Churchwide Coordinating Team Meeting Summary

September 16–20, 2009

General News

• The CCT met September 16–20, 2009, in Louisville, Kentucky. Along with the usual business there were sessions on CCT orientation, board training and funds development.
• Martha Clark and April Davenport, PC(USA) legal counsel, provided board training. Kirsten Bullock, PW funds development consultant, provided funds development training.
• The 54th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) will be held February 27 (orientation) to March 12, 2010. This annual event is held at the United Nations’ headquarters and nearby sites in New York City. The theme of the 2010 UNCSW is “Review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action and the outcome of the 23rd special session of the General Assembly.”

The CCT hopes in 2010 the size of the PW delegation will grow. The UNCSW provides a unique opportunity for women and men to

1. Extend the inclusive and caring community of women and their supporters
2. Obtain information and other perspectives on the needs of women
3. Have another type of ecumenical encounter and opportunity

For more information, contact Ann Ferguson.

Committee Information

Note: Task Groups and Committees written in italic report to the CCT through the CCT committee under which they are listed. Only committees and task groups with information for this summary are listed.

Administrative Committee

Marta Rodriguez, chair

• Voting members to the 2009 Business Meeting created a position for a New Immigrant representative on the Churchwide Coordinating Team. This incumbent will also participate in the Racial Ethnic Dialog.

Funds Development Task Group

Catrelia Hunter, chair

• The Funds Development Committee is encouraging all synods and presbyteries to include presentations and workshops on Celebration Giving and Funds Development at all future Gatherings. We also ask that congregations be asked to increase their mission pledge giving by 5 percent for 2011. A workshop format will be available for download by March 2010. Leaders may use the Celebration Giving materials in the PW Manual until the outline is ready.
• Synods and presbyteries are encouraged to appoint Celebration Giving representatives. These women will work with contacts at the congregational level to provide resources, conduct workshops, follow up as needed and provide feedback to the Funds Development group on CCT. A copy of the job description and other information may be secured from Cindy Goodman or Patricia Longfellow.
• Kirsten Bullock, CFRE (Certified Fund Raising Executive), has been hired as a Funds Development Consultant to conduct a Fund Raising Audit and provide funds-development training for CCT members. This training began during the September 2009 meeting. Parts 2 and 3 of this training for CCT members will be webinar sessions held in October and December 2009.
• In response to a special appeal from Marta Rodriguez, CCT members pledged $12,300 to the Mission Pledge during the meeting. This offering was collected during the Sunday morning closing worship service on September 20, 2009.  As a part of the overall effort to increase giving to the Mission Pledge, Marta asked that the CCT offering this time be given for the Mission Pledge.
• One of the Funds Development goals is to focus more on individual giving as a means of offering opportunities to women who have not contributed in the past. Giving envelopes that are now being placed in Horizons magazine and in the Horizons Bible study may be used by individuals. You may request these envelopes for Gatherings at all levels. We will also be developing a major gifts program to secure increased funding for the mission pledge, Birthday and Thank Offerings over the next three years.
• The PW Legacy Program is now available to women who would like to secure the future of Presbyterian women by making Presbyterian Women a part of their estate plans. Women interested in receiving more information about this program or talking with a representative of the foundation should contact Theresa Slaiman or Ann Ferguson or Mark Klemm, senior vice president for development for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Foundation.

Communications Committee

Mary Jorgenson, chair

• Work on revision of the Communications Basics resource has begun. The committee plans to have the revised resource ready before the leader training in 2010.
• Work on a new PW leadership resource that has been in planning since the last triennium will continue in cooperation with the Leadership Enhancement Committee. The resource will be available before the leader training in 2010.
• PW now has a presence on YouTube. View videos of Mary Mikhael, Bible study author, the Churchwide Gathering, PW history and the PW Offerings.
• PW also has a group on Facebook.

Bible Study Committee

Ann Barnwell, chair

• The Bible Study Committee will meet March 9, 2010, in Louisville, Kentucky, preceding the CCT meeting. The committee will choose an author for the 2013–2014 Bible study on migration as understood through Exodus and Deuteronomy and a topic for the 2014–2015 study.

Horizons Editorial Committee (HEC)

Virginia Champlin, chair

• The Horizons Editorial Committee met September 24–25, 2009, in Louisville, Kentucky. Kevin Shanley, circulation consultant, met with the committee.
• Upcoming themes: November/December 2009, The Transforming Church; January/February 2010, Living Simply; March/April, Trafficking; May/June, Christians in the Middle East; July/August, Christianity and the arts; September/October, prisons and prison ministry; November/December, care giving and health; January/February 2011, communication.
• As of January 2010, an annual subscription to Horizons will cost $24.95, two years $44 and three years, $63.
• Beginning with Journeys Through Revelation, the 2010–2011 Bible study, the study will cost $8 per copy. A discount will be provided for 10 or more copies. Prices of ancillary products will be determined based on production costs. Price change promotions are forthcoming.
• Complimentary copies of the magazine will be sent to CCT members. This does not replace your subscription to the magazine. Office copies are sent to ensure CCT members have the magazine in time to answer any questions that may come from constituents. Once your subscription copy arrives, please give your additional copy to someone as a promotion.

History Committee

Joan Berglund, chair

• Patricia Longfellow continues to receive items for the PW Time Capsule (promoted as part of the PW Heritage Exhibit at the Gathering).
• The committee will focus its efforts in the next triennium on promoting the need to write and preserve PW histories. Efforts will be made to make this process easier and with more readily accessible resources (online instructions and preformatted information forms).

Justice and Peace Committee

Bobbie Rubin, chair
The foci of the Justice and Peace Committee for this triennium:

• Rape as a weapon of war/Sudanese women (as per 2009 CWG Business Meeting)
• Environmental issues
• Eliminate use of plastic water bottles.
• Encourage less use of paper by all CCT members and staff.
• Provide recycling containers at all CCT functions.
• Immigration issues
• Encourage use of the word “undocumented” not “illegal”
• Encourage CCT members to join “Presbyterians for Just Immigration.”
• Trafficking
• Justice and Peace in Israel/Palestine
• Reminders
• Only Fair Trade snack items are to be enjoyed at all our meetings.
• Leave $2 tip on your hotel bed every day.
• It is PW and PC(USA) policy to use inclusive and expansive language.

Leadership Enhancement Committee

Ann Barnwell, chair

• Leadership training event planned for fall 2010 before CCT meeting. Guideline for participant selection is being developed. Synod moderators should look for this information in the next few months. This will be a different format and approach from the 2007 training.
• Leadership Development Grant — guidelines and forms have been updated and will be online
• Leaders urged to use GOTOMEETING to convene meetings.
• An online calendar is being developed.
• Formed a group to study and guide a process towards organizing Intergenerational Dialogue.
• Formed a group to explore ideas to emphasize Newly Retired Women in PW during this triennium.
• Sisters Stand and Walk Together — Synod of South-Atlantic became the third Synod PW to receive a grant ($5,000.00). Learn more about Sisters Stand and Walk Together.
• Congregation PWs are urged to send in contact information for the database.
• Each LEC member is responsible to maintain contact with two synod PWs.

Mission Relationships Committee

• CMOC (Mary Lou Williams, chair): The Creative Ministries Offering Committee met and reviewed 33 applications for the 2010 Birthday Offering. Two projects were decided — one international and one national. The release of the offering recipients is pending notifications of all grant applications. The 2011 Birthday offering theme will be Proverbs 22:6. The goal is $900,000. The committee will meet in February to make decisions for 2010 Thank offering recipients.
• USA Mission Experience 2010 (LaDonna Fay, chair): The USAME committee will travel to South Dakota for a pre-trip following the CCT meeting. The USAME 2010 trip is scheduled September 9–16, 2010. The trip will begin and end in Sioux Falls, S.D., and will be limited to 24 participants. Applications are now available.
• Global Exchange (Jenny Lee, chair): The 2011 Global Exchange will be to India and Thailand (orientation and debriefing). Emphasis for the exchange will be on human trafficking and the environment (especially water shortage). Participants on the exchange will travel in up to three separate groups to different areas in India to facilitate travel and accommodations.
• Congo Project: The Palm Project has been renamed the Congo Project. This will allow the project to expand beyond the purchase of trees to include oil presses and renovations to guesthouses on palm plantations. Giving to this project continues to be strong.
• School Supplies for Carpath, Ukraine: Funds of $15,000 have been designated to support the purchase of school supplies for Roma children in Carpath, Ukraine, as a new advocacy and mission project. This project supports partnerships established during the 2008 Global Exchange.
• Study Tours: A Study Tour brochure was included in the Quarterly Mailings. Applications for the Study Tours will be available soon.
• Mission Stories/TIS: Committee members were each assigned two synods to coordinate mission stories for TIS web pages:

• Marilyn Collins: Rocky Mountains and Northwest
• Virginia Hines: Sun and Southwest
• Mary Jorgenson: Mid-America and Covenant
• LaDonna Fay: Lincoln Trails and Lakes and Prairie
• Mary Lou Williams: Pacific and Southern California and Hawaii
• Martha Knichel: Mid Atlantic and Living Waters
• Jenny Lee: Northeast and Puerto Rico
• Alice Wyatt: Trinity and South Atlantic
• CCT members are invited to share stories with MRC members and/or communications staff for publication.
• The committee will continue working on mission project(s) for areas visited by the 2008 Global Exchange. Conversations continue with mission coworkers and area coordinators. A specific Roma project will not be launched until 2010.

Nurture Committee

Florence Vargas, chair

• The committee is following up with a PW Health and Wholeness program. At present, we are in conversation with publishers of the book, Your Whole Life, about adapting for use and promotion with Presbyterian Women.

Search Committee

Esperanza Guajardo, chair

• The committee will begin its work to identify nominees for 2012–2015 triennium this fall.