Downsizing comes to the PC(USA)
Cuts total $5.7 million, cost 66 jobs
[4-25-02]
by Jerry L. Van Marter, Presbyterian News Service
LOUISVILLE -- April 22, 2002 -- General Assembly
Council (GAC) staff leaders unveiled 2003 unrestricted budget reduction
proposals Monday totaling $4,244,771. An additional $1.4 million in
restricted funds was also trimmed from the budget.
The revised Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General
Assembly mission budget for next year -- $130,123,844 -- will go to the
GAC's Executive Committee this weekend for approval.
The new budget proposes the elimination of 66
full-time staff positions, or 12 per cent of the GAC's work force. In
addition, 34 Presbyterian missionary positions overseas will be left
vacant as incumbents in them retire or complete their terms of service
this year.
Forty-three staff members at the Presbyterian Center
were informed this morning that their positions have been recommended
for elimination. Two additional positions will be eliminated by the end
of the year and 21 currently vacant positions will be also be
eliminated.
Deputy GAC executive director Kathy Lueckert told the
Presbyterian News Service (PNS) that the staff cuts numbered 8 to 10
fewer than originally anticipated.
In a letter to executive committee members, GAC
executive director John Detterick called the budget-cutting process
"very long, difficult and painful." In an interview this
morning, he told PNS, "I realize this has been a long period of
anxiety for people……. Kathy's done a great job, particularly with
the people involved and I think we've done the very best in commitment
to the Holy Spirit and good stewardship."
Detterick and Lueckert have repeatedly expressed the
need for the GAC to do fewer things and do them well. When the
budget-cutting process began in earnest in February, they anticipated
sizable "strategic reductions."
Their analysis of the final cuts classifies 15 percent
as strategic reductions, with "reductions in work" accounting
for 41 percent of the cuts and 44 percent as "reorganization of
work" and "other administrative efficiencies."
"I initially hoped for significantly higher
levels of strategic cuts," Detterick said. "But what we found
were significant opportunities for efficiencies and structural changes
to save money." He pronounced himself "completely
satisfied" with the budget-cutting proposal because "its smart
to try to do all that we can administratively before turning to program
cuts that would affect our partnerships with congregations and middle
governing bodies."
He praised each of the ministry divisions --
Congregational Ministries, National Ministries, and Worldwide Ministries
-- and the Mission Support Services office for their strategic
approaches to budget reductions.
National Ministries began by identifying
"franchise ministries" that are key to its work, summarizing
them as:
· "to
provide essential denominational services"
· "to
support and promulgate Presbyterian policy in church and society"
and
· "to
nurture and encourage churchwide networks and alliances."
Worldwide Ministries identified seven "core
functions":
· "foster
meaningful relationships and cooperation with partner churches and
related ecumenical councils"
· "maintain
a dynamic program of sending and receiving people in mission"
· "serve
communities of need holistically"
· "develop,
propose, and share policies, best practices, priorities, goals and
strategies for effective Presbyterian mission work"
· "work
with middle governing bodies, congregations and associations to foster
understanding, prayer, support and participation in witness and
service"
· "foster
clear and invitational communication about worldwide mission through the
denomination and its partner churches" and
· "foster
financial accountability and growth."
Congregational Ministries continued its long-term
reorganization plan,
"Unified to Better Serve," with an emphasis
on directing enough resources to the new "We Believe"
curriculum to ensure its prospects for success.
Whether this will be the last round of downsizing for
the PC(USA) is anyone's guess. The GAC has embarked on a strategic
visioning process that is intended to a long-term framework for the
council's work. Detterick believes this round of budget-cutting,
"as painful as it is," is a boon to that process.
"We've done the type of analysis we normally
don't do," he said. "This has been a great opportunity to
think about the work we do and how we do it. No one knows what happens
down the road, but we'll be stronger and better able because of what
we've done here."
Key cuts:
Congregational Ministries Division:
· Elimination
of the Peacemaking Advisory Committee.
· Elimination
of the Presbyterian Planner and suspension of Bridge/Witherspoon book
imprints.
· Reduced
support of staff and program at Montreat, Ghost Ranch and Stony Point
conference centers.
· Reduced
expenses for the Theological Education Fund.
· Reduced
staff at the Presbyterian United Nations Office.
· Reduced
marketing and "interpretive" expenses for Congregational
Ministries Publishing.
National Ministries Division:
· Consolidation
of the rural ministry and small church ministry offices.
· Postponement
of Office of Church Growth implementation.
· Reduced
grants to racial ethnic advisory committees and caucuses.
· Elimination
of deployed staff supervisor position in Women's Ministries and other
Presbyterian Women staffing adjustments to be determined.
· Elimination
of an intern position in the Presbyterian Washington Office.
· Elimination
of grant to the National Council of Churches' National Ministries Unit.
Worldwide Ministries Division:
· Leave 34
long-term missionary positions vacant
· Restructuring
of area coordinators' functions and territories.
· Reduction
in grants to partner churches.
· Reduce
international volunteers office and mission service recruitment office.
· Eliminate
Thuma Mina mission theater troupe.
· Reduce
international volunteer stipend grants.
Others:
· Elimination
of Glimpses, a quarterly bulletin insert-sized newsletter.
· Elimination
of churchwide subsidy for PresbyNet subscribers.
· Reduced
printing and equipment costs and reduction of some services in the
Office of Information Services.
· Reduced
expenses for the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy.
· Reduced
grant to the National Council of Churches' Communication Commission.
· Fund the
Presbyterian Panel out of reserves in 2003 and pursue foundation funding
in coming years.
For the complete proposed 2003 mission budget-cutting
report, go to www.pcusa.org/2003missionbudget.pdf
The Layman has the solution!
For
the Layman's response to these cuts, see The Layman Online.
In short, they propose the "solution" which they have been
demanding all along: Keep the 34 missionaries (or more accurately,
replace those who are retiring and otherwise leaving their positions) by
cutting all funding for (Guess what?) the World Council of Churches, the
National Council of Churches, the National Network of Presbyterian
College Women and the Washington Office of the PCUSA.
