wfn.org | Belt-tightening process accelerates at the Presbyterian Center

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #6941 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

07-November-2001
01422

Belt-tightening process accelerates at the Presbyterian Center 

Weak economy, conflict blamed for $2.5 million mission-budget cut 

by Jerry L. Van Marter
              
LOUISVILLE - From the moment he took office as executive director of the
General Assembly Council (GAC) in 1998, John Detterick has said that the
Presbyterian Church (USA)'s $140 million mission enterprise sooner or later
would have to be made leaner, more efficient and better prioritized.

Sooner has arrived. 

A weakened national economy and ongoing conflicts within the denomination
have combined to create a potential revenue shortfall that officials in
Louisville say could reach $2.5 million - and maybe more - in 2002.

In a Nov. 6 letter to the national staff and GAC members, Detterick outlined
plans to trim the 2002 General Assembly mission budget by that amount by the
end of this year. "While the magnitude of this shortfall won't be known for
some time," he wrote, "we must begin now to make contingency plans for the
General Assembly Council to act upon."

"Circumstances are pushing us to make decisions we wouldn't have made this
early otherwise," Detterick told the Presbyterian News Service in an
interview. "Belt-tightening was inevitable, but uncertainty in both the
economy and the church have moved up our timetable. I'm sure congregations,
presbyteries and synods are facing the same economic pressures, and I trust
we'll all be working together to make faithful decisions."

Senior staff members at the Presbyterian Center met on Nov. 5 and agreed on
a formula for making the cuts, which must come out of the unrestricted
portion of the mission budget. Detterick said he urged division heads to
"think strategically" about these decisions. "Simple across-the-board cuts
won't serve us well in the long run," he said.

Staff leaders will meet again on Dec. 3 to review specific proposed cuts.
The details of the plan will be submitted for GAC approval during its
January meeting. At that time, the church's senior leadership will also seek
the GAC's endorsement of plans for what Detterick called "a major
envisioning and strategic-planning process."

Detterick said the capital-expenditure budget will be trimmed and "a number
of new initiatives" will be scaled back or put on hold. Affected initiatives
may include a plan to beef up the Presbyterian Center's human resources
department; to develop a coordinated "data warehouse"; to undertake a
coordinated stewardship effort involving the GAC, the Presbyterian
Foundation and the Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program; and to provide
"seed money" for specific fund-raising projects.

A feasibility study is now under way on a proposed campaign to raise more
than $39 million for missionary support and new-church startups. The study
results are due in early December. "I don't know what the feasibility study
will recommend," Detterick said, "but I believe we need to test these kind
of mission initiatives as a new, more responsible way of funding mission."

A planned 3-percent salary increase for national staff members in 2002 may
also be scaled back, and Detterick advised in his letter that "some staff
positions will likely be affected."

He added: "I wish that I did not have to be the bearer of this news. I
especially regret the timing of this effort before the holidays. But these
are challenging times, and we must act responsibly and faithfully. I ask for
your help and God's guidance as we face these challenges."

"If we can go through this process responsibly and faithfully," Detterick
told the Presbyterian News Service, "it will make us more responsible and
faithful in our service to the whole church."
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