Friday, February 21, 2014

Essay: From Castle to Frontier Outpost: Changing views of mission.

Essay: From Castle to Frontier Outpost: Changing views of mission.
The one, holy, universal and apostolic Christian Church has received a calling to mission directly from Jesus. The Church has always turned to the Great Commission - the resurrected Jesus’ last words to his disciples - as the starting point and inspiration for our mission work (See Matthew 28: 19, 20). Nonetheless the understanding and definition of mission is changing and shifting in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) today. Your view of these changes depends a lot on the location and viability of the congregation where you are located. I offer two different images or mental pictures of mission that may, I hope, help us understand these changes.
Castle: Consider in your mind’s eye an image of a medieval castle. Throughout Europe these amazing structures are still fascinating places to tour. Consider a castle as a definition of mission. In this regard, the church is the castle. It is strong, secure, established and solid. Imagine the heavy, secure doors of the castle opening, the drawbridge across the moat dropped down, and a group from the castle sent out on a mission. This may be the understanding of mission familiar to most of us. In this view, the church is the castle and the mission we do is sent from our secure, established home base out into the world. Mission goes out from the church. This mission may be in the form of missionaries sent out to create castles in other places. Or this mission may be in the form of simply sending money out to help with people, organizations, agencies that are beyond the walls of our castle. For our Presbytery, this understanding of mission funds our Mission Grants programs which makes financial grants.
Frontier outpost: Consider a completely different image. Consider in your mind’s eye a small group of faithful Christians venturing together into a wild, wilderness frontier and living there; this is actually the original history of Presbyterians in Pennsylvania. Consider a small frontier outpost established in a wild, savage wilderness as an image for the church. In this image the definition of mission is very different. The existence of this frontier outpost is questionable and tentative; it is not secure or established. The existence and survival of the church itself is at risk. It is constantly threatened. In this case the survival of the church is its mission. It is not at all certain that this Christian outpost living in the wilderness will survive. Thus the continuing existence of the church, in every way, is its mission. 
I believe the definition of mission is shifting in the church today from castle view to frontier outpost view. In the castle, all the work of our daily operations from the salaries of our people, to the care of our buildings, our worship and our pastoral care are all accomplished. The castle sustains itself. We are, in fact, very good at this. When everything has been accomplished making sure the castle is secure and comfortable; then we send out our mission.
If the church is understood as a frontier outpost our survival, including all the day to day operations, are our mission. Thus everything we do - including salaries, our worship and programs and our buildings - are all contributing to the existence of this fragile outpost in a threatening wilderness. Everything we do is our mission. Our mission is to exist as a church in the midst of a wild and foreign world. 



Questions for prayer, pondering and discussion:

  • How secure and established do you consider the existence of the church today? Do you feel that the existence of the church in our society is at risk or threatened?
  • Do you feel that the continuing existence of your congregation in your community is at risk?
  • What does it mean to consider the existence of the church as its mission?
  • What is God doing? In the castle image of the church, the church does mission. The church is secure, stable and established and thus sends out mission work. In the frontier outpost image of the church, God does mission. God has sent the church into the wilderness frontier of the world. The planting of the church in the wild frontier is God’s work of mission. This is, of course, the most important question: What is God through Christ doing in regard to these issues?
  • How do these different views of mission influence the ways we fund the church and organize ourselves? This opens the complicated question of our financial system.

Resource: What is Per Capita?


Resource B: What is Per Capita?

For 2014 the total Per Capita assessment for congregations in the Presbytery of Carlisle is $25.00 for each active member.
                                    General Assembly                     $7.02
                                    Synod of the Trinity                  $2.20
                                    Presbytery of Carlisle                $15.78
                                    TOTAL 2014 Per Capita       $25.00

  • The Presbytery of Carlisle has, since 2006, created a financial system that functions with one, unified budget. Thus the Presbytery does not maintain a distinction in our financial system between Per Capita and Shared Mission contributions. All Per Capita Contributions and Shared Missions contributions from our congregations are unified into one operating budget from which all expenses are drawn. (Please contact me for a copy of our 2014 Budget).
  • Our Presbytery’s unified budget clearly reflects a changing definition of the understanding of the church today. Everything the church does is mission. As discussed in the essay, “From castle to frontier outpost: changing views of mission”, this unified budget reflects an understanding of the church as a frontier outpost. Thus even a congregation’s Per Capita contribution should be considered part of their mission. This unified budget system also creates a clear, clean and transparent financial system.
  • At the General Assembly the distinction between Per Capita and Shared Mission giving is fully separate. Per Capita supports the Office of the General Assembly. Shared Mission Giving supports the General Assembly Mission Agency. The Office of the General Assembly and the General Assembly Mission Agency are separate agencies within the General Assembly.
  • Funded by Per Capita, the Office of the General Assembly is responsible for all governance and constitutional matters, all judicial and disciplinary concerns as well as the actual meeting of the General Assembly and the work of the General Assembly Moderator. (The next General Assembly is June 14 – 21, 2014 in Detroit).
Questions for prayer, pondering and discussion:

  • Is being connected together with other congregations through the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) important to you as a session?
  • How do you participate in those connections?
  • In what ways have our connections together been strained and broken in recent years? In what ways have you contributed to enhancing and nurturing our connections?
  • How do you financially support the connections we share?
  • Will you contribute your Per Capita contribution to financially contribute to these connections? 

Resource: What is Shared Mission?


Resource C: What is Shared Mission?

Shared Mission contributions are defined by each session and shared between the work of the Presbytery and the General Assembly Mission Agency. The Presbytery is responsible for defining the percentage distribution.
  • Currently our percentage distribution is 32.5% for the General Assembly Mission Agency and 67.5% for the Presbytery. We are proposing a change in this distribution percentage for 2015. This change is proposed in order to focus more of our financial resources within the Presbytery. This proposal is also motivated by the action of the General Assembly Mission Agency. The Mission Agency has responded to the recent decline Shared Mission Giving by creating a funds development program to raise funds for their ministry from individuals across the Church. 
  • The Presbytery of Carlisle has, since 2006, created a financial system that functions with one, unified budget. Thus the Presbytery does not maintain a distinction in our financial system between Per Capita and Shared Mission contributions. All Per Capita contributions and Shared Mission contributions from our congregations are unified into one operating budget from which all expenses are drawn.
  • Within the Presbytery, shared mission contributions are used to support the general operating budget.
  • Within the General Assembly Mission Agency, Shared Mission contributions are used to support these areas of ministry:
                                    1001 Worshiping Communities
                                    Compassion, Peace and Justice
                                    Evangelism and Church Growth
                                    Racial Ethnic and Women’s Ministries
                                    Stewardship
                                    Theology, Worship and Education
                                    Vocation
                                    World Mission

  • It is important to understand that Shared Mission Giving is shared between the Presbytery and the General Assembly Mission agency. Shared Mission Giving supports the general operating budgets of the Presbytery and the General Assembly Mission agency. But these funds are not used in specific, designated ways within either the Presbytery or the General Assembly Mission Agency.

Questions for prayer, pondering and discussion:

  • How does your session understand mission work? Has your understanding of mission changed recently? Do you believe everyone on your session shares an understanding of mission?
  • Does your session consider your participation in and support of the work of our presbytery to be an expression of your mission?
  • Does your session contribute to shared mission giving? Why or why not? How is this decision made?

Resource: What is Designated Mission Giving?


Resource D: What is Designated Mission Giving?
      The concept of Designated Mission Giving may be one of the most confusing aspects of our funding system today. It is also growing and may be an important future trend. I am describing here Designated Mission Giving that is sent to our Presbytery. All of our congregations have expressions of specific, designated mission giving, which are not sent through our Presbytery office, and for which we have no record. When you support a local family with their electric bill/ rent, or send a contribution to your volunteer fire department or the Red Cross, you are making a designated mission gift; a gift designated to a specific purpose.
·        Presbyterian Designated Mission Giving is mission giving your session sends to the Presbytery for distribution to a specific mission cause or purpose. Within our Presbytery this is a huge number and includes gifts to Krislund, Lend a Hand, specific Presbyterian missionaries, and many other specific mission causes.
·        The Presbytery receives no benefit from your Designated Mission Giving. This is simply a service we provide to you as an easy way to make gifts to particular mission causes or agencies.
·        With that said, there is an important new expression of Designated Mission Giving, which is growing in our Presbytery. There are congregations that make a Designated Mission Gift to the Presbytery. In other words, the Presbytery itself is the mission that these congregations specifically want to support. This kind of Designated Mission giving to the Presbytery supports the general operating Budget of the Presbytery. The Presbytery itself is the designated recipient of the gift.
·        This concept of Designated Mission Giving to the Presbytery is typically used by sessions that decide NOT to participate in the Shared Mission Giving system.

Questions for prayer, pondering and discussion:

  • Do you understand the concept of Designated Mission Giving to the Presbytery?
  • Do you understand the difference between Designated Mission Giving and Shared Mission Giving?
  • Will your congregation participate in Shared Mission Giving?
  • Will your congregation participate in Designated Mission Giving to the Presbytery?
  • How are these decisions discussed and made?