Consultant will help formulate report, due in September
by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service
Led by the Rev. Marci Glass at left, members of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board, staff and guests worshiped last week at the Presbyterian Center Chapel. (Photo by Tammy Warren)
LOUISVILLE — The Presbyterian Mission Agency Board of Directors voted unanimously Friday to extend, by six months, the timeline for studying the future of Stony Point Center, a facility and ministry of the PMA along the Hudson River north of New York City that practices intentional hospitality and offers education, housing and meeting space.
According to a report to the board, Stony Point requires extensive repairs and maintenance. The PMA will pay Run River Enterprises, based in Tully, N.Y., $38,000 and up to $3,200 in travel expenses to complete a study. The plan is for the study to allow Stony Point to transition from its current form of a ministry of “radical hospitality” to a ministry that would offer programs and mission experiences while continuing that hospitality. That goal will allow Presbyterians to enter more deeply into the Matthew 25 Invitation priorities envisioned by the Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett, president and executive director of the PMA.
The invitation’s priorities — building congregational vitality, dismantling structural racism and eradicating systemic poverty — “fit well with the foundation that has been established at Stony Point Center,” the report states.
The consultant’s report will help answer the question, “How does Stony Point Center serve as a mission arm of the PMA?” That report will include Stony Point’s mission and vision, programs and services, marketing, organizational capacity, plans for site and facility improvements and an implementation plan for the new vision.
Financial Aid for Service
The board also cast a unanimous vote to increase the impact of the PMA’s Student Loan Debt Forgiveness Program. The PMA program annually awards more than $1 million to students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees.
Under the plan that came through PMA’s Nurture the Body Committee, the maximum loan available to pastors participating in the Student Loan Debt Forgiveness program will be increased to $5,000, with a lifetime maximum of $25,000. The term of service, after which the debt is forgiven, is reduced from 18 months to 12 months.
A recent Association of Theological Schools study indicated that 43 percent of seminary students bring undergraduate debt with them — an average of $32,600. Forty-nine percent of seminary students borrow more to pay for their graduate theological education — an average of $35,700. The study also showed that students of color, women and older students incurred greater debt and were less likely to be placed at graduation.
The change in the PMA’s debt forgiveness plan is designed to bring more ministers into the program and bring debt assistance parity to pastors serving small congregations in part-time, temporary and designated positions.
The budget for the Student Loan Debt Forgiveness program is $300,000 per year, enough to serve up to 70 pastors per year. The average number of eligible applications received is 28 per year.
Ministry in a Divided Nation
The board voted unanimously to let the work of the ministerial team compiling the Ministry in a Divided Nation report conclude and thanked the team for its efforts.
Board member Susan Wonderland said team members determined they didn’t want to put additional work on staff to complete the report.
“We need to be mindful that there are differences between people and we cannot assume to know where those nearby stand on a given concern or issue, nor can we assume that our way is the only Jesus way (However obvious that may seem to us!),” the report states. “It is our sense that living into a new way and a new day of helping to lead the PC(USA) should be at the forefront of our time together.”
PMA staff compensation
The board unanimously approved a 3-percent salary increase for PMA staff, effective Monday.
Work is in progress to revise the way that merit, or the performance-based portion of compensation awards, is paid to employees. “To provide true incentive and recognize exceptional performance,” the report states, “we will implement performance-based rewards paid as one-time payments to employees who are nominated by their director as having achieved exceptional performance during the prior year.” All employees will still be eligible to receive a standard compensation award.
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