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07748 November 16, 2007
Peace River Presbytery votes to conclude its Joining Hearts & Hands campaign by year-end
Economic downturn, staff turnover, loss of $1 million pledge cited
by Emily Enders Odom Associate for Mission Communications
FT. MYERS, FL, November 15, 2007 - At the recommendation of Peace River Presbytery's Board of Trustees and the Presbytery Council, the presbytery voted unanimously Nov. 15 to conclude the Peace River Joining Hearts & Hands fundraising campaign effective Dec. 31, 2007.
The action also called for the formation of a subcommittee to frame the end of the presbytery campaign, the continuation of a presbytery-wide conversation about how best to support the mission projects to which the presbytery committed itself, and sending a letter of thanks to the national MIJHH steering committee.
During 2008 the presbytery will reopen the conversation about funding for its key mission projects.
"We attempted this ambitious campaign because of the urgent need for capital to expand facilities at Cedarkirk, build a permanent presence of the Beth-El Farmworker Ministry in Immokalee, build new churches throughout the Presbytery and send mission workers around the world," said Graham Hart, general presbyter of Peace River. "Those needs are still very real. We are still a presbytery committed to mission."
When Peace River Presbytery unanimously endorsed an ambitious, multi-million dollar fundraising campaign in partnership with the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands (MIJHH) in June 2005, presbytery leaders were compelled by the need to raise a total of $7.8 million, $6.3 million of which was pledged to the national campaign.
The presbytery's case for support included projects of critical importance to Peace River in the area of new church development, mission to farm workers, and support of new international mission personnel, cornerstones of the national MIJHH campaign.
MIJHH is a five-year campaign of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to raise $40 million for new overseas missionaries and church growth in this country, particularly racial ethnic and immigrant congregations.
By June 2007, Peace River's halfway point for the campaign, however, it became clear that the fundraising strategies and staffing were not producing the desired results.
"We launched the campaign with an abundance of energy, optimism, and a real passion for the individual projects in need of funding," Hart said. "We did not anticipate the challenges that would compromise our ability to meet the campaign's goal, but we are committed to learning from them."
Hart cited the downturn in the economy, the withdrawal of a key $1 million congregational pledge, and the departures of both presbytery-level and national campaign staff as the primary reasons for the campaign's slow progress to date.
"In the light of our collective experience," Hart added, "my question now is simply, 'How do we learn from this?'"
Karen Schmidt, deputy executive director for communications and funds development (CFD), hopes that the learnings of Peace River will inform the broader work of CFD, the office that supports the General Assembly Council's mission and ministry programs.
"As a denomination, we are moving forward in positive ways to resource our congregations and middle governing bodies as they work to raise more funds for mission," Schmidt said. "Our ongoing dialogue with Peace River in the light of their own experience will inform and shape new and effective fundraising models for the whole church."
Because the presbytery voted today to revise its $6.3 million pledge to $300,000 for the national campaign, the total amount of gifts and pledges to date will be adjusted from $27.6 million to approximately $21.6 million. The presbytery has already raised $270K in gifts and pledges toward its revised goal.
"I am sorry for both MIJHH and Peace River that the campaign did not work at this time," Hart said, "but we have all learned some important lessons that can only help us in the future."
Later in 2008, when members of the presbytery revisit the possibilities for meeting urgent mission needs, the General Assembly Council will stand firmly behind them.
"We are ready to renew our partnership with Peace River Presbytery," said Linda Valentine, executive director of the General Assembly Council, "to benefit from our mutual learnings and to work together in new ways to successfully raise the mission funds that will transform the presbytery and thereby the whole church."
MIJHH steering committee co-chairs, the Rev. Joanna M. Adams and the Rev. Dave Peterson celebrated both the presbytery's learnings and its accomplishments. "Truly God's Spirit is on the move in Peace River, in what has been learned and achieved thus far, and in what will be in the future," they said in a joint statement. "We remain satisfied that we will all continue to learn and evolve as we become ever more familiar with how the 21st century Presbyterian church functions in the world."
Hart concurred with their assessment. "The needs are there, the cause is real," he said. "We are still committed."
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