wfn.org | Assembly modifies special offerings

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Note #6049 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

28-June-2000
GA00102

	Assembly modifies special offerings

	Approves Stewardship Committee recommendations

	by Nancy Rodman

LONG BEACH, June 28 - The 212th General Assembly Wednesday revised the
criteria and implementation of the special offerings of the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.).

	The Criteria for Participation in Special Offerings reflect current
practice, consolidate existing policies, and clarify what can and cannot
constitute a special offering.  Under the newly approved criteria,
churchwide special offerings will:

	* provide valuable mission interpretation opportunities
	* enable the church to meet traditional and ongoing needs in relationship
to the total mission priorities of the church, always proclaiming the name
of Jesus
	* demonstrate in their causes potential for churchwide donor support
	* define the needs to be met with provisions for allocation,
implementation, and accountability
	* have a focused mission purpose when causes within an offering are grouped
together
	* be promoted from within a central promotion office
	* pay promotion and receiving costs from receipts and then be considered
restricted funds
	* have start-up costs advanced and amortized from existing General Assembly
Council funds
	* relate promotional materials to the liturgical season
	* require an 18 month time period for any change in the pattern of
distribution
	* be limited to four in any given calendar year
	* be reviewed and evaluated on a six-year cycle
	* have any accumulated reserves reviewed by each General Assembly
	* have uses of its funds reported annually by the agencies using them
	* not be used to supplement funding for programs included in ongoing
mission support
	* not be used to create funding for a cause when a similar program already
exists
	
Implementation
	
	The Christmas Joy Offering will be interpreted and received during Advent
in gratitude for God's gift of Jesus Christ.  It will be divided equally
between assistance programs for professional church workers and spouses
through the Board of Pensions and racial ethnic education through the
National Ministries Division.  In 1999, Presbyterians across the
denomination gave $5,367,848 to the Christmas Joy Offering.

	One Great Hour of Sharing, now more than 50 years old, will be interpreted
during Lent and on Easter Sunday in response to Christ's call to feed the
hungry, house the homeless, minister to the suffering, and empower the poor
and oppressed.  It supports Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (36 percent),
the Presbyterian Hunger Program (32 percent), and Self-Development of People
(32 percent) and is administered by the Worldwide Ministries Division. 
Giving to One Great Hour of Sharing has increased over the last four years
from $8,741,152 in 1996 to $10,451,470 in 1999.

	The Pentecost Offering, interpreted and received in relation to Pentecost
Sunday in celebration of ministry with youth and young adults and in
recognition of the church's call to respond to the needs of children at
risk, is most changed by the revisions approved today.  Fifty per cent of
receipts will be used for General Assembly youth and young adult ministries
administered by the Congregational Ministries, National Ministries, and
Worldwide Ministries Divisions.  The programs funded include volunteers in
shared ministries.  Children at risk programs administered both locally and
by the General Assembly receive the other 50 percent with the greater
portion allocated to local ministries.  In the two years for which figures
are available, receipts have grown from $464,650 in 1998 to $530,347 in
1999.

	The Peacemaking Offering, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, will
be interpreted and received in relation to World Communion Sunday each
October.  It recognizes the call to bring the peace of Christ to all
creation.  It supports holistic peacemaking programs inclusive of
peacemaking in individuals, families, congregations, the international
arena, and the environment with sensitivity to the restoration of God's
creation .  Offering receipts are divided among congregations, which keep 25
percent of the offering, synods (25 percent), and the General Assembly's
Congregational Ministries Division (50 percent).  The Peacemaking Offering
received $1,007,024 in 1999, up from $839,500 four years ago.

	The new policy directs the General Assembly Council to continue to broaden
the donor base for the offerings by using technology and nontraditional
giving and by conversations with middle governing bodies and congregations
as to how best to develop direct marketing and mailing protocols.

	It requires the Stewardship Program Area to report annually to the General
Assembly Council on adherence to the criteria by recipients of special
offering funds.

	Many churches have been accustomed to giving to the Witness Offering with
its education emphasis.  While the General Assembly thinks that four is the
maximum number for churchwide special offerings in any one year, it directed
the General Assembly Council to assign to the appropriate denominational
entities the responsibility for identifying and promoting educational
materials for congregations that want to participate in a Witness Season
Mission Education Emphasis.

	These revisions to the policy for special offerings resulted from the work
of a Special Offerings Task Group moderated by the Rev. Mary I.
Robinson-Mohr.

Other Actions

	In other business recommended by the Assembly Committee on Stewardship and
Mission Support, the General Assembly confirmed new members of the Boards of
Directors of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Investment and Loan Program,
Inc. (PILP) and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Foundation, and directed
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Foundation to continue its wills emphasis
and planned giving programs and use of the services of New Covenant Trust
Company, N.A.

	The Assembly commended R. James Henderson, out-going interim president of
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Foundation, for his faithful and dedicated
leadership.  The Assembly confirmed the election of Robert E. Leech to a
four-year term as Foundation president.  In his brief remarks to the
Assembly, Leech said, "I am proud to be the leader of the Presbyterian
Foundation in its third century.  Thank you for this honor."  Elder Warren
Greene, moderator of the Assembly Committee on Stewardship and Mission
Support, added, "Fiduciary principles are very important and Mr. Leech's
appointment upholds a high standard."

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