Note #9204 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:
06167 March 16, 2006
Expectation, reality parted ways in Joining Hearts & Hands campaign
'Paradigm shift' in denominational giving has 'changed the flows' of contributions
by Toya Richards Hill
LOUISVILLE - When the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands (MIJH&H) fund-raising campaign began in 2002, the idea was that money would come in to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s denominational office here, then be used to send missionaries abroad and build churches here at home.
It was a simple plan: a five-year effort to raise $40 million - $20 million for international mission personnel and $20 million for domestic church growth, particularly racial-ethnic church development.
"The money would all flow in through Louisville," then back out in a 50-50 split, said John Detterick, executive director of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Four years later, the reality is much different, reflecting several changes of circumstances, including a "paradigm shift" taking place in the denomination, according to Detterick and others.
"The world is changing in terms of funds development," Detterick said, and as a result, "the flows have been different."
At the end of 2005, almost $24 million had been donated in cash and pledges. Of that, almost $15.6 million was earmarked specifically for church growth - and $15.2 million of that must be allocated at the presbytery level.
Presbyteries want to have more involvement and make "mission decisions," Detterick said.
So far, only about $3.2 million has been pledged for mission personnel - $1 million of it endowed for seminary education in Kenya. But just $20,000 of that is to be administered by presbyteries.
What's left to go to the PC(USA) headquarters in Louisville as unrestricted and undesignated donations?
About $5.1 million.
Detterick, whose term as executive director ends later this year, said he didn't expect campaign donations to come in as they have. Frankly, he said, he and campaign leaders weren't knowledgeable enough in the beginning to foresee it.
But they understand it now.
In the end, the campaign "may not have a 50-50 ratio," but the denomination will have built a long-term infrastructure of giving supported by presbyteries, churches, pastors and everyone, Detterick said.
Once campaign officials realized that "major donors" weren't emerging to propel the funds-development drive, the focus shifted to presbyteries and congregations. Special attention has been given to matching presbyteries with specific international mission interests and mission needs in the PC(USA)'s Worldwide Ministries Division.
"This is learning new forms of partnership," Detterick said. "In a sense, this is part of the ongoing paradigm shift that the church is in, as we learn to do mission and ministry. We still all play roles, but the roles get modified."
An 'enabling vehicle' for presbyteries
Detterick said the denomination has "known for a long time that presbyteries want to see the church grow," as witnessed by the significant MIJH&H pledges to church growth. But what the campaign has done, he said, is provide a way to actually make growth happen.
"I think this response is a way of our own self-empowerment discovery," he said. "This (campaign) is a new enabling vehicle that's caught on very nicely."
The MIJH&H campaign director, the Rev. Jan Opdyke said the key is "a mutuality to the fund-raising" that combines the "visions and hopes and dreams" of presbyteries and congregations with the expertise of the campaign staff.
For example, Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church in Houston, which the campaign lifts up on its Web site, www.pcusa.org/joiningheartsandhands, has pledged $1 million to the mission initiative - $850,000 of it for new-church development.
Memorial Drive Church already has a ministry specifically intended to help new churches blossom. Part of its vision is to plant one church a year for the next 10 years.
The campaign also highlights, among others, Santa Barbara Presbytery, where $3.5 million has been pledged to the MIJH&H campaign, much of it for new-church development, including two new Hispanic churches.
Ironically, Santa Barbara is one of only a handful of presbyteries - others include Mid-Kentucky, Los Ranchos, Santa Fe and Peace River - that have pledged to the campaign and included racial-ethnic aspects in their development plans. Detterick and Opdyke believe that will change when more donors join the campaign and outline the needs in their communities.
Detterick said the national office is still determining how national staff will be affected, as presbyteries and congregations take on more responsibility for church growth and development.
"We're still working our way through all that," he said, noting that it could mean a smaller, more-dispersed staff.
Currently, new-church development falls under the evangelism and witness area of the PC(USA)'s National Ministries Division (NMD).
International-mission picture is murky
The future is unclear for international mission personnel dispatched through WMD, which has a backlog of people waiting to be deployed, but no funds to do so. The MIJH&H campaign was supposed to ease that situation, but so far it hasn't produced enough money.
"We don't have a deficit of people to serve," said the Rev. Marian McClure, WMD's director.
The missing piece, she said, "has truly been the money."
K.T. Ockels, coordinator of mission service and recruitment, said 10 people are in the pipeline for international mission service, but there's no money to deploy them.
"Right now we can't really appoint new people unless they come with funds," McClure said.
She said the smaller amount pledged for mission personnel compared to church growth doesn't reflect a lack of interest, but a lack of emphasis by the denomination and a failure to effectively promote international mission work over the years.
The absence of an annual special offering for international mission has left the church with no "annual moment" to support it, she said.
"A program like this needs a way to find renewal resources on an annual basis," McClure said. The MIJH&H campaign will address short-term needs, but "really the denomination hasn't confronted the larger picture of the funding needs for international mission personnel."
One Great Hour of Sharing, which helps support the Self-Development of People program, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and the Presbyterian Hunger Program, is perhaps the best-known annual-giving opportunity for PC(USA) congregations and members, but it doesn't support mission personnel.
McClure said promotion of international mission work - actually telling the stories of the missionaries - has not been as strong as it needs to be. That's the result of a system that discouraged financial appeals to middle governing bodies in the 1970s, followed by a spend-down of restricted funds that "hid the reality" of international missions' financial needs, she said.
"What we've got is the fruits of decades of silence," McClure said.
Now we have to cultivate a sense of excitement and "buy-in" regarding international missions, she said - by "telling compelling stories" and making the mission fields "live for people."
Lifting up those with a call
Opdyke said telling of such stories will be the future of the campaign as it moves toward its goal of raising $40 million by 2007.
"One of the most compelling stories that we have is a woman named Denise England," she said.
England is a geriatric nurse from Iowa who "has a real heart for serving in Egypt," Opdyke said.
There is a place for England to serve a geriatric population in Egypt, and "she has leased out her home in anticipation of going," Opdyke said. "She feels that God has called her to the mission field."
England is ready, except for the funding.
Opdyke said the campaign is specifically promoting England, and others like her, in the hope that a congregation will make a connection. The would-be missionary is even visiting congregations herself, so that people can match a human face to the appeal.
"The strategy is to be as specific as we can be," Opdyke said. "That's a whole new way of really presenting mission co-workers to the denomination."
By taking this approach, she added, "We've been able to deeply touch people's hearts - not just raise money."
Admittedly, Opdyke said, if campaign officials had known the church would respond as it has, "We would have gone to a much more specific approach early on. There's has been a learning curve. The good news is, we get it now."
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