Presbyterian Mission Agency Board begins fall Louisville meeting

Way Forward, publishing consolidation and board governance on agenda

by Gregg Brekke | Presbyterian News Service

(Left-to-right) Newly hired Acting Executive Director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Dave Crittenden, PMAB board chair Kenneth Godshall, and PMAB member David Shinn during the meeting of the PMAB executive committee. (Photo by Gregg Brekke)

LOUISVILLE – The Presbyterian Mission Agency Board (PMAB) began its fall meeting in Louisville today with a gathering of its Executive Committee to discuss the meeting agenda and hear updates from program areas. Also on deck were proposals for a new board structure and consolidation of publishing operations within the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. After lunch, the entire board heard an update from Mark Hostetter, moderator of the Way Forward Commission.

After 18 months of work the Governance Task Force of the PMAB is prepared to present a new proposal to the board for consideration. Over the course of the task force’s work various proposals have been debated and met with varying degrees of enthusiasm and concern. Reduction in board size was also accompanied by a reduction in representation from constituent groups. Members of advisory and advocacy groups raised concerns that their voices would no longer be heard if these voting seats were eliminated.

“Although the church is asking for change, change is not always welcome – not in all quarters of the church,” said Melinda Sanders, chair of the Governance Task Force. “There’s something interesting not being said by anybody. Nobody is arguing for the status quo. There’s clear indication that the PMAB needs to change its operating structure.”

Compositional changes include reducing voting members to 16 members by attrition by General Assembly 224 (2020), changing the term of service on the board to four years instead of six – with eligibility for a second four-year-term, and moving toward a quarterly meeting – instead of biannual – meeting schedule, inclusive of electronic meetings.

The current proposal seeks to address advisory and advocacy group objections by continuing to have voting and corresponding members from these groups, with one representative from the corresponding members elected from their numbers to serve as a voting member of the board. The action reads:

As long as the Board of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) A Corporation remains the same as the Board of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, five of the sixteen voting members will be from the following: Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, Advocacy Committee for Racial Ethnic Concerns, Advocacy Committee for Women’s Concerns, Committee on the Office of the General Assembly, and Presbyterian Women, Inc.

The GA Nominating Committee will nominate, for election by the GA, one person from the membership of the groups listed above (ACSWP, ACREC, ACWC, COGA).

Substantive changes to the meeting structure are not proposed, though due to the reduced board size items such as “community conversations” will also be reduced. Ministerial teams and task forces also remain, but expectations that board members will serve on at least one of these at all times is being eliminated. The current committee structure will be disbanded in favor of new committees with broad charges: the Committee to Nurture the Body, the Committee for Outreach to the World, and the Committee for Resource Allocation and Stewardship.

The full board will vote on the Governance Task Force proposal later today.

The other significant recommendation presented to the Executive Committee was the consolidation of the PMA’s Congregational Ministry Publishing programs within the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation (PPC). This consolidation will include the transfer of all assets and personnel to PPC by the end of the year. The proposed action reads, in part:

That the programmatic work as well as the personnel and assets that create and publish denominational curricular resources through Congregational Ministries Publishing be transferred from the Presbyterian Mission Agency and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation to the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation…

The full board is scheduled to debate and vote on this proposal Friday evening.

A budget update from the first half of 2017 showed income up by $3 million over budget and expenses under budget by $4 million. Increased congregational giving toward mission and the special offerings catalog, in addition to large gifts and an increase in restricted giving, were the primary sources of the PMA’s financial surplus.

Mark Hostetter, moderator of the Way Forward Commission, addresses the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board at its fall 2017 meeting. (Photo by Gregg Brekke)

Mark Hostetter, moderator of the Way Forward Commission, delivered an update to the full board assembled after lunch. He mentioned the  mid-term report outlined themes and priorities of the denomination as the commission listened to conversations around the church, including a congregational focus, mission priority, diversity and leadership, mid council relationships, functioning as “church”, reconceptualized administrative support, and effective communication.

Hostetter also spoke to the actions, both from the commission’s May meeting in addition to those proposed earlier this week. The first of the May meeting recommendations, regarding the consolidation of publishing services, is, as previously mentioned, scheduled for a vote by the PMA Board tomorrow. The other May recommendation, seeking better management of the Church Loan Program, is also underway between the Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program, the Presbyterian Foundation and the PMA.

Vicki Garber, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) ecumenical representative to the PMAB, called the Way Forward Commission’s progress “a work of the Holy Spirit,” saying similar work was underway in the ELCA and other denominations.