Presbyterian Mission Agency ministerial teams visit San Juan sites, provide reports

Groups engage community as they conduct business

by Gregg Brekke | Presbyterian News Service

additional reporting by Courtney Hoekstra, Rick Jones, Kathy Melvin, Emily Odom and Richard Williams

Dr. Francisco Javier Goitia Padillo, Academic Dean at the Seminario Evangelico Puerto Rico, speaks to PMA ministerial teams on ‘Power and Privilege in the Puerto Rican Context.’ (Photo by Gregg Brekke)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The eight ministerial teams of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board (PMAB) met at various locations around the city yesterday—including several churches and the Presbyterian seminary—as they conducted their business and heard from local religious leaders. The teams met as one component of the Board’s spring 2017 meeting in Puerto Rico.

Ministerial Teams—a new feature of the PMAB meeting structure since 2016—are intended to address “immediate areas of concern” over a short term, delivering decisions and recommendations to the PMAB’s Administrative Committees or the board for discussion and approval. Teams are expected to meet up to 18 months and will disband when their mandate is complete.

Rashell Hunter, director of Racial Ethnic and Women’s Ministries, speaks from the floor during a discussion on the ‘Power and Privilege’ ministerial team’s recommendations. (Photo by Gregg Brekke)

Addressing Power and Privilege

Meeting at the Seminario Evangelico Puerto Rico, the Power and Privilege Ministerial Team, joined by the Belhar Confession Ministerial Team, heard from Dr. Francisco Javier Goitia Padillo, Academic Dean of the Seminary on “Power and Privilege in the Puerto Rican Context.”

After exploring the definitions of power and privilege, Padillo unpacked the theological implications of our human creation of systems where some people have an unearned and unjust advantage over others.  Utilizing theologians like John Calvin and Daniel Migliore, Padillo offered a model of understanding sin as both individual and corporate in nature,  including the human capacity to idolize that which has the capacity to bring us more power. Dr. Padillo drew the group’s attention to some of the particulars of the experiences of Puerto Ricans as those colonized by the U.S. as striking examples of the results of idolatrous systems of power and privilege.

Informed by Dr. Padillo’s lecture, the Power and Privilege Team moved forward discussing the report and recommendations they will submit to the Board in September.  The group agreed that their work and presence on the Board is essential, underscoring the importance of power analysis as a consistent necessity for the entirety of the work of the Board, particularly in our current political atmosphere. As a part of this discussion, the group discussed some concerns and the need for clarity regarding the proposal of the Governance Task Force.

Implementing Belhar 

The Implementing Belhar ministerial team also met at the Seminario Evangelico Puerto Rico, forming a recommendation for the Presbyterian Mission Agency based on their work over the past year.

The team spoke with Susan Barnett from the PMA’s Research Services group, hearing details of a survey on Belhar knowledge and adoption. Of the 4,670 pastors surveyed, 635 were not aware of Belhar’s adoption as a confession of the PC(USA). Of those who were not aware of Belhar, over half (361) said they had no plans to include information about the confession in a sermon or study series. Of those who were aware of Belhar’s adoption, just 19 percent said they had no plans to include it in congregational teaching.

Urging a short-term extension of the team’s work to address the writing of an “accompanying letter” with ecumenical partners in an effort to include a North American Reformed perspective on Belhar’s adoption, the team’s recommendation reads, in part:

“That the Board direct existing offices of the Presbyterian Mission Agency (including Theology, Formation & Evangelism, Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, and others involved in ecumenical cooperation) and encourage the General Assembly Committee on Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations in North America (GACEIR) to urge the use of the Belhar Confession in conversation with Full Communion partner churches on deeper, visible forms of unity and mission, to explore joint reflection on a US ‘accompanying letter’ and related confessional issues,  and to request a report on resulting ecumenical communication and consultation to the September meeting by two members of the Belhar Implementation team and staff involved.”

Next Steps for the Young Adult Volunteer Program

The Young Adult Volunteer ministerial team met at the Presbyterian Church of Hato Rey, and hard much about their ministry and vision. The Rev. José González shared about the mission and ministry of that congregation, specifically how it has connected with the YAV program and will continue to do so in the future. The team also had a Skype session with Miami YAV site coordinator Michelle Muníz-Vega, originally from the Hato Rey congregation, who talked about the long-term impact her YAV year had on her life. Muñiz-Vega shared about the unique challenges and opportunities she encountered in the YAV program, and how they have shaped her into the leader she is today.

The YAV ministerial team also reaffirmed their final report to the full board, including a recommendation about the YAV program’s plans for growth for the coming years. The YAV program plans to add one new additional YAV site each year, alternating between national and international sites. This plan is a general guideline for growth, and will be flexible according to the changing recruitment, budget and program needs of the YAV program.

During the YAV report to the plenary of the PMA, mission agency staff Tamron Keith and YAV program director, Richard Williams, received questions about the program’s accommodations for racial ethnic minority applications and the needs of applicants with mental health issues. The two dedicated to answering these questions, explaining existing policies and processes in place in the program and with YAV sites, and disseminate this information to board members.

Increased Coordination with the Office of the General Assembly

Representatives of the PMA and OGA gathered at the Sheraton Hotel, where COGA is meeting, to undertake the work of the PMA Coordination with OGA Ministerial Team.

After members shared joys and concerns and debriefed for a full hour on the joint “Community Conversations” in which they had engaged the previous morning, the body took an unexpected turn.

Anticipating—and ultimately modeling—the very deliberations in which they would engage, the team departed from its prescribed structure and agenda in favor of being church by fostering relationships and building community.

The team, which was—and still is—expected to do a full exploration of “shared services,” communications, and issues related to per capita dollars, committed itself instead to a process that it believed would more easily facilitate its future conversations.

“It’s important that we get together,” said PMAB member, Tamara Williams, Stated Clerk and administrative coordinator for the Presbytery of Charlotte. “It models for the denomination that we’re building community here—that’s what we’re trying to get our mid councils and congregations to do. We’re not just six separate agencies, we have a common focus.”

Role of Print in the PMA’s Communication Strategy

Backing off its previous recommendation of consolidating all PMA print publications into a unified magazine, the Role of Print ministerial team issued a report saying it is “essential for us to tell an inclusive message that identifies us as the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)”

The group acknowledged there is a role for print in the PC(USA) and said their initial recommendation was “premature at this time,” while affirming the need to have a unified approach to story telling within the denomination.

To that end and “given the changes that are evolving with the board and the other changes happening in the church,” the team recommend the Interim Executive Director of the PMA form of a collaborative interorganizational team that will continue the conversation on the role of print. This team will be in consultation with the appropriate board committee to report progress and receive feedback.

Next Steps in 1001 New Worshiping Communities

The Next Steps for 1001 Ministerial Team met with the pastor and leaders of the Rio Grande Presbyterian Church, 30 minutes outside of San Juan. The 35-member congregation has been together formally as a church for nearly four years.

The Rev. Eileen Rivas, Rio Grande’s pastor, walked the team through the church’s formation and goals and took the group to a few of the local housing communities where they have conducted children’s festivals and health clinics.

“I am inspired and encouraged and am in awe of the faithfulness to the work,” said team chair Jeffrey Joe. “New worshipping communities are showing us that living our values to make and find new disciples of Christ is changing and transforming the world.”

Rivas says the children’s festivals have given the church the opportunity to reach dozens of children and, in the long run, their parents.

“I saw and felt the presence of God. It has been a moving experience, because of the people they’re touching,” said Vicki Garber, ministry team member. “But this is also a profound place where God is at work.”

In its report to the full board, the team reiterates its continued support for the 1001 initiative and urges PMA leadership, synods and presbyteries to nourish and encourage new congregations. Funding for projects is currently adequate, and an effort is underway to reallocated restricted funds that will enable future progress of the program.

Allocating and Communicating Overhead Costs

Saying the work of the team was now entwined with the work of the Way Forward Commission and All Agency Review Committee, now examining shared and common services in the denomination, Wendy Tajima, team chair, said the group had met with leadership cabinet and in next few months will consult with mission engagement team on donor education and develop recommendations.

“We’ve compared what PMA does with different peer organizations, non profits and churches and found there is a wide variation on how these get assigned and reported,” said Tajima. “PMA is within the standards of other non profits and denominations and we are confident our financial efficiency is within the norm.”

The work of the ministerial team continues through the fall 2017 PMAB meeting during which it will participate in discussion with the Way Forward Commission and All Agency Review Committee.

World Mission Competencies in Domestic Mission

The World Mission Competencies in Domestic Mission team traveled to the Inglesia Presbiteriana en Camarones as the guest of pastor Raul Santiago Riveria, who is also a member of the team. He has been the pastor there for 18 months. The group welcomed Jose Luis Casal, the new director of Presbyterian World Mission and talked briefly about the goals and recommendations of the committee. The committee is charged with offering recommendations to equip congregations and mid-councils in developing intercultural competencies and capacities.

The bulk of the morning, however, was presentations and discussions with three special guests invited by Riveria to illustrate the way members of the San Juan community are coming together to live out their faith. Guests included the Rev. Dr. Agustina Luvis, Professor of Theology at Evangelical Seminary, San Juan and the Rev. Arelis Cardona, Pastor of the Monteflores Presbyterian Church. The third guest was Amilcar Cotto, local entrepreneur who has developed a business model based on biblical teachings. He was in the seminary with Riveria, Luvis was his seminary professor and Rev. Cardona is his pastor.

Cotto owns “Latte que Latte” coffee shop. Just two months ago he opened a second location. He uses these two small businesses, which serve about 3500 cups of coffee a week as a platform for advocacy and social change. “He carries Christ theology and gospel wherever he goes,” said Riveria. He offers jobs to the socially rejected, those struggling with addiction, unemployment and homeless. He’s proud that the coffee shop can help people faster than the government. One employee, who was homeless for 15 years had a permanent place to live within two weeks of starting work at Late que Late.

The next meeting of the PMAB is scheduled for September 21-23, 2017 in Louisville, Kentucky. Documents from the PMAB Spring 2017 meeting can be found at this link.