General Assembly Council: The Big Picture

The General Assembly Council (GAC) of the Presbyterian Church, USA, met last week and significant changes have been made to the way the GAC will operate in the future. Announcements about those changes have been made today. I think it is important for those who are trying to place the changes in context to keep in mind entire Mission Work Plan adopted by the GAC in February. I have included that entire plan here. At the end of this post I offer some observations about what we have just done and what comes next.

Mission Work Plan Contents

• Purpose Statement
• Vision Statement
• Mission Statement
• Mission Context
• Core Commitments
• Goal Areas and Objectives

PURPOSE STATEMENT

The General Assembly Council, led and empowered by the Triune God, provides visionary leadership in the development and implementation of the General Assembly's mission directives, supports governing bodies in our common mission, and acts on behalf of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on policy matters when the General Assembly is not in session. (adapted from the Book of Order)

VISION STATEMENT

We envision our congregations, presbyteries, synods, General Assembly and ecumenical partners, singly and together, being so inspired and nurtured by the gospel of Jesus Christ that ministries are vibrant and inviting. We pray that all will be drawn irresistibly into ministries reflecting the love and justice of Jesus, with immediate neighborhoods and the whole of the world as arenas in which the gospel is to be proclaimed and lived. (adapted from the Organization for Mission)

MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of the General Assembly Council, with congregations and governing bodies, is to offer the world a visible witness of Jesus Christ through (1) the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind; (2) the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God; (3) the maintenance of divine worship; (4) the preservation of the truth; (5) the promotion of social righteousness; and (6) the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world. (adapted from the Book of Order)

MISSION CONTEXT

The Presbyterian Church U.S.A., like all other denominations, is in a time of tremendous change and soul searching. There is a well worn phrase among historians that “The past is prologue.” What factors in the recent past serve as prologue for our life together in the 21st Century? What has changed over the last half century and what will it mean for the future of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.? What follows describe some key dynamics in what it means to be a denomination in the United States today, dynamics that are part of the context in which we develop a mission work plan for 2007-2008.

• Christian Consensus to Disestablishment – Fifty years ago Christianity was the dominant religious force in the culture. Non-Christians of whatever ilk, and even some Christians with what were considered “fringe” beliefs, were given scant attention or voice. Institutions from schools, to government, to service organizations, to media, could all be counted on to be supportive of many of the same values embraced by Presbyterians. Now, more attention and credence, warranted or not, is given to a multitude of beliefs, and institutions have become less inclined, unable or unwilling to deal with the multiplicity so they do nothing or even appear hostile to the point where the language of religion and faith is not the lingua franca it was in the past.
• Institutional Loyalty to Choice – Fifty years ago there was high commitment to institutions in everything from the civic organizations we joined to the kind of ketchup we bought. It was not uncommon for people to spend their whole lives working for one employer. Now we have become a consumer driven society. Consumers have more access to information about decisions. They switch brands with ease depending on how they perceive the benefits. This mindset is pervasive in our culture as people go “church shopping.” Denominational labels usually mean little.
• Cultural Homogeneity to Cultural Pluralism – Fifty years ago the nation was clearly dominated by Anglo-American culture and ethnic or minority voices were largely muted. Since then, the number of the ethnic groups and size of the overall ethnic minority population has grown. This has meant a growth in the diversity of expressions within Christianity as well as growth in non-Christian traditions.
• Information Gate keeping to Information Overload – Fifty years ago, information came through a narrow filter and access was limited to a handful of sources. Because of denominational loyalty and limited access to competing information, denominations could expect some “brand loyalty” from their congregations. Now with internet, cellular technology, and host of other advancements, information bombards us, and we are skeptical of all of it. Denominational goods and services compete in an open market against those provided by other denominations or para-church organizations. Increased information has created awareness of the many causes to which funds can be contributed and givers are more discriminating, preferring to give directly to particular initiatives instead of umbrella ministry operations.

The dynamics of these changes has several implications for the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. Among the challenges the denomination will face are to:

• Define what Presbyterians (individually and corporately) have to offer that the world can’t live without? The word “Presbyterian” means little to our culture. Denominational loyalty is all but gone. We will only draw people if we connect with them in some way that is meaningful to them.
• Discern how to retain a culturally unified inclusive approach to ministry in a fragmented culture. The culture is so fragmented that no one institution is recognized as having legitimate authority to speak to the entire culture. This is even truer for denominations as organized religion has become more marginalized. This has implications for how we view social action and how we speak to the culture.
• Expand our vision and mission in greater partnership with the global church. The world is getting smaller and more interconnected. Our actions no longer have impact on our culture alone, and vice versa.
• Learn how we can better share our faith in the 21st Century. Sharing our faith takes on new forms as we move into an increasingly post-Christian era with cultural fragmentation. The Great Commission is always culturally contextual and we need to better understand our changing context.
• Find ways to retain members and re-engage inactive members. One report indicates that nearly two out of three former Presbyterians are not attending church elsewhere or have not joined churches elsewhere. We need focus on how to better retain those within our communities.
• Continue the expansion of ministry with people outside of the traditional Euro-American heritage. Populations show the United States becoming more culturally diverse over the next few years. The denomination has nearly achieved a goal 10% racial-ethnic membership in 2005. This is still below the diversity in the larger culture.
• Discover how we can create healthy congregations and strengthen existing ones. To whatever degree that people ever connected with denominations, they no longer do. They connect with congregations. Congregations are the first and foremost focus of ministry.
• Learn how we can promote the development of more new congregations. Denominations that are growing are active in church planting are growing. New congregations are highly energetic at reaching people and have the residual effect of inspiring other congregations into out reach. New congregations are also an effective means of reaching minority cultures.
• Investigate what is working for other denominations. Many denominations are trying a variety of innovative strategies of organizing and doing ministry. We need to learn from what others are doing that might have application within our context.

CORE COMMITMENTS

• Work in partnership with validated missions ecumenically and internationally.
• Link closely to the governing bodies of the church.
• Exercise good stewardship of the time, talent and resources generously entrusted to us.
• Witness prophetically to the church, nation and the world.
• Celebrate our oneness in Christ in all of its diversity.
• Nurture and empower servant leadership throughout the church.
• Live in an ever-changing environment in contextually-sensitive ways.
• Give faithful witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ.

GOAL AREAS AND OBJECTIVES

Justice and Compassion

POVERTY - Enable partnerships with governing bodies and others to actively address the causes and effects of poverty locally, nationally and globally.

PEACE - Encourage and support presbyteries and congregations to be active in seeking non-violent solutions to conflict in their own communities and in the communities of the world.

Evangelism and Witness

EVANGELISM - Equip Presbyterians, governing bodies and others to witness locally and globally to the Gospel of Jesus Christ with an emphasis on those with no active church affiliation.

MULTICULTURAL - Support presbyteries’ efforts to develop congregations and fellowships that will enable them to reflect the multicultural makeup of our society.

Spirituality and Discipleship

REFORMED IDENTITY - Encourage and support presbyteries and congregations to further develop their members' ability to appreciate and understand their Reformed identity, experience and practice disciplines of Reformed spirituality and apply them in today's world.

FAMILIES - Enable presbyteries and congregations to ground families, in all their manifestations, in Christian discipleship that helps them confront and resist the idolatries of society today.

Leadership and Vocation

VOCATION - Equip presbyteries and congregations to help members discern that their vocation is a call from God to Christian witness in society and the church.

SMALL CHURCHES - Facilitate the exchange and development of alternative models for pastoral and mission leadership in small churches.

Where we are today and where we are headed.

The Mission Work Plan was approved by the GAC in February of this year. Over the last two months the GAC staff has been conducting a very detailed analysis of all the work that is done at the GAC level. Work was categorized as one of three kinds when measured against the objectives in the Mission Work Plan: essential, helpful, and not to be done at the GAC level. Based on income projections it was determined that more than nine million dollars needed to be cut from the budget. Our desire was to have measurable outcomes, a 2007-2008 budget, and a new staffing configuration by the end of last week.

Our goal was a little too ambitious. We were not able to develop and finalize a list of outcomes for each objective. However, the staff did  a Herculean job of breaking down all the work that is done by objective and eliminating that which does not contribute to the objectives. This allowed us to allocate dollar amounts for the eight overarching objectives. Between now and our meeting in September our work will focus on developing the outcomes and fine tuning the work to directly focus on those outcomes.

Last week, we cut nine million dollars from the budget. However, there is simply no way to compare the present budget with the new budget we just adopted. We are no longer funding programs. We are funding objectives. Some programs fit narrowly within one objective while most are spread across multiple objectives and impact the financials for each objective accordingly.

We also eliminated a net 77 of 505 staff positions and reconfigured the staff leadership into a much flatter management structure. There will be an executive director with two deputies: Deputy Director for Witness and Deputy Director for Mission Support. There will be a layer of approximately eight Associate Directors for Witness and about three for Mission Support. Each of the four Goals will have its own "table" that oversees the work for that goal area. The details are still being developed and there will be more later.

We also voted to reduce the size of the Council to thirty-nine voting members. The positions of Council members rotating out of service will not be filled this year. That will bring our number from about 72 voting members to 52. In addition to dealing with staff changes, the GAC will be radically reconfiguring its own work. Divisions will be eliminated and each Council member will now review the entire work of the entire GAC staff instead dividing into "silos" where each member truly had a  grip on only one portion of GAC operations.

Looking forward we will be getting a better grip on developing outcomes  and developing baselines for those outcomes. Also critical to this process is going to be a priority setting component that provides a means for us to consistently prioritize the work we do. This is likely to be consume much our time over the next two years as we bring this all together.

Today is a very difficult day in that so many hard working staff people are losing their positions. We need to be in prayer for them and their families as they face the days ahead. Yet in the midst of the turmoil we must not lose sight of the opportunities the future holds. These are days of radical transformation at the GAC and I hope you will keep all involved in your prayers.

(For the Presbyterian News Service story Click Here.)