A “Leadership-Centered” Model of Presbytery A “Leadership-Centered” model of Presbytery lives out the Great Ends of the Church: the proclamation of the Gospel for the Salvation of humankind; the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God; the maintenance of divine worship; the preservation of the truth; the promotion of social righteousness; and the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the World. Book of Order, G-1.0200 A “Leadership-Centered” model of Presbytery is to be interpreted as a servant model in the mode and spirit of our Savior as expressed in Matthew 20: 20-28.
A “Leadership-Centered” model of Presbytery is one that focuses on Ministers of Word & Sacrament (MWOS), Commissioned Lay Pastors (CLP) and ordained leaders (Elders & Deacons). This model of Presbytery brings all congregations into the mix and makes the model relevant to all the congregations, and has the following goals & objectives:
1.) A functionally-organized COM will be better able to respond to certain needs, both ongoing (e.g., training of leadership) and unique (pastoral transitions, conflict). Advantages of a functional organization include:
a.) Better training for individual functions of COM members, thus increasing the quality of the responses to congregational needs as they arise.
b.) Better time utilization for COM members, in meeting when their gifts & skills are required, rather than on a monthly basis
c.) While the membership of COM might remain unchanged, the regular meetings of COM might consist of the chairs of the functional groupings, while the functional grouping meetings might better focus on training and identification of where gifts & skills are needed, success, etc.
2.) Capture the spirt of response to the Katrina disaster and to the Crane church fire, and channel it to establishing new congregations to meet the needs of a demographically-changing population, as well as revitalizing existing congregations to meet the needs of a changing society in the places where they already are.
Some ways of doing this might include:
a.) General Council should proclaim 200x the “Year of New Church Development & Redevelopment” in John Calvin Presbytery, put the structures/entities in place necessarym to make that a meaningful year, and involve the whole Presbytery in education and discernment about what church redevelopment is all about, and what opportunities exist for new church development in certain areas.
b.) Grants from the Compensation Fund should be tied to attendance at church redevelopment/revitalization training events.
c.) General Council should direct the Board of Trustees and the NCD Task Force to research existing restrictions on the Church Development and the New Church Development restricted funds, and then bring in a recommendation for Presbytery action that would (1) clearly establish the new benchmark for the division of those restricted funds between new church development funds and redevelopment of existing congregations; (2) establish guidelines for the division of the proceeds of the sale of all future church property by the Presbytery among loan funds, funds for new church development, and funds for church redevelopment; and (3) establish a formula for the division of the proceeds of the sale ofthe existing Presbytery office site among the same three functions plus a percentage for the acquisition/ rental of new Presbytery office space.
3.) Routine and regular two way communication between the Presbyterian Center and the congregations, and among the congregations, needs to focus both on how they can impact the process to ensure that their needs are met and what resources will be available when to meet those needs.
4.) General Council has to model what it means to be a leadership-focused governing body, by identifying critical issues, and shifting the focus of General Council from housekeeping to discerning, visioning and planning.
Some ways of doing this include:
a.) The focus of General Council needs to shift from reacting to what others bring to it to becoming the body which initiates directions and holds others responsible for the conformity of the activity and the budget to the vision and mission.
b.) General Council needs to develop a 3-year rolling cycle of Presbytery annual mission & ministry emphases, with responsible committees/entities assured of a major budget commitment for “their” year, and freedom to contract with dynamic leadership to lead major training events during “their” year.
c.) General Council should delegate responsibility for Presbytery meeting agendas to a subcommittee that will meet after the General Council meeting to put together that agenda, based on decisions made at General Council in the visioning, discerning, planning, evaluating function.
d.) General Council should also delegate responsibility for financial statement approval to the Finance Committee, but clearly retain oversight of how a committee’s/task force’s budget is carrying out the mission emphases and directions of the Presbytery during its part in the planning cycle.
e.) The elected General Council membership needs to be composed of an equal number of ministers and elders.
5.) Pastoral and elected leadership needs support from Presbytery, as they grapple with leading Presbyterian congregations into the new reality to which God is calling us.
Some examples of that support might include:
a.) Organizing the Presbytery into 4 quadrants & offering ordained congregational leadership annual training/educational/fellowship opportunities.
b.) Providing once every 3 years a 3-day retreat for all pastors (MWOS & CLP) and spouses whose purpose is both fellowship and education.
c.) Redefining the Resource Center director position into a Presbytery Educator (PE) position (part time) with emphasis on working with Congregational Life Ministries Committee to organize t/e/f opportunities.
d.) Rewriting Stated Clerk position description to add emphasis on training clerks in roles & responsibilities.
