Newsletters

Date: August 31st 2010

from Colombia accompaniers Ann Legg and Kaitlin Porter, 8/30/10

How does YOUR Presbytery plan for the future? Our experience in Colombia has us thinking about this question.

The Presbyterian Church in Colombia is divided into 3 presbyteries: North Coast Presbytery with an office in Barranquilla, Central Presbytery based in Bogotá, and Urabá Presbytery based in Apartadó. We were invited to observe the planning process for two of these presbyteries: the North Coast on Saturday, August 14, and the Urabá on Wednesday, August 18. It was interesting to note the difference between their approach to planning and ours in the United States.

In both instances in Colombia, Horacio, a consultant who works for CREAS (Regional Ecumenical Center for Consulting and Service), an organization based in Argentina that assists churches all over South America with organization and planning, came to help guide the proceess. In addition, German Zarate, coordinator of the Diaconia for all the presbyteries in Colombia, received training by CREAS prior to the planning sessions.

We entered the meeting of the North Coast in Barranquilla after it had begun. Small groups, representing three churches each, were meeting together in one room to evaluate their current projects and to create new objectives for the next five years. Churches made plans in five areas: evangelization, education, service, administration, and pastors and ministries. They identified goals for their own churches and for the presbytery. Each group brainstormed ideas and then reported to the whole group. After lunch individuals wrote ideas on chart paper hung on the walls. The next day Gloria (the executive secretary of the North Coast Presbytery), German (coordinator of Diaconia) and Horacio (the consultant from CREAS) met to finalize the report.

In Apartadó, the meeting began with a song led by the executive secretary of the Urabá Presbytery and prayer led by the pastor of the Apartadó church. After the task for the day was explained, each church formed a small group to start the planning process for their own church and for the presbytery in the same five areas as the Presbytery of the North Coast.

After the lunch break, Horacio arrived to continue the process and hear reports from each church. At the conclusion of the meeting at 4:30 p.m., we were taken to El Tres for a visit of 6 days so we weren't able to observe the continuation of the meeting on Thursday and Friday.

We compared the Colombia experience with our own. In contrast, Ann's church, Ridgefield-Crystal Lake Presbyterian in Crystal Lake, Illinois, may or may not bring in a consultant but always makes long and short range plans at the local level and not in a meeting with other churches in the Presbytery.

The Blackhawk Presbytery in Illinois, as a whole, does not have a long range plan. Since the presbytery does not do programming as such, long term planning takes on a different form. The Mission Strategies and Resources Board is where planning for new churches and resourcing existing churches for ministry happens. The Business Affairs Committee is where financial planning occurs. Ad hoc groups plan for specific matters that arise.

It seems to us that while the planning process the Colombian church uses works well for them, as it provides the opportunity to get ideas from other churches, it would not work as well for churches and presbyteries in the United States. PC(USA) churches in general have many more members than the Colombian churches and there are more churches in each U.S. presbytery. This would make the planning process extremely cumbersome. Do you agree?

Does your presbytery make long range plans? If so, who makes the plans and what is the process? If you don't know, we urge you to contact your presbytery executive to find out.

Ann Legg and Kaitlin Porter, accompaniers


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