Biennial Assemblies
The convener of Assembly Council cast the deciding vote on a recommendation that will bring the topic of biennial General Assemblies before the highest court of the church when it meets in Waterloo, Ont., at the end of May and beginning of June.
The recommendation, which was put forward by a committee charged with evaluating and proposing changes to the days and design of General Assembly, suggests that “Biennial General Assemblies be held on a trial basis for six years” and include an “ongoing review process” to evaluate the effects of the change.
Rev. Keith McKee spoke against the recommendation, saying the idea of holding General Assembly every other year had not been endorsed by a strong enough majority within the church.
A study and report document circulated by the 2013 General Assembly received mixed responses from the various courts of the church. The two synods that responded were split, with one in favour of biennial assemblies and the other opposed. Of the 22 presbyteries that indicated a preference, nine were in favour and 13 were opposed. And of the 69 sessions that indicated a preference, 44 were in favour of biennial assemblies and 25 were opposed.
During the discussion on the floor of the council, some members stressed the importance of coming together from across such a vast country, and spoke of how General Assembly can connect the ministers and elders who attend the meeting to the work of the wider church. Others suggested the time and money the church would save by meeting biennially could be put to use on local levels, or used for other types of gatherings. Some members said a decision should not be based on finances; but others said the cost of assemblies (nearly $300,000 a year depending on their location) had to be taken into consideration. Moving from annual to biennial assemblies was among the 10 budget principles approved by the Assembly Council at its November 2012 meeting.
When the convener called for a vote on whether or not to put the recommendation before this year’s assembly, the council was evenly divided for and against.
Before she cast the deciding vote, convener Heather Crisp said that as she listened to the discussion on the issue, she “was thinking about the fellowship I experience at General Assembly. And I guess I’m lucky since I get to go three times in a row [as convener of the Assembly Council]. But no one from my session has gone or wants to because they have to work.
“Local congregations are less in favour of meeting annually than clergy,” she said, referring to the number of sessions that responded in favour of biennial assemblies. “So I vote in favour of the motion and it carries.”
The recommendation will come before this year’s assembly for a final decision.
Pension Plan
The church’s pension fund is expected to be sustainable over the next 15 years according to a study requested by the Pension and Benefits Board and carried out by Eckler, the plan’s actuaries. But the “elephant in the room” is the solvency deficit, said Rev. Peter Bush, a member of the pension board.
A solvency valuation is one of the calculations actuaries use to determine the health of a pension plan. It determines whether or not a plan’s assets would be sufficient to provide benefits to the plan’s members if it were to suddenly wind up on a given date.
Depending on whether or not interest rates rise over the next several years, the shortfall in the church’s plan could cumulatively be $5 million or $16 million—two projections Bush referred to as the “small elephant” and the “big elephant.”
“We believe present employees and employers, both congregations and non-congregation employers, cannot by themselves solve this,” he said. “If the pension plan was not solvent in the long term, we’d be here with a whole other plan. But we believe because the plan is sustainable it’s worth the short-term pain to eat the elephant.”
The pension board proposed a few measures aimed at funding the deficit. Assembly Council agreed 25 per cent of the funds from the closure of congregations and 15 per cent of undesignated bequests will be set aside and used to address the shortfall in the pension fund. These measures will continue to end of 2018.
The council also agreed that, “subject to the advice of the actuary on the Pension fund,” the chief financial officer and principal clerk be given power to issue to sign letters of credit if necessary.
Healing and Reconciliation Program
The council endorsed the Life and Mission Agency’s plan to renew its Healing and Reconciliation program for another three years. The program, which aims to help build relationships between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people, is part of the LMA’s Justice Ministries department.
The council agreed to establish a new mission priority fund for the program, and referred the issue of funding to the finance committee. It also agreed that, when the church had fulfilled its obligations under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, any funds left over in the implementation fund should be transferred to the new healing and reconciliation mission fund.
Mission and Vision Statements
The council spent its evening session discussing a proposed vision statement to present to the General Assembly. It settled on two statements: a short vision statement for the church, and a separate statement of commitment to help guide the church as it makes decisions in the future.
The proposed vision statement, “Sharing faith, hope and love in Christ,” and the statement of commitment, “Our priority is to equip, renew and inspire local congregations to grow in faith and hope, spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to the glory of the triune God,” will come before the assembly for approval.
The General Assembly meets in Waterloo, Ont., from May 30 to June 2.
