Big Report for May1, 2010

On April 19, 2010, the General Secretary released the report “Planning for a Future Grounded in Faith and Action”, found on the website at: http://www.united-church.ca/communications/news/general/100419

The General Council Executive meets on May 1-3, 2010 and will deliberate and decide on this report. You have until then to read the report and feed back comments to your elected representative to the General Council Executive. We are listed on the website at: http://www.united-church.ca/contact/gce

This report recommends some rather sweeping changes in the workings of The United Church of Canada, including:
· Reduction in spending in current areas
· Increase in spending in new areas
· Moving meetings of the General Council to every 4 years
· Staff reductions at the General Council Office of 15 to 20 people
· Realignment of remaining staff
· Cutting the Manual in half
· Reimagining the roles of each court of the church
· Recruitment, development and support of ministry personnel
· Moving Pastoral Relations work from the Presbytery to the Conference
· Use of new technology and social media
· Support for the establishment of new ministries
· Use of Reserves funds for regular budget as well as new innovations
· Creation of a new fund “United Cares” to “enable donors to contribute to areas of the church’s work that reflect their own passions.”
· A major Legacy Campaign
· Reduction in grants for Mission Support, Global Partnership, Theological Schools and Educational Centres.
· Establish the “New Ministries Fund” with $1 million from Reserves
· Creation of a “Centre for Ministry Development”

There’s a lot in the report about which to get excited and imagine a fresh start for our church. READ THE REPORT!

There’s also a number of questions to answer:
1. What exactly are the problems, for which this is the solution?
2. How much exactly is in the Reserves, and how much of that is available for us to use for these purposes?
3. Which half of the Manual is the problem? How do we make sure our least favourite parts are included in the cuts?
4. How will we fund the additional work assigned to the Conference level?
5. How do we maintain the M&S Fund in the face of new interest in the United Cares Fund?
6. How will all these shifts work to strengthen and revitalize congregations?
READ THE REPORT!

What are your questions?