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Visit with Stdg Cssn on Stewardship and Development

Visit with Standing Commission on Stewardship and Development

Note:  This report is in the form of a mark-up of the handout which the SCDME representatives gave to the SCSD members, and used to convey the talking points.  The material from the original handout is black (except for website and email links) and the post-meeting markup material is in red.

Greetings to our colleagues on The Standing Commission on Stewardship and Development!
         
Ted Mollegen
  • Deputy from Connecticut

Rob Schoeck

  • Stdg Cssn on Domestic Mission & Evangelism (SCDME), class of 2006
    • http://members.aol.com/SCDME2020

When I (Ted ) asked Rob to comment on his background, and he said that he didn't have as much of a resume as I did, a couple of the SCSD members commented, "Yet."

Rob went on to describe significant youth group experience before college.

Assigned Purposes of Visit:

  • Establish communications, especially re the 20/20 Vision (doubling the size of ECUSA by the year 2020) - an explanation of the resolutions adopting this goal for ECUSA may be found on the ENE website at http://members.aol.com/ENE2020/visionmenu.htm
          I led them through the text of both resolutions with emphasis on:
  • A033 establishes 20/20 as ECUSA's priority
  • A033 & A034 require diversity to match the US population
  • A033 & A034 emphasize children & youth & campus ministry as part of the strategy
  • We will probably need to plant 2500-3000 churches
  • Inform you of SCDME and 2020TF thinking, and ask for your inputs, on a continuing basis
  • Specifically discuss the need for trans-diocesan money for church plants
  • Some of the best opportunities for church plants are in the diocese least able to afford church planting, such as
    • Idaho (diocese has 30 congregations, 3 planting opportunities)
    • Nevada (diocese has 33 congregations, at least one planting opportunity)
    • Doubtless several, perhaps many, other dioceses

  • Use of the (national) Plant-a-Church fund which was authorized by the 1994 General Convention but never funded by the Executive Council (or by gifts) may or may not be a way to do this.
                                 The joint feeling (them and us) was that it is too early to tinker with the design of the Alleluia Fund. While the Alleluia Fund as conceived now has a diocesan focus, there is nothing to prevent a diocese from sending $$ to another diocese. There was no real discussion of also using the 1994 Plant-a-Church fund, but I believe that SCSD will come back to this idea, and to the idea of a major gifts program, in the future. (We can nudge them on this, but may not need to.) Bp. Parsley was already familiar with the thumbrule that it takes about $0.5 million to plant a church if you do it the "standard" way.
  • Planned Giving /Legacy Stewardship/Gift Planning probably should play a major role in funding the 2500-3000 new church plants that will be need as part of the 20/20 Vision. This is part of your area of responsibility (in my opinion!).
              There was no real discussion of how to raise the needed funds (time did not permit such), but the SCSD members were supportive of the objective. I believe we succeeded in getting the need on their radar screen!

Pension Contributions

Another topic which TM believes you should be considering is the amount of money that the Church Pension Fund is drawing out of the congregations:

  • The CPF is an independent body which has a "taxing" authority delegated to it in the Canons by the General Convention (Board Members are elected by the General Convention)
  • The Fund has about $1 billion more than enough money in it today to meet all its future pension obligations without any more money from the congregations, even in the event of a substantial economic downturn
  • The Fund has recently announced that it has started a four-year long study to decide how to deal with its surplus
  • The amount being taken from the congregations is 18% of clergy compensation, or about an average of $7000 - $8000 per clergyperson. If this amount were freed up, it would make a significant difference to most congregations. (Most congregations are small).

Although this topic is not yet part of the agenda of SCDME and 2020TF, I assure you that it soon will be.

This topic raises fear in many clergy, since they can't believe that there is already enough money to keep their pensions safe in the event of an economic downturn. In some cases, it also invokes some clergy anger at congregations where the clergy feel that the congregations have economically treated the clergy badly.
                                    Bp. Parsley is on the CPF's committee studying how to use the surplus (which will report its recommendations in four (4!) years. He said that the CPF got out of the stock market before the market dropped, and that the approximately $1-billion surplus is still there. The SCSD members asked what I thought about how the surplus should be used to help 20/20 (e.g. loans for building churches) and I said I didn't really know the answer to that - my main focus is on reducing the annual amounts which are (unnecessarily) being required of the congregations.
  

In overall conclusion, I felt that we were successful in getting 20/20 to be an important item on their radar screen, and in opening a friendly and cooperative relationship.

Ted M.

(Rob Schoeck reviewed and concurs in this report.)

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