Musings of the Mom-derator

(I figure if the PCUSA's Stated Clerk can issue "Musings", then I can too!)

At today's presbytery meeting I was formally installed as Moderator (or as we say in blogland, the "MOM-derator" for 2008). The meeting was held at Korean Central Presbyterian Church, which is one of our larger congregations. It is a beautiful, modern facility and we were served the most delicious lunch by the members of the congregation.

The picture here shows the official Presbytery of New Covenant moderatorial stole, the gavel, and the cross. The cross has an interesting story: back before reunion of the PCUS and the UPCUSA, each denomination had a presbytery in the Houston area. Each presbytery's moderator wore a different cross. After reunion the crosses were fused together and the stone in the middle is a stone from Mars Hill given by a local member for the purpose. The round green stone marked "HOPE" was given to me by the outgoing moderator.

Our GP gave his annual State of the Presbytery report and caused me to reflect on the many unexpected things that have come my way in the past year.

I didn't expect...

The Million Dollar Problem

The churches in the presbytery to increase their giving to presbytery in response to the Million Dollar problem

PNC to lead the denomination in new church developments (18) that we support

One of our churches to set a meeting date for a congregational vote on withdrawing from the PCUSA

One of our churches to "tithe" the proceeds of the sale of their property (to the tune of $40K) to PNC in support of presbytery

The pastor of my church always closes the service with a benediction that includes the words "expect the unexpected." I'm learning to take those words to heart.

I'm also making taking these verses from Hebrews 12:1-2 my guide for the coming year:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Unexpectedly and prayerfully yours,

QG

P.S. Updated score: Beatrice 3, QG 1.

Grants, Overture and a Good Meeting

Yesterday was spent at the presbytery meeting. I got to make what will probably be my favorite report of my year as Moderator-Elect. It was the announcement of the Vision Initiative Grants which awarded a total of $120,000 to 10 different churches and groups in the presbytery for the purpose of supporting our vision: "Growing congregations that passionately engage their communities to make disciples. "

As Moderator-elect, it was my job to chair the committee that reviewed the applications and made the recommendations to General Council for their approval. Money for the grants came from a recent generous bequest to the presbytery, so in this first year our committee had to develop the process from scratch. This was a fun job--everyone loves to give away money--and it was a great hard-working committee.
Some of the projects the grants will support are the planting of a new missional church in our presbytery, the implementation of a program to train pastors to develop lay leadership, the redevelopment of another church, a lay leader training program for an ethnic church, and an innovative outreach to the Hispanic community by another church in a changing neighborhood. I can't wait to see how these projects develop and look forward to seeing more innovative proposals from folks in presbytery next year.

Presbytery passed what will probably be a unique overture to the 2008 GA:
The Church Addressing Intergenerational Injustice in America. (Go here and scroll down to pgs. 42-43 for the full text.)

This is a call for the church to "declare that federal government practices and policies which create ever-increasing debt and unfunded or underfunded obligations for future generations of Americans are a grave moral concern as well as a clear danger to the republic." The original overture was amended on the floor to add a call for a national day of prayer to consider the issue. There wasn't much debate and the overture was adopted by a vote of 132 to 53. One pastor quipped, "It's nice to have an overture that addresses the boardroom rather than the bedroom"!

A balanced budget was presented, thanks to additional contributions from churches and individuals. We have made our first repayment to the General Assembly of the special offerings funds that weren't paid. We now have a new permanent Business Manager and have set up an Audit Committee. Woo-hoo! We're working our way out of the Million Dollar problem.

Worship was led by the youth who attended Triennium and they did a wonderful job with it. New Covenant sends one of the largest delegations to that event. We got everyone who wanted to make announcements to send the information on slides and set up a rolling slideshow before and after each session and during all breaks, and I prepared a powerpoint of the Vision Initiative Grants that was projected behind me while I made that report. This all worked really well and we finished early! We will continue to try to use technology to streamline the meetings.

All in all, it was a very good day. My good friend was recognized for completing the requirements to be a certified Director of Christian Education, and two candidates for ordination were examined and approved. Everything's looking up in New Covenant Presbytery at the moment! I hope it's looking up where you are as well.

Good News from New Covenant

Most PresbyNews these days is negative: loss of membership, withdrawals of churches, and the conflict in the denomination over theological, social and property issues dominate the coverage of the PCUSA.

Today I'm happy to report some really good news from Presbytery of New Covenant. Yes, friends, in our little corner of the world in southeast Texas, we are doing our best to "brighten up the corner where we are". Maybe our news will inspire and encourage others.

But first, a little background. Last fall the PNC discovered the Million Dollar Problem. Since that time members of the financial committees and the General Council and staff have worked very hard to develop a strategy for repaying General Assembly's special offering funds, maintain the New Church Developments already underway, and find a way to balance the next presbytery budget.

At today's General Council meeting:

• A balanced budget for 2007-2008 was presented and will be recommended for adoption at the August presbytery meeting that maintains current staff and NCD support to the tune of 20% of the total budget. This is a miracle that we didn't think would happen just a couple of short weeks ago.
  
• We made our first repayment to GA for the special offerings;
  
• The financial folks reported that since January, giving to presbytery from the churches has been more consistent and at a higher level than at any time in the past;
• Churches and individuals have increased their pledges for giving to the presbytery;
• Grants totaling $120K from the Vision Initiatives fund were approved to fund innovative programs for redevelopment of two churches; launch of a new suburban church development; and to establish a program to train pastors in missional ministry. Among other things.
  

The two redevelopment grant proposals are particularly intriguing to me.

One is from a church located in an neighborhood that is becoming more Hispanic. Development of an outreach program to women in the area who are involved in domestic abuse and their children has grown since a support group began meeting at the church and the pastor, a Hispanic woman who is herself a domestic abuse survivor, became involved in counseling the women. A Spanish language Sunday evening service is now being offered and the grant would expand tutoring and child care staff. I love this project because it evolved spontaneously (no doubt with some help from the Holy Spirit) from an outside group meeting at the church as relationships between the women, the pastor and some church members developed. Some of the women are now inquiring about church membership.

The other proposal that I am eager to see put into action is from a church located in an area where there are a lot of engineering and technical people residing. This church has been through tough times, but now is poised for redevelopment. It has developed a well-thought out process for equipping its members to evangelize and develop outreach programs specifically to the unchurched and make disciples for Christ targeting this scientific community in which most of them live.

PNC still has a lot of work to do, but we're blessed to find our relationships with each other strengthening because a lot of people have spent a lot of time and attention to that, and ~knock wood~ none of our churches are discussing withdrawal from the denomination.

So just for today, let's rejoice in how far we've come since last fall--with God's help!

Repayment Task Force Recs Pass in Second Vote

Presbytery unanimously approved the recommendations of the Repayment Task Force in the second vote taken at yesterday's called meeting. This follows the near-unanimous vote at the regular meeting on February 10. Now we have the authorization to move forward to address the Million Dollar Problem following the recommendations of that report.

While I'm relieved that we've found agreement on how to repay the special offerings and designated funds that were diverted from their appropriate use and meet the copier obligations, the big challenge ahead is to put together next year's budget.

Mesdames Moderators

Here are the Moderator (Rev. Deborah Cooper) and Moderator Elect (yours truly) of New Covenant Presbytery after our installation at yesterday's presbytery meeting.

The meeting went extraordinarily well. The plan to repay the Million Dollar problem was overwhelmingly adopted and a second vote is now scheduled for February 27. Thank you for your prayers and comments which were a great support for me.

Dr. Craig Barnes preached an incredible sermon on the subject of "Pastor as Minor Poet." There's no way I can summarize this, but fortunately I am told that this is part of his next new book. Reverendmother, I kept thinking how much you would have loved it!

We voted on 68 pages of amendments to the Form of Government portion of the Book of Order. Wait, you say, what about the FOG Task Force and its work? That was a concern of many in the presbytery as well as a concern for moving portions of that section out of the BOO and into advisory handbooks. Results of the voting were mixed but clearly reflected reluctance to make any changes before the FOG made its report. For you Presbypolity types keeping score, New Covenant defeated amendments 06-A, 06-B.1, 06-B.2, and 06-C by large margins and approved 06-B.3, 06-D, 06-E and 06-F.

UPDATE, CORRECTION AND APOLOGY: Dear Readers, Please accept my apologies for erroneously attributing the formation of the EPC to disagreement with the ordination of women in the PCUSA in the first version of this post. Jim Loughlin has correctly pointed out in a comment that this was the reason for the PCA split not the EPC. I am embarrassed to have made this mistake and am revising the rest of this post accordingly to avoid continuing to contribute misinformation to this debate. I really do know my history better than that. Thanks, Jim, for calling me on my mistake and thanks to Will Spotts for questioning it as well.

When I got home from the meeting, news that Presbyterians assembled in Orlando this weekend at the New Wineskins meeting voted to accept the formation of a transitional NW presbytery in partnership with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and to establish a covenanted network of NW churches within the PCUSA was on the internet. Time will tell how significant this event will be in the life of the PCUSA.

Although the EPC allows local congregations to ordain women, there are congregations that will not ordain women pastors or elders in the denomination. Little wonder the EPC wants to keep departing PCUSA congregations segregated in a non - geographical presbytery while it determines whether it can absorb them without a lot of disruption to its own congregations.

About 1990, the church where our daughters was baptized split over national PCUSA issues. El Jefe and I had already transferred our membership to Suburban Presbyterian Church before this occured. There was a big debate among those who left about where to affiliate and they went with the EPC because it permitted, although it did not insist upon, the ordination of women. I just checked the website of the church that formed out of this and it does not have any ordained women on staff nor any women elders but does have women deacons.

This is why many women in the PCUSA who might otherwise be sympathetic to the theological positions of the New Wineskins and the EPC are skeptical about the position of the EPC on women and church leadership and ministry.