wfn.org | Assembly Committee on Mission Program and Coordination

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

21-Jun-1997 
GA97130 
 
                 MISSION PROGRAM AND COORDINATION 
 
         "Year of the Child" Adopted by General Assembly 
 
Syracuse--On Friday morning, June 20, 1997, the Assembly Committee on 
Mission Program and Coordination presented its report on the floor of 
the 209th General Assembly.  Part of the committee's report involved  
Overture 97-59.  This overture, coming from the Presbytery of Greater 
Atlanta, designates a "Year of the Child," and would establish 
programs responding to the special needs and gifts of children.  The 
committee recommendation was amended to start the "Year of the Child" 
to begin after the General Assembly goes through a two-year emphasis 
on The Great Ends of the Church.   
     Douglas Oldenberg, president of Columbia Theological Seminary, 
an advocate for the overture, informed the Assembly that funding for 
the emphasis, if not forthcoming from the mission budget of the 
church, would be sought through outside sources.  The Presbyterian 
Child Advocacy Network would aid the church both in fund solicitation 
and in the development of educational resources.   
     Two other overtures and one recommendation originating from the 
General Assembly Council (GAC) which went through the Program 
Coordination Committee were not approved by the General Assembly, in 
keeping with the committee's advice.  The first of these was Overture 
97-44, and would have provided a way for presbyteries to elect 
members to the GAC directly.   
     The second overture which was approved neither by the committee 
nor the General Assembly was 97-56, which called for a new Ministries 
Division to be established for Evangelism and Church Development.  
The failed recommendation called for celebrating a "Year of Healing 
and Christian Unity," but due to the General Assembly's set of 
emphases already adopted (Education, Great Ends, the Child), this 
emphasis was considered one too many by the committee.   
 
     Funding Found for Protestant Hour  "If the Way be Clear" 
 
     Responding to Commissioners' Resolution 97-22 and the 
recommendation of the Assembly Committee on Mission Program and 
Coordination,  the 209th General Assembly (1997) voted to restore the 
Presbyterian share of the Protestant Hour to the General Assembly 
Mission Budget.   
     The popular and long-running radio program was cut from the 1998 
and 1999 budgets due to decreases in unrestricted mission giving from 
congregations to the General Assembly. The program regularly reaches 
2.5 million people over 150 radio stations and costs $40,000 annually 
for the Presbyterian portion.  Equal shares are borne by partner 
churches in this endeavor: the United Methodist Church, the 
Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, and the Episcopal Church. 
     The Committee's recommendation includes the phrase, "we  
encourage General Assembly Council (GAC) to find the funds if the way 
be clear. If GAC cannot find the funding, we encourage them to work 
in partnership with those who offer to find private funding."  
     In other action late on Friday evening, the General Assembly 
approved the committee's recommendation concerning the report of the 
task force on partnership in the allocation of restricted funds.  
This action will allow a congregation, presbytery, or synod to apply 
for funds for mission that might be restricted to their geographical 
area or to some particular program interest. Other restrictions made 
by the original donor would also apply,  and only funds uncommitted 
by previous obligations would be available to new mission partners.  
The committee added a comment that "directs the General Assembly 
Council (GAC), though its appropriate committee, to recall the 
importance of these ministries [with racial ethnic constituencies] to 
the church as the GAC makes its allocation decisions." 
     In its report, the Program Committee voted unanimously to 
commend the General Assembly Council for "its accomplishments since 
the last General Assembly," including  the new publication 
Presbyterians Being Faithful to Jesus Christ, which is intended for 
distribution to every Presbyterian household.  The publication is 
available in both print and World Wide Web versions at 
http://www.pcusa.org.   The committee then introduced a computer 
display of that version to the commissioners, including a 
demonstration of its links to other pages on its web site.  Ending 
its report with such a dramatic and colorful finale, the Assembly 
Committee on Mission Program and Coordination was given an applause 
of thanks by the General Assembly for its work, as committee 
moderator Ann Petersen of Chicago and vice moderator Howard Jackson 
of Baltimore left the stage.   
 
         General Assembly Responds to "Andersen Report"  
 
     On Friday evening, June 20, 1997, the 209th General Assembly 
acted on the Andersen Report -- an organizational and management 
assessment of the way the national offices of the Presbyterian Church 
(U.S.A.) conduct their business.  More precisely, the Assembly acted 
on a response to the Andersen Report, as brought to it by the 
Assembly Committee on Mission Program Coordination.  
     In many ways the response agrees with the essence of the 
consultant's findings, though it does not follow in every respect. 
     Two groups will be formed by this action: a committee and a task 
force.  The committee will be called the Special Committee for Review 
of the General Assembly.  It will serve for two years, reporting 
progress to the 210th (1998) GA and making its final report in 1999.  
It will look into all aspects of the work of the General Assembly. 
Eighteen people will sit on the committee, 15 of them appointed 
through the normal General Assembly Nominating Committee process, and 
three by Elder Pat Brown, the moderator of the 209th General 
Assembly.  The original recommendation from the Mission Program 
Committee called for the moderator to appoint the chair and vice- 
chair of the special committee. However,  an amendment from the 
floor, which was passed by the Assembly, determined that the special 
committee would elect its own leadership.   
     A vision task force will also be formed, charged with the 
responsibility of proposing a brief (100-word) vision statement for 
the Presbyterian Center in Louisville.   
     Also in agreement with the Andersen Report is the Assembly's 
action which will discontinue the Corporate and Administrative 
Services (CAS) office, redefine the mission of that office, and re- 
name it.  The report asked the Assembly to endorse the name "National 
Office of Finance and Technology."  One Assembly commissioner, noting 
that the new acronym would be  NOFAT, amended the motion to change 
the name to "Technical And Financial Office," creating the acronym 
TAFO.  The amendment passed. 
     TAFO, as it will now be known, will be staffed at the top by a 
person who will be the chief financial officer of the Presbyterian 
Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation, and will serve under the supervision 
of the executive director of the general Assembly Council.  TAFO's 
task will be simplified greatly from that of the old CAS, 
concentrating on accounting and information services. 
     The Arthur Andersen Report, mandated by the 208th General 
Assembly (1996), cost the church around $142,000.  The whole of the 
Andersen Report was sent on to the special committee and the vision 
task force as information and advice to be considered by them.     
Dee Wade 

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