ROSS REPORT (1964)
(as taken from the 1970 General Assembly Acts and Proceedings, pages 374-383)
The Ross Report is primarily an objective compilation of what the Presbyterian constituency is thinking, rather than the view of those outside. The report provides authentic information documented according to laws of statistics, but at the same time it draws together opinions which are by no means unanimous, in order to chart and evaluate the cross-currents which are presently in the life of the church.
FORMAT OF THIS REPORT
This report to General Assembly comments on the Ross Report in three aspects, namely, general implications, persons, structures.
As a means of helping the church understand the essential import of the Ross findings, we have developed in each of these areas a group of proposals. Each proposal denotes a focus of action which is deemed urgent or advisable. To the proposals are subjoined recommendations, which are intended to offer the more specific enabling or referral steps by which the church can deal with proposals.
A PROPOSAL sets forth what is required; a RECOMMENDATION specifies how it is to be attempted and/or who is given responsibility to see to it.
GENERAL IMPLICATIONS
The situation presented is diffuse and ambivalent in all areas. The following picture emerges:
- The church has no unifying goal or sense of mission. This confusion has led to a loss of direction in its movement. Hence it has had a “policy” of reacting to environmental changes and internal problems on a piece-meal basis. See the Ross Report, pages viii, 26-37.
- The church is divided in its opinions about success in its mission: on the one hand a desire by many to measure success in quantitative terms, as numbers of people, funds, buildings, etc., and on the other hand a desire for a greater faithfulness in its given mission of relevant service. Report, pages viii, 26-37.
- The church has a divided image of itself, on the one hand a desire for preservation of the institution as such, on which goal a great deal of energy is being spent; on the other hand a desire for freedom and experimentation in forms of worship and ministry, which has led some to abandon the institution. Pages viii, 26-37, 40-41.
- The church is divided in its attitude to its organizational structures. On the one hand are those who hold them dear, to the point where the structures are given priority over the people they are intended to serve; on the other hand is a desire for recognizing structure as a tool which must be used effectively and flexibly in the church’s mission. Pages viii, 43-46.
- The church has as assets a highly motivated group of ministers who have a high degree of acceptance among the people; an unusual percentage of highly educated laity; a constituency which is open to and asking for changes; apparently ample financial strength when harnessed to acceptable projects. Pages 50, 91-99, 122.
- Ministry and its meaning would appear to be the key to our problem. The present narrow, static concept of ministry, centred in a congregation-employed clergy, is found to be too restrictive by both clergy and lay people. The Report looks toward ministry as being understood in terms of functions rather than ecclesiastical status, oriented to the needs of people both within and without the church; ministry must be restructured to meet the new definitions of church objectives. Pages 89-103.
- The findings of the Ross research include factors and trends strongly negative, but also others strongly positive. Here is a summary:
1. Presbyterian losses in people (especially youth) are serious.
2. Presbyterian losses in ministry (especially brains) are serious.
3. One key cause is failure to update the church machinery.
4. One key cause is lack of personnel policy.
5. There are signs of renewal and possibilities of re-formation.
In an attempt to crystallize the heart of the need uncovered by the research, the Committee adopted the following statement as the core implication of the Ross Report: “To create a climate (or environment) in the church in which people and structures are freed to both use and be used by each other to carry out the mission and ministry of Christ.”
The underlying assumption, namely that such freedom is not now fully present, is backed by the evidence in the Report.
Proposal A
The church should confirm and extend the policy of experimental reform (1969 LAMP report, rec/n 28.a) so that no congregation, court, office, board, program, or financial policy is left unexamined and unquestioned for amendment, abolition, or retention, as may be determined.
Recommendation 1
That the General Assembly approve Proposal A, thus confirming the policy of reform adopted by the 1969 Assembly, and remit it to the congregations, courts, and agencies, and instruct that each discuss the said Proposal with a view to deciding on its implications for them.
Proposal B
The church should develop its short-term and long-term objectives, as these relate to its mission, its relations with other denominations, its attitude to social change, its methods of service in the world, its nurture, training, deployment and care of its personnel, its financial, administrative and legislative procedures.
Recommendation 2
That General Assembly adopt Proposal B, and commend it to the courts, requesting the Organization and Planning Committee and agencies related to it, to further its implementation.
Proposal C
Because the church’s life and mission require a wide variety of abilities and skills which cannot be found in any one person nor deployed in any one form of ministry, encouragement should be given to team ministries, part-time church employment, special assignments and the like.
Proposal D
Ministry must be redefined to include the ministry of the whole people in the world in which they live, as well as the ministry of individuals and orders within the corporate life of the church. The attitudes of ministers and the other people are involved in a more dynamic definition. All congregations, and all ministers, should be encouraged to do what they think is best to develop a commitment to Christ and service in the world regardless of any pseudo-traditions that may seem to inhibit them.
Recommendation 3
That the 96th General Assembly accept the principle of ministry on the basis of functions under the Spirit rather than status in the institution.
Recommendation 4
That congregations, Presbyteries, committees and boards be instructed to recognize, support, and develop new forms of ministry, allocating a stated percentage of their budgets for these purposes.
PERSONS
The church is the people of God dedicated to His service. As such these people must be organized, accommodated, trained, and deployed. There must be compassion, that is, love and honesty, to one another. The Ross Report says that the church as an institution has been lacking in this compassion. We do not know how to trust one another; we have not shown intelligent care for one another. It is clear, for example, that the call system can be damaging to individuals and congregations. Buildings, funds, organizations, are not prime objectives, but rather tools to serve people. See Report, pages 52-55.
Proposal E
Care for people is shown in examining the methods of recruitment to church membership, preparation and admission, and the retaining of member status. It is not a true caring for people to allow them to remain unthinking and careless members of Christ’s body. Pages 47-48.
Recommendation 5
That the 96th General Assembly authorize sessions of The Presbyterian Church in Canada as they may desire to place membership in their congregations on a one-year-at-a-time basis, subject to renewal by specific commitment.
Proposal F
Constant development is needed in worship and nurture, if the church cares about communicating with people, especially youth. While the familiar forms of worship are accepted by the majority, experimentation and flexibility are a necessity regardless of traditions. Pages 51-55.
Recommendation 6
That each session, each Presbytery, each Synod, be encouraged to arrange opportunities and projects in worship and nurture for concerned groups, whether focused on conservation of the old or experimentation with the new.
Proposal G
People should be accepted in the church as persons, each with his or her own gifts, regardless of age, sex, or office. It is significant that replies to the research questionnaires from both the women and youth showed a desire for acceptance on the basis of personhood. It is also significant that those who have left the pastoral ministry find it difficult to be accepted as persons in the church, which indicates that there is a rigidity of attitude that must be overcome. Pages 58-71.
Proposal H
Concern for people as persons should be shown in the methods of recruitment for church employment. Inclination, capacity, opportunity and job requirement are basic factors in personnel recruitment. Real concern for the recruit is not shown by the present tendency of benevolence where a candidate may lack the appropriate capacity. It is real care when the church adopts recruitment methods and standards which reduce the disaster factor for those recruited and for those to be served. Pages 101, 104-107.
Proposal I
Care for people is shown by a high regard for training. Our traditions of training in theology and preaching rate favourable. But there is need for a wider training in human relations and in the arts of communication and administration. There is need and desire for continuing education as times and persons change. Pages 107-110.
Proposal J
Planned use and flexible deployment of personnel is needed. Our call system must be studied with a view to more creative correlation of our personnel resources with opportunities for ministry. Abuses creep in because of the foibles of congregations, Presbyteries and interim moderators. Provision is needed for accurate information on opportunities open and the job requirements, as well as authentic information on available candidates. Pages 110-114.
Proposal K
Care for people includes an equitable compensation system for all church-employed personnel. While commendable steps have already been taken which render the Appendices of the Ross Report obsolete, further research and policy are needed to clear away present confusion and inequities. Our priorities in the use of financial resources will need to be reconsidered in depth with a view to reflecting a person-oriented mission. Pages 114-120.
Proposal L
Care for people requires that the church provide competent counselling for its workers. Presbytery is not proving adequate for this task. Counselling services should be readily available for every category of church-employed worker. Pages 120-124.
Recommendation 7
(a) That the Committee on Personnel be combined with the Committee on the Training of Professional Church Workers to become an agency of the General Assembly operating a Department of Personnel Services.
(b) That this agency be structured to operate with an executive and chairman plus three working commissions, namely on personnel, professional training, and compensation.
(c) That the terms of reference be as follows:
Personnel Commission
– Develop standards for recruitment and selection of personnel.
– Develop and implement recruitment policies.
– Study the concept of ministry, including ordination, designation and related issues.
– Study our call system with a view to revision; guidelines for interim moderators and congregations.
Professional Training Commission:
– Recommend training requirements for church employment.
– Recommend policies on continuing education and study leaves.
– Study the use of our colleges, including such matters as continuing education, a conference training centre, etc.
– Participate in and help develop inter-church professional training continuing education, career counselling centres.
Compensation Commission:
– Study and recommend on compensation practices of congregations, both direct and indirect.
– Study and recommend on compensation practices of all other employing agencies in the Presbyterian Church in Canada.
– Study and correlate pension and insurance plans for church employees.
(d) That the personnel services agency be authorized to engage the services of a qualified director and provide an office and secretarial help, on a stated-term basis, with such tasks as:
– With co-operation of congregations and other employing church agencies to establish and maintain records on personnel needs, both current and projected.
– To establish and maintain records on personnel available for church employment.
– To act as advisor and information centre in personnel matters such as career counselling, placement, continuing education.
– To serve as a Presbyterian Church in Canada representative in inter-church planning for counselling centres, continuing education and the like.
– To co-ordinate regional planning in recruitment, education counselling, employment, etc.
(e) That the Department of Personnel Services be authorized to use funds from the National Development Fund to engage professional services as needed to research the comprehensive picture of the church’s current compensation practices and develop a more equitable system.
(f) That the Department of Personnel Services be inaugurated for a trial period of three years, at which time the Organization and Planning Committee, after full consultation, shall recommend to Assembly as to continuance, and if so, in what terms.
Recommendation 8
That that role of the Board of Education be referred to the Organization and Planning Committee in the light of Assembly’s action on personnel services and standards.
Recommendation 9
That ordination to an appropriate order of ministry be authorized for graduates of such institutions of training as Ewart College; such ordination to carry rights, powers and responsibilities in the church courts analogous to those of our present pastoral order, and that this recommendation be referred to the Personnel Committee for study and action.
Recommendation 10
That the Department of Personnel Services, the Board of Education and the colleges be instructed to work together in updating curricula and training standards in areas where the Ross Report found weakness, especially in the fields of human relations, communication and administration.
Recommendation 11
That the General Assembly instruct the bodies named in Recommendation 10 to confer with a view to developing further a specialized role for each college in the training of church personnel.
STRUCTURES
The Ross Report clearly delineates weakness in and dissatisfaction with the way the structures are functioning. In many congregations the session constitutes a block to experimentation and reform. Most members feel they have no effective voice in the congregation’s policy making. Representation of the congregation in the wider courts of the church is experienced by only a few. Almost 90 per cent of our constituency have no contact with the courts beyond the congregation and feel they have no voice in the church at large. This lack of participation contributes to the well-known information gap on what the church is doing, and to frustration on the part of program boards. The structures need to be examined to ascertain where they are hindering the freedom of the church in mission. Pages viii, ix, 34-36, 39-71, 84-88.
Proposal M
Every congregation, Presbytery and Synod needs encouragement to examine its mission, its program, its resources, its relation with other churches, and regardless of Presbyterian tradition, to experiment freely with its worship, government and other service in the community. Efforts must be made to replace the building-centred attitude on the part of ministers and congregations with a more dynamic and more mobile faith. Ways must be found to encourage the enlistment of a broader variety of men and women in age, range, outlook and talent in the session and other part of our governing system. Pages 40-71.
Recommendation 12
That the General Assembly renew its urging of every congregation to involve its total membership, with freedom and courage, in developing authentic goals, measurable objectives and long and short-range plans, with emphasis on such factors as:
– Programs for deepening the congregation’s inner life and involvement in the communities beyond it.
– Personnel, voluntary and paid.
– Facilities and finance for the program.
– Implementation and evaluation.
– Creation or modification of structures to perform what has been planned, including new relations with neighbouring congregations.
Recommendation 13
That the Presbyteries and the General Board of Missions work for closer integration and acceptance between congregations differing ethnically, be they Scottish, Hungarian, Chinese or Canadian home-brewed.
Proposal N
Presbyteries are a key court in the structure of our Presbyterian Church in Canada, but they have become administration-centred and have often failed to serve the church’s mission. Presbyteries should be encouraged to become units of area planning and implementation, rather than collections of congregational representatives. This will reduce the tendency to duplication of facilities and programs, waste of personnel, and introversion. It will encourage the sharing of ministries in and for the community. The more of a minority the church becomes in society, the plainer the need for the sharing of witness and other services. Pages 43-44.
Proposal O
The Synod’s role should be examined, and a decision made either to abolish it for a better use of time, effort and money, or to change its function into a support structure for congregations and church-employed personnel, through congresses, in-service training projects and the like.
Recommendation 14
That the General Assembly request the Organization and Planning Committee to prepare for the next Assembly models for the restructuring of Presbytery and Synod to include:
– Definition of role and purpose.
– Orientation: geographical, sociological and personnel.
– Options in organizational structure.
– Relations:
To other courts, councils, etc.
To Presbyterials.
To congregations, including kind of representation.
Proposal P
Restructuring of the Assembly’s format and boards should not be organized around divisions of Assembly’s program, as at present, but rather around service to groups of people in the community and in the church. Wider employment should be given to qualified laity for term projects, with the necessary flexibility in salary schedules and benefits.
Recommendation 15
That the General Assembly continue to explore reform in its own life and procedures as these may be affected by changes in the structuring of congregations, Presbyteries and Synods, as these develop.
Recommendation 16
That the General Assembly request the Organization and Planning Committee to pursue its task of updating the administrative and program machinery of Assembly on the lines sketched in Proposal P, with recommendations as to what is required in the way of congresses, task forces, societies, councils, boards, committees, their staff needs and the necessary design for staff recruitment, accountability, compensation, and term of employment.
Recommendation 17
That the General Assembly request the Organization and Planning Committee, in consultation with the Department of Personnel Services and any other agencies it may deem advisable, to formulate a policy of a stated term for all church-employed jobs, in congregations, in courts of the church, and in assembly boards, committees, college faculties, etc.; the said Organization and Planning Committee formulation to be presented for adoption or otherwise at a subsequent Assembly.
Recommendation 18
That the General Assembly, through the Organization and Planning Committee, its Committee to Strike Standing Committees, and its boards, change its nomination procedure in order to take seriously the declared policy of giving women, youth and young adults their full proportionate place in all the policy-forming and decision-making structures of our church.
Proposal Q
The congregations and the other policy-forming structures of the Presbyterian Church in Canada need to find out specifically why certain groups in Canadian society, such as the poor, the rebellious, the imaginative, the young, are proportionately under-represented in our Presbyterian constituency, why so many persons are dropping out of membership, what kinds of people these dropouts are, what new forms of the church (if any) they are developing or looking for; and what the answers to these questions imply as to change or innovations in our forms and policies as a church.
Recommendation 19
That the General Assembly refer Proposal Q to the Organization and Planning Committee for research and report, in consultation with other agencies such as the Program Boards.
Recommendation 20
(a) That the General Assembly instruct the Organization and Planning Committee to give particular study to the information set forth in the Ross Report on the composition, attitude, structure and trends in our church (chiefly pages 2-99 and the introductory summary of findings) and involve both the Administrative Council and the General Assembly in serious consideration of any observations, findings, and proposals which the Organization and Planning Committee may evolve therefrom and/or from the returns flowing in from local and regional sources.
(b) That the General Assembly instruct its agency on personnel services to give particular study to the information in the Ross Report concerning personnel needs, potentialities, trends, motivation, training, support, compensation, etc. (including pages 2-37, 72-90, 91-99, 100-124) and to involve both the Administrative Council and the General Assembly in serious consideration of any observations, findings, and proposals which said agency may evolve therefrom, and/or from the returns flowing in from local and regional sources.
(c) That the General Assembly instruct the Administrative Council to study the reports resulting from action under clauses (a) and (b) foregoing, and to develop changes or projections in overall financial policy and priorities which these studies may call for, for decision by subsequent General Assemblies.
Recommendation 21
Whereas, the Committee on Recruitment and Vocation has accomplished the initial stage of the research and development project approved by the General Assembly in 1968; and whereas the development stage is beyond its capacity in time and budget, being a volunteer committee without full-time assistance; and whereas the Assembly has established a Personnel Committee to take care of personnel aspects of the Church’s life; and whereas the Assembly has committed to the Organization and Planning Committee of the Administrative Council the responsibility for planning reforms in structure and the setting of objectives; and whereas the Church is looking toward restructuring of its Boards and Committees, and flexibility is necessary to achieve this end; therefore it is recommended that the Standing Committee of the General Assembly on Recruitment and Vocation be discharged and that the discharge take effect September 30, 1970.
Ferguson J. Barr, Giollo G. Kelly,
Convener. Secretary.
