Overture 04-25. On Directing the Stated Clerk to Prepare a Comparative Statistical Report, to Include a Summation of the Sources and Uses of Funds by Presbyteries, Synods—From the Presbytery of Albany.

The Presbytery of Albany respectfully overtures the 216th General Assembly (2004) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to direct the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly to prepare a Comparative Statistical Report of Presbyteries and Synods collated from information currently reported by presbyteries and synods and/or required by the General Assembly. Said report will include a summation of the sources and uses of funds by presbyteries and synods.

Rationale

Sessions, presbyteries, and synods participate in the mission of the whole church:

• Session—Book of Order, G-10.0102c: “mission of the whole Church ... G-3.0000”
  
• Presbytery—Book of Order, G-11.0103a: mission of the whole church ... G-3.0000”
  
• Synod—Book of Order, G-12.0102a: “mission of whole church ... G-3.0000”

Sessions, presbyteries, synods, and the General Assembly are in a continuing “reformation” and transformation:

• Book of Order, G-3.0401c, “The Church is called ... to a new openness ... to God’s activity.
  
• Presbytery—Book of Order, G-11.0103v: council to review relationship of structure and mission.

Sessions, presbyteries, synods, and General Assembly are a unity:

• Book of Order, G-4.0302, shared power and responsibility.

Sessions, presbyteries, and synods maintain records and establish budgets:

• Session—G-10.0102i (Budget); G-10.0300 (Minutes and Records)
  
• Presbytery—G-11.0304 (Budget); G-11.0305 (Minutes and Records)
  
• Synod—G-12.0303 (Budget); G-12.0304 (Minutes and Records)

Sessions, presbyteries, and synods prepare annual reports that are reviewed by their respective governing body:

• Session—G-10.0102i (“providing full information to the congregation”); G-10.0102p(7) (sent annually to presbytery stated clerk); G-10.0301 (minutes reviewed by presbytery)
  
• Presbytery—G-11.0305 (minutes reviewed by synod); G-11.0306 (annual report to Stated Clerk of General Assembly)
  
• Synod—G-12.0304 (minutes reviewed by General Assembly, annual report to General Assembly)

The Council of the Presbytery of Albany, attentive to the changing circumstances of its congregations and open to God’s transforming work (G-3.0401c), established a Budget Work Group to review the financial structure and mission (G-11.0103v) of the presbytery. The Budget Work Group relied upon the ten-year trend as reported by congregations to the presbytery and the Office of the General Assembly, G-10.0102p(7) and G-11.0306, and compiled and reported in the Comparative Statistics.

The ten-year trend report was helpful to the Budget Work Group in an analysis of congregational activity. However, the report did not address the concern of the Budget Work Group, namely how does the budget of the presbytery reflect the presbytery’s stated mission and does the presbytery structure undergird that mission.

The Budget Work Group would have found helpful a ten-year trend of the presbytery’s budget and have been able to compare the budget of the Presbytery of Albany with those presbyteries of similar size. However, the Office of the General Assembly does not compile or report that information.

Presbyteries do report that information to synods (G-11.0305) and synods to the General Assembly (G-12.0304). Both presbyteries and synods report statistical information to the General Assembly (G-11.0306; G-12.0304).

The Presbytery of Albany believes that as the whole church is addressing changing demographic and financial conditions a comparative report of the budget structures of presbyteries and synods would be helpful to each and all of the presbyteries and synods.

The Presbytery of Albany requests the Office of the General Assembly to develop the means to compile the information presently reported by presbyteries and synods and make this available to the whole church.