assembly Council to commit additional money to
the spiritual-formation activities of the Congregational Ministries Division;
and,

	* Affirmed the "Enough for Everyone" program, a campaign to promote
responsible consumption by Presbyterians in the global economy, a
collaborative effort of the Presbyterian Hunger Program, the Presbyterian
Peacemaking Program, Presbyterian Women and the Social Justice and Women's
Ministries program areas of the National Ministries Division.

*** For instructions on using this system (including how to UNJOIN this
meeting), send e-mail to mailrequests@ecunet.org
------------------------------------------
Send your response to this article to pcusa.news@pcusa.org

------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send an 'unsubscribe' request to

pcusanews-request@halak.pcusa.org