Live the Vision Final Report (1994)
ENHANCED STEWARDSHIP PROGRAMME – “MONEY MATTERS”
At the last General Assembly an enhanced stewardship programme called “Money Matters” was approved in principle and referred to the Assembly Council. At the November meeting of Council an initial amount of $25,000 was approved as the budget for “Money Matters”. At the same time the matter of staffing for “Money Matters” was referred to the Task Force to Review Staff and Structures.
In the meantime, a certain amount of implementation of “Money Matters” has begun. John Bannerman and Glenn Cooper were willing to spare some time for consultation on the subject. As a result of this dialogue an attempt has been made to add a preliminary step to the seven stage plan as proposed in the original work. This preliminary step is a conference for professional church workers featuring David Chilton, author of “The Wealthy Barber”, as the keynote speaker and including elective workshops. The planning for this additional step has assumed that this is beyond the approved budget for “Money Matters” and the conference must be self-financing.
The matter of staffing for “Money Matters” beyond the fall of 1994 continues to be unresolved and is of some concern to the Steering Committee. Representation has been made to the Task Force to review Staff and Structures and, as well, a meeting was held with some members of the staff of the Life and Mission Agency that served as consciousness raising to make people aware of the needs for staffing. It is understandable that programmes developed outside the mainstream channels of the agencies will find some difficulty in being integrated into the ongoing work schedule. Nevertheless, the Steering Committee expresses the hope that “Money Matters” will not remain an orphan.
CAMPAIGN UPDATE
As of the first week in March, Live The Vision has received in cash and pledges $4,828,770. This has come from:
11 Cornerstone gifts ($25,000 or more) $1,345,303
560 Clergy Gifts 467,650
3991 individual gifts 3,015,817
As of April 21, 1994, the amount received in cash and pledges is $5,019,833.
BREADTH OF SUPPORT
Last May, as a result of a telephone survey, we had reason to believe that support would be offered to Live The Vision from 639 congregations. As part of that survey, an estimate was made of a reasonable, but very conservative, potential share from each congregation. These estimates, totaling $6,181,000, added to the $2,845,798 that was then in hand, led us to the conclusion that we could expect to achieve a final result of $9,026,798. That support has not materialized.
To the end of February 1994, gifts in cash and pledges had been remitted from 496 congregations. To the best of our knowledge there are another 50 to 60 congregations preparing to undertake programmes to support Live The Vision and these will be completed in the next few months.
DEPTH OF SUPPORT
There have been some remarkable levels of support shown through some congregational campaigns. The model congregations previewed this depth of support, proving that, if the campaign is taken seriously, people will respond with extraordinary generosity. There have been 64 congregations that met or exceeded the suggested share, several doubling or tripling it. One cannot say too much by way of commendation for the leadership within these very positive congregations. These 64 congregations remitted an astonishing $2,076,000.
Apart from these few encouraging examples, the bulk of the support for Live The Vision is very thin. Of the 496 congregations making remittances, 326 have remitted less than 25% of their suggested share.
STRATEGIES FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE CAMPAIGN
The Steering Committee Executive has worked hard in monitoring the progress of the Campaign and in debating and developing a set of strategies for the months ahead.
In the course of this work, the Executive has continued a relationship with the consulting firm RSI, and particularly with John Gimmler. This ongoing relationship is deemed, by RSI, to be part of its normal follow-up service to its clients and does not constitute a new contract.
One of the options recommended by RSI is that of extending the campaign for another year. The Steering Committee Executive, after careful consideration, has rejected that recommendation. The initial plan called for the Campaign to end at December 31, 1993. We agreed to extend the Campaign to June 1994 and to extend it again, we believe, would produce a cynical response from the Church.
All of our activity in the next few months will be directed toward getting congregations to make a commitment to undertake a campaign by June 1994 or to covenant, in writing, to do so before the end of 1994. All such congregations will be recognized as supporters of Live The Vision, whether or not the results of their campaigns are known by June.
Non Participating Congregations
A letter and other material will be sent immediately to the Clerk of Session and Minister of each congregation that has not participated in Live The Vision asking that a second consideration be given to supporting the Campaign. A covenant, in writing, will be asked of each of these congregations.
Congregations Below 25% Response
The 326 congregations that have made a response to Live The Vision that was below 25% of the suggested share will be asked to make a second effort to generate additional financial support.
Donors of One-Time Gifts
Though donors had the option to make a pledged gift over three years, many were reticent about pledging and chose instead to make a one-time gift. These 2000 donors, who made one-time gifts in 1993, will be asked to consider another gift in 1994.
Record Advertisement
Sympathetic individuals in non-participating congregations will be addressed in an advertisement in the Presbyterian Record indicating that their gifts are welcome and may be remitted directly.
ESTIMATE OF FINAL RESULTS
A conservative estimate of the financial support that will be generated through these strategies amounts to something between $300,000 and $400,000. If this is the case, we can expect that the final total raised in cash and pledges through Live The Vision will be somewhat less than $6,000,000. With this in mind we endorse the request of the Live The Vision Expenditure Committee of the Assembly Council that the Life and Mission Agency prioritize the projects to be funded from Live The Vision.
EVALUATION OF THE CAMPAIGN
In due course, the Steering Committee will establish some process of evaluating the details of the Campaign. At that time consideration will be given to matters such as the print resources, the timetable, the volunteer network etc..
It will be a disservice to the Church if attention is paid only to the technical details of the Campaign and not to the deeper issues of the life of the Church as that has been experienced by those working most closely with Live The Vision. Granted, the conclusions drawn from experience are very subjective and tend to be generalizations but those conclusions ought to be listened to.
CONCLUSIONS FROM EXPERIENCE
- Leadership – The disappointing results of the Live The Vision Campaign are not a result of a failure on the part of Presbyterians to give. Rather, the poor results represent a failure in asking. The wide disparity of results among congregations in similar circumstances and locales suggest that one of the key differences was that of leadership. We met very little outright hostility toward the Campaign. Most sessions understood the need for the Campaign. However, a major crippling response on the part of the leadership group was tentativeness. In many cases, the average member household has not even heard of Live The Vision. They cannot give – they have not been asked.
- Fear – It is impossible to overestimate the power of fear that seems to be the dominant motivating force in many congregations. To introduce any new initiative is to evoke feelings of fear for the future of the congregation, fear of conflict, fear of the economy, fear felt by clergy, fear of challenge, fear of unemployment. This is not to trivialize fear. These fears are genuine and serious. But it is as though there is no antidote to fear that is available. The gospel that calls us to faith and hope and courage and trust does not seem to prevail over such fear.
- Denomination – When we began Live The Vision, the restructuring had just begun. We expected to hear widespread feelings of hostility or anger toward the denominational structures. Though such hostility was encountered to a small degree in the early weeks of the campaign we were relieved to discover that it was not a widespread or enduring reality. Most of us would say that there is little hostility toward the denominational structures at all. The reaction most often encountered is indifference. For whatever reason, and an influx of new members without Presbyterian roots may be one, the denomination is seen as largely irrelevant to the life of members of a congregation.
- Mission – We have tried very hard to represent Live The Vision as an initiative in mission and outreach. It would be wrong to conclude that the lack of response to Live The Vision represents a disinterest in mission and outreach. What it does mean, though, is that mission is defined by the congregation not by the denomination. The national mission, as in the case of church extension, or the global mission as in the overseas projects, have no more priority in the life of a congregation than have the local mission of a food bank or a literacy council. Appropriate mission is whatever the congregation says it is and national, international or denominational mission stands in line to compete for attention.
- Conflict – No one needs to highlight the ever increasing incidence of conflict within congregations, most often between some members of the congregation and the minister. The most skillfully prepared programme of stewardship, or mission or anything else cannot be dealt with by a congregation in conflict. With alarming regularity we were told by Presbytery Directors, ministers or interim moderators that particular congregations could not be asked to consider Live The Vision because the congregation was struggling with a major conflict.
- Positive – On a very positive note, there are a handful of congregations, perhaps 6 or 7, that are not able to give any serious consideration to Live The Vision because of commitment to large redevelopment/building programmes ranging in cost upwards from $400,000 to $1 million. Although offering no support for Live The Vision, these congregations represent exciting signs of vitality and life that ought to be celebrated. Where Live The Vision was taken seriously the positive experiences in the life of the congregation were heart warming. There was often new talent discovered, fellowship enriched, a sense of accomplishment enjoyed and a renewed sense of mission felt in the congregation. Many stories could be told of surprising new life that was discovered within congregations that undertook a campaign for Live The Vision.
FINALLY
These conclusions are offered, not as rationalizations to excuse a failed campaign, but in the genuine hope that, somehow, the leadership of the denomination will begin to develop strategies for our denomination that will address these realities.
