I am back from the General Assembly Council Meetings. I took my camera this time, and you can check out some photos I took by clicking here.
For me, the festivities began on Monday afternoon with the Restricted Funds Oversight Committee, which reviews applications for the various restricted funds established by donors to the church. Then it was off to the Personnel Committee meeting in the evening. I am not a part of Tuesday morning's Executive Committee meeting.
The best part of the meeting began on Tuesday afternoon and continued until Wednesday afternoon. The General Assembly Council members met with 119 synods and presbyteries executives. It was a time of intense sharing and conversation about the denomination's future. It was a good first step toward developing some closer relationships. Some virtual groups are being established comprising middle governing body executives and GAC members to pursue pressing issues.
The General Assembly Council Meeting plenary began Wednesday afternoon and went until Thursday noon. The rest of the day was spent in the last meeting of our various committees under the expiring structure. We returned to the plenary Friday morning to hear final reports and vote on actions. I am not going to recount all the actions we dealt with. You can find a list of articles about the GAC decisions at the Presbyterian News Service.
My greatest impression of the events is that the GAC is in a time of major transition. The old leadership is departing, and much of the new leadership has yet to be identified (although that is actively being pursued.) Linda Valentine has been on the job less than three months and is doing a yeoman's job at bringing some sense of order out of a chaotic situation.
My biggest frustration has been the cascading effects of our failure to establish measurable outcomes at the April meeting. When we approved the Mission Work Plan in February, with its objectives, the staff was to return in April with measurable outcomes to meet those objectives. Because of the unanticipated magnitude of the budget shortfalls and the corresponding need for staff reductions, only a cursory first attempt was made toward the outcomes. There simply was not enough time to finish this part of the work. The April meeting was followed less than two months later by General Assembly and the Executive Director's position change. Right now, the emphasis must be on maintaining control over the current operations and establishing transition mechanisms toward adopting the new structure. This means that the GAC will not have outcomes to evaluate until next March, nearly a year after the date we desired to have that work done.
This is not a criticism of anyone. It is merely the acknowledgment that this was far more disruptive than most of us hoped it would be. The temptation during crisis and great change is to revert to old ways of doing things, which is exactly what we must resist. I already see some signs of that among some GAC members and staff. I realize the tremendous stress the staff is under, but our job as GAC members is to keep our eyes on the larger vision. So my biggest prayer right now is that the GAC will not lose focus amid great transitions. There is a tremendous opportunity if we can keep the vision God calls us to foremost and not sink into the waves of distraction and anxiety.
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