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Note #8585 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

04546
December 15, 2004

Top Forty

Mission Initiative team examines innovative church growth models

by Jerry L. Van Marter

HOUSTON - Demonstrating remarkable adaptability as it seeks to raise $40
million for new churches and new missionaries in the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.), the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands (MIJHH) Steering
Committee has embraced an innovative proposal to foster church growth.

	The proposal - outlined for the committee at its recent meeting here
by the Rev. Chuck Denison, associate for new church development in the
Evangelism and Church Development (ECD) program area of the National
Ministries Division - envisions a far more collaborative relationship between
ECD and seminaries and presbyteries. The emphasis is on developing clergy and
lay leaders specifically for new church development (NCD) and congregational
"transformation" (redevelopment).

	It includes:

	Expanding the "Company of New Pastors," a vocational formation
program that integrates candidates and new pastors into the churchwide
"Company of Pastors" that engages participants in spiritual and practical
disciplines that will sustain them in ministry. Currently only half of the
church's seminaries participate in the program.

	Expanding the Transformational Leadership Intern Program, which
provides training and mentoring to seminary students who are committed to
redeveloping existing congregations. The program has been plagued by
insufficient funding during its 10 years.

	Providing matching grants for trained consultants to work with
presbyteries starting NCDs and providing coaches to train and mentor NCD
pastors.

	Providing scholarships for prospective NCD pastors to attend the
National New Church Development Conference and grants to presbyteries to help
assess potential NCD pastors and then train them.

	Expanding the 3,000-strong Churchwide Redevelopment Training Network
by offering advanced training to redevelopment pastors and lay leaders beyond
what is offered at the annual Churchwide Redevelopment Conference and
regional events.

	Developing new resources such as training videos, materials in five
languages, supplemental curricula for cultural specific ministries, and
workbooks and leader guides for congregational and presbytery staff and
committees.

	"What's at stake is the future of the denomination and this is an
opportunity to vision into that future," Denison told the committee. "For us
that means going local - that's where the resources are and where the
involvement is. People in California aren't going to give $1 million to start
a church in Illinois - those days are gone forever, and good riddance."

	MIJHH campaign co-chair Bill Saul of Long Beach, CA, heartily
concurred. "What we run into over and over again when we talk to prospective
donors and presbyteries," he said, "is that the protocols and models in
Louisville are so rigid that presbyteries are giving up on their partnership
with Louisville."

	Campaign director Jan Opdyke agreed. "When (prospective donors) ask
us about our track record with new church developments, we can't give them a
very good success rate - currently 50 percent fail," she said. "This proposal
represents some new ways of growing the church."

	The committee asked Denison to "sharpen" the proposal into specific
projects that can be funded by donors, reflecting a continuing trend in
American philanthropy toward designated giving.

	"This whole campaign so far has been a learning experience," said
General Assembly Council (GAC) Executive Director John Detterick. "We can't
do a campaign like this without giving up control to donors, to structure it
so they decide where they want to spend their money."

	The Rev. Tim Hart-Anderson of Minneapolis concurred. "Put this model
in terms of numbers," he said. "150 new churches, 600 new Company of New
Pastors participants, 250 new lay pastors commissioned for new church
development - we can sell this if we can tell people, 'This is what you're
getting for your money.'"

	"And we need to make sure that this is presented as integral to our
new church growth strategy," added the Rev. John Huffman of Newport Beach,
CA, "and not some add-on wish list to get more money for these things."

Presbyteries on board

	While the campaign was initially envisioned as a major-donor effort,
the MIJHH continues to attract considerable support from presbyteries.

	"We're still focused on major donors," Saul said. "But frankly, the
response from presbyteries has been overwhelming." Two presbyteries - Los
Ranchos and Santa Fe - have launched multi-million dollar campaigns. Two
others - Mid-Kentucky and Peace River - have approved MIJHH-related campaigns
and are currently conducting feasibility studies to determine the amounts
they intend to raise.

	The Peace River effort is most heartening, Saul said. "We'd been
talking, and then they wound up right in the path of the devastating
hurricanes last summer and we thought we'd have to put that campaign on
hold," he said. "But they called us and said they have to proceed and they're
convinced they can raise a huge amount of money."

	Other presbyteries with which the MIJHH has had conversations about
campaigns, Saul said, include Grand Canyon, Pittsburgh, New Covenant, San
Diego, San Fernando, San Gabriel, Tampa Bay, seven presbyteries in New
Jersey, Santa Barbara, New York City, Greater Atlanta and Middle Tennessee.
"Every one of those presbyteries came to us," Saul noted.

Budget pressures

	As with the PC(USA) mission budget, the propensity toward designated
giving is putting early pressure on MIJHH finances. As of Nov. 19 of this
year, more than $8.4 million in cash and pledges have been received > $4.4
million for church growth (new church development and the redevelopment of
existing congregations), $600,000 for mission personnel, and $3.4 million
unrestricted.

	However, only $392,000 in unrestricted cash has been received and by
the end of October campaign expenses totaled $1.7 million. While the GAC
mission budget has funded the campaign's expenses since the MIJHH was
launched in 2002, in 2005 the campaign must pick up half of its expenses
(roughly $900,000) and beginning in 2006 all expenses must be borne by the
campaign.

	"We could generate a lot of cash in the next five to eight years and
still not have enough money to pay our bills," Huffman said.

	Acknowledging that "the pressure is there and it's real," MIJHH
director Jan Opdyke said, "When we sit down with presbyteries, part of the
planning is negotiating a payout that ensures equitable cash flow." She
concurred with Saul's prediction that "by early summer (2005), we're going to
see major cash start flowing in."

Ten for ten: a case study

	The committee examined a new model for church growth launched
recently by Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church in Houston (which hosted its
meeting). The church's goal is to grow 10 percent per year for the next 10
years by planting satellite congregations around Houston.

	"About a year ago we assessed our ministry as we prepare to celebrate
our 50th anniversary," said the Rev. David Peterson, the church's pastor and
an MIJHH Steering Committee member. "We discovered that, despite being an
evangelical congregation, our weakest area was evangelism, so we made an
intentional decision to grow."

	Because the existing Memorial Drive campus is fully developed and no
more land is available, the church's session decided to "push out rather than
draw in," Peterson said.

	Robert Westheimer, a 30-year member of the church who lost his job
and retirement savings when the Arthur Andersen accounting firm collapsed as
part of the Enron scandal, now heads a "Barnabas Team" that is spearheading
Memorial Drive's effort.

	"This ministry actually began about two years ago out of a
Presbyterian Cursillo group at the church," Westheimer told the committee.
"We started out trying to help strengthen existing churches, but after four
or five months concluded that, while we were helping some, it was not going
to be enough.

	"So we decided to start at the beginning and plant new churches."

	The laity-led Barnabas Team includes 25 Memorial Drive members who
have made a two-year commitment. "We've been called and we're answering the
call," Westheimer said matter-of-factly.

	The group has completed a 26-week training regimen and is now writing
a set of 25 manuals on various aspects of church planting. "Not one of us was
an expert and all of our initial assumptions were wrong," Westheimer
concedes, "but we feel like the Spirit is moving us forward and we've gotten
so much confirmation that we're sure we're on the right track."

	The first church plant will be in an inner-city Houston neighborhood
amid public housing projects. No church building is being contemplated - the
congregation will use the common rooms of the housing project. A search
committee is currently seeking an organizing pastor, who will initially be an
associate pastor at Memorial Drive.

	The key to the Barnabas Team's success, Westheimer said, "is to keep
it spiritual. Eventually you'll need the nuts and bolts, but you have to lead
with the spirit."

	Westheimer said about a third of the Barnabas Team's time is spent in
prayer "and we've had meetings where all we did was pray." The first event
held at the initial site was a prayer service.

	"We recognize the significance of setting high goals for ourselves,"
Peterson said. "But we've discovered that we have completely reoriented our
life and ministry by setting concrete growth goals.  It's hard work but it's
creating huge enthusiasm."

	Denison called Memorial Drive's Barnabas Team ministry "a very
interesting and promising model that exemplifies the kind of local
partnership model that is clearly a hope for the future in the PC(USA)."

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