Moving Forward Implementation Commission sets budget summit

Plan is to establish a unified approach for PC(USA) budgeting for 2021-22

by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE — Meeting in Baltimore, the Moving Forward Implementation Commission voted this week to convene the leadership of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, Office of the General Assembly and the A Corporation for what it called “an honest and open examination” of the 2021-22 budget “in order to establish a unified approach and plan for budgeting for the upcoming cycle.”

“It is our hope,” said MFIC Moderator Marco Grimaldo, “that bringing together top leadership in this kind of collaborative process will help us move smoothly toward a budget that meets the needs of the OGA, PMA and the Administrative Services Group.”

“This process,” Grimaldo said in a news release issued by MFIC on Friday, “will need to take into account the realities connected to per capita projections” as outlined during the 223^rd General Assembly, held last year in St. Louis.

During the course of their two-day meeting this week, commission members heard a report from the Rev. Scott Lumsden on behalf of the Financial Sustainability and Per Capita Task Force. Commission members also participated in what they called n-depth discussions with the Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett, president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency; Kathy Lueckert, president of the A Corp., the corporate entity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); Barbara Gaddis, moderator of the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly; the Rev. Eliana Maxim, a COGA member; and the Rev. Rosemary Mitchell, senior director of Mission Engagement and Support in the Presbyterian Mission Agency.

“We believe it is important that everyone concerned engage with full transparency around budget needs,” said the Rev. Debra Avery, a member of the Moving Forward Implementation Commission. “We feel very optimistic about what this first-of-its-kind collaboration will yield.”

The convening calls for a one-day summit among two commission members and representatives from the PMA Board, COGA, the A Corporation Board and the related executive staff.

The Moving Forward Implementation Commission also intends to contract with a professional facilitator who will guide the process.

Here’s the text of the motion approved by the Moving Forward Implementation Commission:

Motion: That the Moving Forward Implementation Commission convene representatives from PMA, OGA, and A Corp, in the spirit of a new openness, to honestly and openly examine budget realities and establish a unified approach and plan for budgeting that meets the needs of both OGA and PMA for the 2021-2022 budget cycle.

The group shall include the chair and vice chair of PMAB, the moderator and vice-moderator of COGA, and the co-chairs of the A Corp Board, or their designees.

In addition, each agency/entity shall be represented by their executive staff (i.e. the Stated Clerk, the president and executive director of PMA, and the President of A Corp) as well as one other staff member from each agency/entity who will be involved in developing the specifics of the unified budget.

Participants will be expected to be vested with the full authority of their agency or entity and to negotiate in good faith. The Moving Forward Implementation Commission will be represented by two of its members and provide a professional facilitator for the group.