Diversity and bequests hot topics at Assembly Council

posted on January 1, 2007 in News | Be the First to Comment | Print

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Assembly Council adopted a draft policy on racial harassment entitled Growing in Christ: Seeing the Image of God in Our Neighbour, at its November meeting. “The Presbyterian Church in Canada welcomes its cultural diversity,” states the policy. “Both at the congregational and national level, the Presbyterian Church will actively involve the cultural diversity in its midst when it comes to decision-making, service on boards and committees, preparation for ministry in the church, representation of the church at all levels and employment within the church.”
Discussed extensively, there were still questions surrounding certain aspects of the policy, such as seeking legal counsel and issues of clarity, so the policy was adopted in principle and will return to the council's March meeting before heading to General Assembly. The policy deals with issues of inclusion, includes definitions pertaining to race and ethnicity, offers guiding principles when dealing with racial harassment and outlines steps to take if a person makes such a claim.
Council also instructed the ad-hoc committee on diversity and racial harassment to add two people “to enhance the diversity of the committee.” There was also discussion on fostering a grassroots movement in the church to encourage minorities to become leaders — whether on national committees, as elders or committee members in their congregations, or as national or regional staff.
“In 10 years, it is our hope that the leadership of the church will reflect the racial diversity within the Presbyterian Church in general and will resemble the diversity found in Canadian society,” said Rod Ferguson, convener of the ad-hoc committee. He will be succeeded by Rev. Dale Woods, minister at First, Brandon.
Rev. Victor Kim, minister at Grace, Calgary, noted that the PCC already includes people of various races and ethnicities (one-tenth of worshippers in Presbyterian congregations are Korean). “We don't want token things happening,” said Kim. “What will we do as leaders to send an example to our church and to send an example to our world, saying this is The Presbyterian Church in Canada?”
Assembly Council discussed other issues including:
Effective Jan. 1, 2007, the travel allowance for multiple-point charges will be changed to a maximum of $4,920 per year. This is up 16.7 per cent from the previous rate. The amount had been unchanged since 1994.
A new treasurer's handbook will be available online, free of charge, and will be emailed to congregations early this year. The Chief Financial Officer, Steve Roche, oversaw the project and it was reviewed and contributed to by several financial professionals.
The council accepted an invitation from the Presbytery of London to host the 2011 General Assembly.
The Personnel Policy Committee presented a policy on conflict of interest for church office staff that was approved by council. Any staff member who “might find him/herself in a position of possibly benefiting or appearing to benefit from a decision taken by the organization relating to the discharge of their duties and responsibilities” must declare the conflict to their supervisor. This applies to work on committees, to their position at church offices and includes both contract and full-time employees.
Undesignated bequests have become a topic of increasing interest and importance over the last few years, with the creation of the Bequest Revenue Fund in 2004 and the Planned Giving office a year later. Over the past five years, an annual average of $400,000 has been realized, and such generosity is expected to continue. Council approved an interim policy for the allocation of undesignated bequests, to be reviewed at the Nov. 2007 meeting.
The policy states that the first priority will be maintaining a $1.6-million balance (with deposits of no more than $200,000 a year) in the Bequest Revenue Fund, which will help sustain the church in years of decreased givings. It will also provide the $280,000 needed annually (as of 2008) to address increases in grants to colleges for increased professorial stipend and increases to executive stipend at the national office. The colleges will receive 10.13 per cent of undesignated bequests (increased from 8.6 per cent), which covers the increase in grants to the colleges.
After these allocations, The Life and Mission Agency can request up to 35 per cent of undesignated bequests for mission priorities. The remaining 65 per cent will be allocated by the Assembly Council upon recommendations from the Finance Committee each year based on numerous guidelines including goals that are national in scope, last no more than five years, are not for permanent staff positions in any area of the church, and will initiate new programs and enhance and expand the mission of the church. As of the end of November, the church had $2.6-million in undesignated bequests.
– Amy MacLachlan