Key evangelism position unfilled for two years By John H. Adams The Presbyterian Layman Volume 34, Number 2 Posted March 26, 2001 LOUISVILLE, Ky.– Rosalie Potter, associate director for evangelism and new church development in the Presbyterian Church (USA), says the number of new congregations developed in recent years – about 33 annually – has been “appalling … embarrassing.” In an appearance before a subcommittee of the National Ministries Division on Feb. 22, Potter introduced a $64-million, 12-year church development plan that seeks to add more than 1,000 congregations by 2012. The problem, she said, is that the denomination has tried for two years to find someone to lead the new church development program. And with other staff vacancies in the Office of Evangelism and New Church Development, she said she’s “trying to do the work of eight people.” Potter’s complaint led to a robust discussion about whether the Louisville headquarters of the PCUSA is as committed to evangelism as the 1999 General Assembly was when it declared evangelism is the denomination’s top priority. After Potter made her presentation, her boss, Curtis Kearns, director of the National Ministries Division, entered the room and stood with folded arms while members of the subcommittee debated a motion he opposed. The motion would have required the staff to upgrade the vacant position from an “associate” of new church development to a “coordinator” level – about $10,000 difference in annual pay. Potter had told the committee that the reason the PCUSA had failed to fill the position was that no one wanted it at the “associate” pay level. The coordinator job would pay about $70,000, including housing. But Kearns objected strongly to the motion – saying it was “micromanagement at the extreme.” He said hiring a person as a coordinator of new church development would elevate that person above all other associates in the Office of Evangelism and New Church Development. He said determining the relative “weight” of jobs with the denomination was not a function of elected leadership. Eventually, the motion calling for the employment of a coordinator was withdrawn and the subcommittee approved a substitute that called for another evaluation of the position and urged the staff to make recruiting an associate the “highest priority.” Kearns said he could live with that language since the subcommittee no longer was attempting to rewrite a job classification. Before Kearns joined the meeting, Potter built a case for developing 1,067 new congregations by 2002. She broke down that number into 269 racial-ethnic congregations, 228 white congregations and 70 others – plus 500 congregations that would serve Generation Xers. She said the strategy called for Generation X groups to affiliate with existing congregations and develop their own ministry. Generation X young people – many of whom run their own companies, “so they should be able to run the church” – are not likely to accept the oversight of elderly session members, Potter said. She said a number of steps could be taken to grant the Generation X members autonomy, including the formation of independent commissions and eventually chartering the Generation Xers as a congregation. The goal of 500 Generation X congregations by 2002 is iffy, Potter acknowledged, and probably will not be met. To accomplish the 12-year goal, she said, the denomination will have to spend $64 million.

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