wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Plan would boost number of commissioners

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Note #7471 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Plan would boost number of commissioners
02399
October 14, 2002

Plan would boost number of commissioners
 
Move to larger biennial GA would still save $815,000 a year, COGA says

by Jerry L. Van Marter

LOUISVILLE - The number of commissioners to the General Assembly will
increase by 47 percent starting in 2008 if a formula recommended last week by
the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA) is approved by
next year's 215th Assembly in Denver.
	The move from 554 to 816 commissioners is a key element in the
transition from annual to biennial Assemblies, starting in 2006. 
	The increase in the number of commissioners won't happen until the
2008 Assembly (in Sacramento, CA) because facilities in Birmingham, AL - the
site of the 2006 Assembly - "won't handle that many people," said the Rev.
Gradye Parsons, director of strategic operations in the Office of the General
Assembly (OGA). The 2006 Assembly is being held concurrently with meetings of
the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in
America.
	  Under the proposed formula, each presbytery would be entitled to
one minister and one elder commissioner for every 8,000 communicant members.
Presbyteries are now entitled to one minister and one elder for the first
15,000 members, and an additional minister and elder for every additional
10,000.
	  The formula addresses two concerns voiced by commissioners who last
summer approved the move to biennial assemblies. It would increase the number
of commissioners to give more Presbyterians an opportunity to serve, and
reduce the percentage of advisory delegates -Youth, Theological Student,
Missionary and Ecumenical - from 40 percent to 27 percent.
	 While membership in the Presbyterian Church (USA) has declined
sharply over the past 40 years, the number of advisory delegates has been
fixed at around 221. That had steadily raised the percentage of advisory
delegates, who may speak and vote in Assembly committees, but have no votes
in plenary sessions.
       Even with 816 commissioners, the move to biennial meetings is expected
to save about $815,000 per year, according to COGA. A total of about $2
million in per-capita funds is budgeted each year for GA.
	COGA voted to retain a seven-day Assembly schedule, although some had
speculated that every-other-year meetings would require more time. Parsons
said there will be more business at biennial meetings, but "probably not
twice as much." OGA officials said seven days will suffice.
Committee member Catherine Ulrich, the stated clerk of Arkansas Presbytery,
agreed, saying: "The time set will be the time used. They (commissioners)
will fill up whatever time we give them regardless, so let's keep it seven
days."

		  Other adjustments

	COGA also suggested increasing from three to four years the terms of
office for people who serve on GA-level entities and permitting their
re-election to one additional term, for a maximum of eight years.
	Those serving such entities would be divided into two classes, rather
than three.	  People now are elected to three-year terms, with a maximum
of eight years service (two full terms and part of an unexpired term). 
	COGA asked staff to look into the possibility of providing for
shorter terms for youth representatives.
	Under another COGA proposal, financial audits would be conducted
annually, as now, and an annual report from the General Assembly Council
(GAC) and related entities would be published every year, as it is now.
However, minutes would be reviewed biennially, and GA entities would issue
their narrative reports to the Assembly every other year.
	The role and schedule of the moderator under a changed schedule came
in for a lot of conversation.
"In my view, it doesn't work to take the current pattern and spread it across
two years," said Valerie Small, who manages the moderator's itinerary. "One
thing we know for sure - the moderator can't travel at the same pace for two
years."
	Small will be seeking the opinions of the current moderator, former
moderators and other church officials in the next few months. COGA will
discuss the moderator's role during its next meeting, in late-January.

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