wfn.org | Future of Family And Single Adult Ministries Is Focus

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13-December-1996 
 
96495      Future of Family And Single Adult Ministries 
                 Is Focus of January Consultation 
                                  
                         by Julian Shipp 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--The future of the Presbyterian Church's family and single 
adult ministry programs will be the focus of a meeting of the 
Congregational Ministries Division (CMD), here Jan. 10. 
 
     During a Nov. 13-16 meeting commended for its Christian spirit despite 
its difficult agenda, CMD prioritized its mission programs and balanced its 
1998 budget by trimming $465,000 from its portion of unified or 
unrestricted funding. That figure represents the division's relative 
percentage of the overall decline in unrestricted giving, according to CMD 
officials. 
 
     Although CMD balanced its budget without eliminating any of its 29 
mission programs or staff, the division's prioritization process left 
family and single adult ministries ranked near the bottom of the list. 
 
     CMD leaders insist mission prioritization is not an indication of 
significance, but rather a framework for the allocation of unified funding. 
But officials with Presbyterian Mariners, an independent, 
congregation-based family ministry program, have a different perspective. 
 
     Of the 23  groups that maintain working relationships with CMD, none 
felt the pressure more during November's meeting than the Mariners.  They 
had already taken a direct programmatic hit in July when the 208th General 
Assembly (1996) authorized the elimination of CMD's family and single adult 
ministries staff position.  This action in effect severed a financial 
agreement between the Mariners and CMD, under which the Mariners paid a 
portion of the salary of the Rev. C. Raymond Trout. 
 
     The change, according to the Mariners, has disrupted much of their 
networking and resource distribution capabilities. It is effective Jan. 1, 
1997. 
 
     The Rev. Eunice Poethig, CMD director who proposed the budget cut, 
said the decision to eliminate the program was not made hastily or easily. 
"We looked carefully," Poethig said. "We worked up until the General 
Assembly Council meeting in February, hoping that we would be able to find 
an alternate way to make the cuts." 
 
     The Assembly also called for continuing support for family and single 
adult ministries but did not authorize funding.  Since then a revised 
covenant agreement between CMD and the Mariners has been approved and 
ongoing dialogue between the division and its related groups has culminated 
in the formation of a Family and Single Adult Ministries Team  
 
     The Rev. Marvin Simmers, the CMD's associate director for leadership 
development, is coordinator of the Family and Single Adult Ministries Team. 
 
     In addition to Simmers, team members include Miriam Dunson, associate 
for Older Adult Leader Development; Larry and Carolyn Gabbard, national 
executive secretaries of Presbyterian Mariners; Ralph and Bettye Irwin, 
national skippers of Presbyterian Mariners; the Rev. Curtis A. Miller, 
associate for Men's Ministry; Martha Pillow, associate for Young Children 
Curriculum Development; the Rev.  Peter A. Sulyok, Advisory Committee on 
Social Witness Policy coordinator; Beth Basham, associate for Youth 
Curriculum; the Rev. Anne M. Jones, associate for Lincoln Trails, 
Mid-America and Alaska-Northwest synods; and Debby Vial, associate for 
Peacemaking Partnerships. 
 
     The scope of the Family and Single Adult Ministries Team is extensive. 
Sulyok said "the changing family" was identified as one of ACWSP's emerging 
issues during its October meeting in San Francisco. 
 
     According to a recent Census Bureau  report, significant changes in 
America's households have occurred in the past 23 years. The proportion of 
traditional, two-parent families with children is smaller than ever. Also, 
childless couples, single-parent families and people living alone have 
become increasingly common, the report said. 
 
     Simmers told the Presbyterian News Service that during their meeting 
the Family and Single Adult Ministries Team will hear concerns and develop 
a program that will support family ministry within the division's budget 
and staff constraints.  
 
     "We hope to at least be able to make people aware of and address 
family ministry concerns," Simmers said. "But we no longer have [Family and 
Single Adult Ministry] staff  and very little money with which to carry out 
our work." 
 
                        The Mariners Angle 
 
     Presbyterian Mariners is a network of congregation-based groups 
(called "Ships") whose mission is support of marriage and family life 
through spiritual growth, mutual support and fellowship, relationship 
enrichment and service to others in the community, nation, and world. 
Founded in a California seacoast town in 1927, the organization has 
sustained nearly 70 years of service as a family ministry of the 
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). 
 
      Carolyn Gabbard, national executive secretary of Presbyterian 
Mariners, of Arvada, Colo., said she believes participants at January's 
meeting must search for ways to integrate the best components of 
Presbyterian Mariners and the CMD's family ministry programs if Mariners is 
to continue to be an effective mission. 
      
     "The bottom line is, as long as we have an area in CMD that continues 
to exist, we're okay," Mrs. Gabbard said. "If that area is eliminated for 
any reason, I don't know what would happen or who we'd hook into. We may be 
entering rough seas yet." 
 
      
     Simmers disagreed.  He said the Mariners would continue to exist, 
since they are a separate organization from CMD. They existed as a separate 
organization, he said, before they entered into a partnership with CMD to 
support and be more integrated into the division's work. 
 
     "If it were determined that family and single adult ministry was no 
longer a mission priority, then of course, we'd have to work in some other 
way," Simmers said. "But in the case of family ministry, the Mariner group 
would continue. I'm confident of that. They would still be tied into the 
denomination. It would just be less formal and a less supportive tie." 
 
     Moreover, Simmers said, family and single adult ministry was mandated 
by the Assembly to continue. Although it drew a low ranking in terms of 
"essential prioritization," Simmers said, he believes there is an 
opportunity for strengthening this mission through the work of the Family 
and Single Adult Ministry Team. 
 
     Mrs. Gabbard said she is also concerned about the CMD's budget 
recommendation calling for "a comprehensive plan toward self-support" for 
ministry to men, the family ministry team and older adult ministry.  While 
the Mariners are already a self-supporting organization, the CMD programs 
rely on unified giving, which continues to decline at an alarming rate.  
 
     The Mariners are "far from awash in dollars," Mrs. Gabbard said.  The 
organization relies on "member shares" of $10 per individual annually to 
fund its operating budget and has only three paid positions. The remainder 
of the Mariners' work is carried out by volunteers. 
 
     The Mariners have also instituted "creative funding" programs, 
according to Mrs. Gabbard. For instance, she said, the Mariners held a 
silent auction this year during their annual family conference. It 
generated dollars that could be designated to various portions of their 
budget which have been cut from funding.  
 
     "I just don't feel like [the Mariners and CMD] are as coordinated in 
these efforts as we can be," Mrs. Gabbard said.  All of us could be 
interacting and working together to get the job done out there in the field 
for our congregations." 
 
     "I guess there's always room for improvement," Simmers said. "But this 
is the first time we're going to have all these people together looking at 
family ministry, so this will give us an opportunity to look at a new way 
of coordinating. Presently, I only have one person per each area. But we do 
spend a lot of time together talking to one another, being aware of what 
one another is doing and cooperating." 
 
     Simmers described the upcoming meeting as "a big task before us." 
 
     "Part of the problem is that we can only conduct this meeting for one 
day because we don't have staff who have the travel budget to [leave the 
city] and we don't have money to extend any of our programs," Simmers said. 
"We're just going to try to make do the best we can with what we've got."  

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