I wonder if I am the only one, or if other Presbyterians are fully aware of the gradual shift that is being made in the resource people and support services that are being made available to us by the Life and Mission Agency, a shift that threatens to be so dramatic that it will refocus the entire ministry and mission of the Presbyterian Church in Canada?
Ever since the boards of Congregational Life, World Mission and Ministry were replaced by the Life and Mission Agency in a wholesale restructuring of national support services in the early 1990s, there has been a gradual collapse of people and services available to the local church to support local congregational development, Christian formation and education, and worship and evangelism.
A couple of years ago, the two positions of associate secretaries in the areas of Christian education and worship/evangelism were merged into one position of associate secretary for the Vine; this was a new office, augmented with some gifted volunteers, which promised to take care of most requests for help in finding resources for most of the above concerns. After the first secretary moved on, a new and very capable secretary was appointed just this year. But there were fewer trained, skilled and experienced personnel available in the field.
Now we are told the associate secretary position for Canada Ministries will also be merged (upon the retirement of the incumbent next year) with the Vine into a new, yet unnamed position that will include the concerns for which the Vine previously offered leadership.
Meanwhile, the associate secretary positions for Ministry and Church Vocations, Communications, Justice Ministries, with its added emphasis on healing and reconciliation with our aboriginal neighbours, International Ministries, Stewardship, Planned Giving, and Presbyterian World Service and Development will remain.
True, we are promised “top-notch” staff for the new and improved “church resources” position, but the fact remains: there will be fewer and fewer boots on the ground to offer local presbyteries and congregations the leadership and resources needed to deal with the challenges of being the church in the 21st century.
This is happening even as regional synod support staff, who used to pick up some of the slack in these areas, are also being cut back or eliminated entirely because of reduced financial resources.
Who will assist the Life and Mission Agency in thinking about and planning for any meaningful national church advancement or development? Who will meet with our presbyteries and congregations to jointly assess where our dwindling resources might best be placed in assisting declining ministries or starting new ones? Who will help local congregations consider any and all of the essential services that may affect their church health (or lack of it), and suggest the best resources available for them to move to better or new levels of faithful work and witness?
While one can sympathize with the need to prune our resources according to actual financial realities, and one can give national leaders credit for doing the best they can in making difficult choices, it remains to be seen how effectively this latest reorganization (and cutback) of staff will actually help the delivery of critically needed, effective service to local presbyteries and congregations.
Further, I wonder whether this shift in focus – with more and more of our resources remaining now dedicated to supporting national social justice initiatives and/or to building up Presbyterians Sharing and PWS&D – will point the church in the direction it needs to go in these challenging years before us.
Some of us, at least, would say that to pay less and less attention to the hand that feeds you, and to building up its resources, is really counter-productive. For after all, the only church is the local church, established and built up in Jesus Christ; the so-called “national church” only exists because enough local congregations wish to continue banding together and supporting each other in ministry and mission. When essential support for these local congregations dwindles and dies, support for Presbyterians Sharing and PWS&D may also die.
I know the Life and Mission Agency has consulted among its membership and with the Assembly Council in making these decisions, and these include my friends, but are they aware of the direction in which these moves are taking us? Perhaps they are, but are we content with these decisions?
