 $400,000 bailout gift to NCC endorsed by executive committee By John H. Adams The Layman Online Wednesday, February 16, 2000 LOUISVILLE – The executive committee of the General Assembly Council, after being told that the Presbyterian Church (USA) had a financial windfall at the end of 1999, decided on Feb. 15 to endorse a $400,000 contribution to help bail the National Council of Churches out of its $4-million 1999 deficit. Final action on the appropriation will be taken later this week by the full General Assembly Council, which serves as the governing body of the PCUSA between annual sessions of the General Assembly. In reaching its decision, the executive committee gave little attention to a two-inch binder that included the record of more than 700 telephone calls, letters and e-mails to Presbyterian headquarters in Louisville - including more than 40 resolutions from sessions. By a margin of more than 5-1 (601 against, 118 in favor), Presbyterians weighing in on the issue opposed the NCC bailout. Commitment affirmed Instead, the committee overwhelmingly affirmed its commitment to the NCC and endorsed the full $400,000 gift recommended by Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick and John Detterick, executive director of the General Assembly Council. Kirkpatrick had already obtained a commitment of $100,000 toward the NCC bailout from the Office of the General Assembly. Just two weeks ago, Detterick said that "in good conscience" he could not recommend that the General Assembly Council appropriate the $400,000. Because of losses incurred by "The Dawn … An Epiphany," then estimated at $1.7 million, Detterick said he would proposed a reduced amount for the NCC. But this week Detterick told the committee that "The Dawn," which he says was mismanaged by PCUSA staff, may lose as much as $2.1 million. However, he added, a year-end windfall provided plenty of money to pay off "The Dawn" debts and to help the NCC overcome its deficit. Detterick's financial report showed that without the windfall - and because of "The Dawn" losses – the 1999 PCUSA mission program would have gone in the hole by $600,000. But $2.4 million in shared mission giving from congregations and $5.4 million from bequests and annuities late in 1999 made the mission budget flush with money. Proposed allocations Detterick proposed setting aside $2.4 million while the use of some bequests for the mission program are being clarified. He called for a $2.4 million reserve for evangelism, an additional $500,000 for General Assembly evangelism projects and a $1 million "mustard seed" fund. The "mustard seed" fund would provide challenge grants for presbyteries to underwrite creative evangelistic programs. In recommending that part of the year-end surplus be used to fund three evangelism programs, Detterick pointed to a Presbyterian preference poll that was decidedly pro-evangelism. Twenty-eight percent of the respondents listed evangelism as their priority – nearly triple the response rates for justice and peace-making (10.25 percent) and compassion ministries (10.5 percent). 'Evangelism' funding Detterick told the Executive Committee that although he had heard many definitions of evangelism, he believes that when most Presbyterians use the term, they are referring to church growth and the building of new churches. This announcement does not come as good news for social justice activists at denominational headquarters who have tried to tap evangelism funds for their projects. In the past, "evangelism" funding has been a watering hole for a variety of programs, some of which have significantly stretched the meaning of the word. For instance, the evangelism budget bankrolled the controversial publication, Young Women Speak, which was produced by the National Network of Presbyterian College Women. That document, which commended lesbian and pre-marital sex and echoed goddess-worship themes from the ReImagining God movement, prompted the 1999 General Assembly to place the network on probation. The General Assembly banned reprinting Young Women Speak. Contingencies for NCC The executive committee attached four contingencies to its $400,000 gift to the NCC.
The Detterick plan also urges the National Council of Churches to "do everything possible to complete the negotiations and move forward toward the financial and administrative autonomy of the Church World Service and Witness within the National Council of Churches." Church World Service, which raises money in U.S. communities for local, national and global relief efforts, is the most popular and successful component in the National Council of Churches. The NCC executive committee has called for a $1.4-million assessment on Church World Service to be applied to the deficit bailout. The executive committee sends to the full General Assembly Council the Detterick plan plus a statement by Peter J. Pizor, a committee member. Pizor's statement criticized the NCC as an organization with its "finances out of control" and its internal management "in shambles." But he also recommended continued membership and funding for the NCC. Pizor's recommendations Pizor's recommendations included:
Related stories NCC advocates pull out their big guns February 9, 2000 Letters from our readers concerning the NCC bailout |
|
| Respond to this article | |
| News
From the PCUSA Home · News · PLC Publications · The Presbyterian Layman Online Reviews · Archives · History of the Lay Committee · Feedback · Links |
|