06244
May 1, 2006

GAC adopts sweeping restructure of GA offices

$9.15 million budget cut costs 75 jobs, including top management

by Jerry L. Van Marter

LOUISVILLE — The General Assembly Council has approved the most radical restructuring of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s mission program since 1993, as it moves to reduce the 2007-2008 General Assembly mission budget by $9.15 million.

In all, 75 national staff positions in Louisville have been eliminated — most effective May 1 — as well as 55 overseas mission co-worker positions. Staff cuts in Louisville account for $4 million of the budget reduction, while the price tag for the overseas mission positions is $1.2 million.

In a 19-page document released Monday entitled 2007-2008 Mission Work Plan: Objectives, Outcomes and Funded Work, the GAC outlines, objective by objective, the dramatic overhaul of its mission program work with an overview of the work involved in each objective, what it considers to be successful outcomes, and detailed rationales for the programmatic work that will be funded as well as work that will be discontinued or scaled back.

The sweeping organizational changes will, by October, eliminate the current Deputy for Mission Support Services and Deputy Executive Director positions and the existing ministry divisions — Congregational Ministries (CMD), National Ministries (NMD) and Worldwide Ministries — as well as the jobs of senior executive and top administrative staff of those divisions.

“As our work shifted from broad programmatic concerns to a tighter focus on the eight key objectives of the Mission Work Plan,” said GAC Executive Director John Detterick, “the senior staff felt that our witness would be strengthened by realizing the significant savings that would come from reorganizing the senior leadership level to also focus on the objectives rather than programs.”

Currently, the SLT is comprised of Detterick, a deputy executive director, the three division directors, the deputy for MSS and a middle governing bodies coordinator. When the transition is complete in October, the senior GAC staff will consist of the Executive Director, a Deputy Executive Director for Witness and Deputy Executive Director for Support Services.

The dramatic change in the SLT alone will cover more than $1 million of the budget reduction.

Other major cuts come from reducing mission program grants to congregations and presbyteries by $250,000 in each of the next two years and by slowing the rate of staff salary increases by $600,000 in 2007, which will result in total savings of $1.1 million by the end of 2008.

Programs that are being eliminated include:  

• the Global Education and International Leadership Development Office, which has been supported by endowment funds that are exhausted.
• the Ecumenical and Mission Partnerships Office, which has worked with the growing number of mission networks — currently 26 — in the PC(USA). Area coordinators and regional liaisons in WMD will assume those duties.
• the Criminal Justice program.
• the Environmental Justice program.
• the Corporate Witness Office, which addresses issues such as civil liberties, public education and global security.
• Church and Society magazine.
• Staff and program support for older adult ministries.

Programs that will be scaled back include:

• programmatic support for small and rural churches and advocacy for rural farmers.
• consultation and regional training on congregational transformation plus analysis and evaluation of congregational transformation mission program grant applications.
• racial ethnic enhancement offices' funding for leadership development, scholarships for attending conferences, immigrant ministries, racial ethnic caucuses and Bible study fellowships.
• staffing in the Presbyterian Washington Office.
• coordination of young adult involvement in peace-related networks.
• the National Health Ministries office.
• Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare work not directly related to the MWP objectives.

Most of the staff cuts come from the unrestricted portion of the mission budget, which represents about one-third of the total budget (and the reductions).

Mission personnel are largely funded by restricted (designated) contributions, which comprise the other two-thirds of the budget, and thus two-thirds of the budget reductions.

Of the 77 eliminated positions, 16 are directly related to the dismantling of the ministry division structure and the restructuring of MSS, which has been undergoing an internal transition over the past two years. Nine of the eliminated positions are currently vacant, most of them in MSS.

Of the remaining 61 job cuts, 37 are in programmatic areas and 24 are in support services, such as financial services and communications.

About 15 new positions will be created for the new structure. Current employees will be eligible to apply for any new positions.

The reduction in the denomination's overseas missionary force is particularly painful, Detterick and WMD Director Marian McClure agreed.

“It takes 55 persons in mission service leaving for us to meet the $1.2 million deficit in money available for their support,” McClure said. “Of these, we already know of about 40 persons leaving by attrition (concluding their terms of service or retiring).”

Attrition alone will not solve the shortfall, McClure added. “We need another 15 persons to leave to deal with this amount,” she continued. “A staff team will work in various ways toward the goal that no one will end mission service for financial reasons alone.”

Detterick pledged that everything possible will be done to avoid bringing missionaries home before their current terms are up. “We've committed to everything possible not to call them home in the middle of their terms,” Detterick said.

Rather than ministry divisions, programmatic work will be organized around teams related to the objectives. The 2007-2008 budgets approved by the GAC allocate money according to the MWP objectives, not the traditional program entities.

The new structure is built around the four goals of the Mission Work Plan: Evangelism and Witness, Justice and Compassion, Leadership and Vocation, and Spirituality and Discipleship — and the eight more concrete objectives that flesh them out: evangelism, multi-cultural ministry, poverty, peacemaking, Reformed identity, family ministry, Christian vocation and small churches.

Overall, the MWP emphasizes the GAC's determination to de-emphasize its own programmatic role in the PC(USA) in order to more strongly support the ministries of congregations and presbyteries.

“We didn't do this just to cut a budget,” Detterick said.

“In moving to an objective-based structure, we will be in a stronger position to facilitate the mission activities of the presbyteries and congregations of the PC(USA),” he explained.

Positions announced today, names released Tuesday

Detterick announced the positions that are being eliminated today. Formal release of the names of laid off employees will be delayed until Tuesday. “We wanted to give those employees the opportunity to tell their family and friends before they read about it in the press,” he said.

Positions being eliminated effective May 1:

Associate for Christian Education and Young Adult Ministry, CMD

Associate for Marketing, Congregational Ministries Publishing, CMD

Coordinator for Curriculum Development, Congregational Ministries Publishing, CMD

Coordinator of Marketing, Congregational Ministries Publishing, CMD

Desktop Publisher/Web Designer, Congregational Ministries Publishing, CMD

Graphic Designer, Congregational Ministries Publishing, CMD

Intermediate Administrative Assistant, Congregational Ministries Publishing, CMD

Marketing Associate, Congregational Ministries Publishing, CMD

Senior Administrative Assistant, Congregational Ministries Publishing, CMD

Term Employee, Congregational Ministries Publishing, CMD

Associate for Family and Single Adult Ministries, Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, CMD

Intermediate Administrative Assistant, Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, CMD

Intermediate Administrative Assistant, Theology and Worship, CMD

Term Employee, Theology and Worship, CMD

Senior Administrative Assistant, Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy

Associate Producer, Media Services, Office of Communication

Associate Producer, Media Services, Office of Communication

Associate for News Services, Presbyterian News Service, Office of Communication

Copy Editor/Formatter, Presbyterian News Service, Office of Communication

Human Resources Information Systems Administrator, Human Resources

Senior Administrative Assistant, Human Resources

Term Employee, Human Resources

Associate for Administration, Executive Director's Office

Internal Auditor, Internal Audit Office, MSS

Real Estate Manager, Finance and Accounting Services, MSS

Senior Accounting Clerk, Finance and Accounting Services, MSS

Senior Accounting Clerk, Finance and Accounting Services, MSS

Senior Accounting Clerk, Finance and Accounting Services, MSS

Senior Accounting Clerk, Finance and Accounting Services, MSS

Programming Team Manager, Office of Information Services, MSS

Senior Computer Operator, Office of Information Services, MSS

Switchboard Operator, Building Services, MSS

Customer Service Representative, Presbyterian Distribution Service, MSS

Associate for Congregational Transformation, Evangelism, NMD

Associate for Network Support, Small and Rural Churches, Evangelism, NMD

Coordinator for Presbyterian Evangelism/NMD Mission Initiative, Evangelism, NMD

Associate Director for Social Justice/Corporate Witness, Justice and Compassion, NMD

Editor, Church and Society magazine, Justice and Compassion, NMD

Senior Administrative Assistant, Justice and Compassion, NMD

Term Employee, Justice and Compassion, NMD

Church Leadership Connection Consultant, Leadership & Vocation, NMD

Associate for Publications, Presbyterian Washington Office, NMD

Associate Relating to Latin America and the Caribbean, Ecumenical Partnerships, WMD

Associate for Ecumenical Coordination and Facilitation, Ecumenical Partnerships, WMD

Associate Relating to the Middle East and Europe, Ecumenical Partnerships, WMD

Coordinator for Ecumenical and Mission Partnerships, Ecumenical Partnerships, WMD

Coordinator for Central, South and Southeast Asia, Ecumenical Partnerships, WMD

Coordinator for Global Education and International Leadership Development, WMD

Coordinator for Southern and East Africa, WMD

Program Assistant for Mission Partnerships, Ecumenical Partnerships, WMD

Intermediate Administrative Assistant, Ecumenical Partnerships, WMD

Intermediate Administrative Assistant, Ecumenical Partnerships, WMD

Intermediate Administrative Assistant, Ecumenical Partnerships, WMD

Intermediate Administrative Assistant, Ecumenical Partnerships, WMD

Intermediate Administrative Assistant, Ecumenical Partnerships, WMD

Intermediate Administrative Assistant, Global Service and Witness, WMD

Associate for Missionary Compensation and Benefits, People in Mutual Mission, WMD

Intermediate Administrative Assistant, People in Mutual Mission, WMD

Positions being eliminated effective October 1:

Director, CMD

Coordinator, CMD

Executive Assistant to the Director, CMD

Deputy Executive Director, Executive Director's Office

Chief Financial Officer/Director, MSS

Executive Assistant to the Director, MSS

Director, NMD

Executive Assistant to the Director, NMD

Intermediate Administrative Assistant, Director's Office, NMD

Coordinator for Resources Administration, NMD

Director, WMD

Executive Assistant to the Director, WMD

Intermediate Administrative Assistant, Director's Office, WMD

Senior Administrative Assistant, Director's Office, WMD

Associate for Personnel and Administration, WMD

Coordinator of Finance and Administration, WMD