The way Mission is organized and delivered, who is involved, and how the national office engages participants, will undergo a massive shift, according to a document discussed at the church's national mission agency committee meeting.
The change will require “shifting of volunteer program responsibilities” that will affect several departments at the national office, according to the yet-to-be finalized proposal. It will streamline program delivery and partner relationships, clarify policies and procedures, and will create a single team to handle all aspects of mission, study tours, and educational trips.
“People want this new aspect of mission,” said general secretary Rick Fee. “They want hands on; they want to be doing something.”
He said the idea “has been there for years, but we feel the need to give it more prominence.”
The plan would focus on seniors as well as youth, and assisting congregations and individuals wanting to engage in “voluntourism.”
“We don't want this to be 50 Wynford Drive-driven, but national, in congregations, using people across the country to prepare people for mission,” said Fee. “How can we better use volunteers, both in the office and on trips?”
“Building the church is easier to preach than to practise,” said committee convener Rev. Daniel Cho. “Experiencing and cultivating it is a different thing.”
Fee said the agency staff met recently to look at the emergence and development of volunteers in mission, and the experience of lay people and clergy in mission.
The chance to experience people different than ourselves is one of the greatest challenges and opportunities for growth, said Cho.
“We have different gifts, we look different, and when it comes down to it, when we see each other face to face, we are confronted with that difference, and we can't get past it.
“When it gets down to living it, experiencing it, and working at it to cultivate the body of Christ, it's still a challenge,” he said, “a challenge to really embrace one another, look at one another, see everything that person is about.”
The question, he said is: “What are we willing to choose, to embrace?”
The Women's Misisonay Society and the Atlantic Mission Society will be asked for input before details are finalized.
Funding the new direction was also on the table. Between 1994 and 2004, the church received about $470,000 a year in undesignated bequests. In 2005, it was $2.4 million; last year it reached $3.06 million.
Last year, Assembly Council said 35 per cent of these funds should be used “to encourage mission priorities.”
While bequests are up, Presbyterians Sharing is lagging. A report said the suggested allocation from congregational income would raise $15 million, but only about $8 million is received.
