Restructuring Newsletter - Issue #3

May 14, 2008

Reflections from the Steering Group

The 2007 annual meeting of Conference seems a long time ago, and at the same time it almost feels like yesterday. Little did we know when we entered that meeting that we would emerge as a Conference heading out onto new and untraveled roads. In the last year, there have been many, many questions asked about the new Conference and the new Presbyteries. What will they be like? How will they do their work? What will give them purpose? In this issue of the newsletter, we want to present the latest thinking on the many questions that have been asked. Some of the questions are issues we already face in the current structure. Some answers didn’t take much time to get; others took a tremendous amount of effort. Other answers are still vague, like mist which will eventually clear, though we can’t say exactly when. Here’s an example of the latter:

Will the new Presbyteries have the energy and spirit to provide not only management but also leadership?

Only time and experience will provide final answers, but these questions reach to the heart of what this restructuring is all about.

We see our emerging structures as ways of freeing ourselves from where we have been, for breathing God’s new life into our Conference, our Presbyteries and, by extension, our Congregations. The questions call us to a different vision of who we are:

• As more hands pitch in, the workload will be lighter for many, even as we deal with larger distances.
• With fewer meetings to attend, more energy can be focused on our Congregations.
• Staff resources which have seemed distant will now be closer.
• Administrative work can be lifted from the shoulders of the Presbyteries.
• We hope that in all the changes we’ll focus energy on finding creative ways of being faithful followers of Jesus.

We see Presbyteries developing ways to be energetic and exciting, doing things in a new way that will encourage the participation of those who are not involved in the current functioning of Presbytery, a vision that includes accessibility, inclusiveness, diversity and listening for voices often not heard.

Naive? Perhaps. Exciting? For many, yes. Challenging? Without a doubt! But we believe that God is calling us forward, very much like Abraham and Sarah who travelled to a far-off land they did not know. Or, as we were reminded at last year’s annual meeting, God is doing a new thing (Isaiah 43:19). Is this the new thing God had in mind? Is this where God is calling us? We don’t yet know, but we strive to be faithful knowing, like Abraham and Sarah, that God is with us.

David Allen, Thelma Arnott, Carol Gierak, Rick McKinley, Fran Ota and Carol Paniccia

The questions that have been responded to by the Steering Group originated in the first new Presbytery meeting on March 29.

To view these questions and answers that the have been provided, please go to the Toronto Conference website> Restructuring Project>FAQ

The FAQ will continue to be updated.

New Presbytery Meetings – Next Meeting

The next meeting of the new Presbyteries will take place at the Annual Meeting on May 31. The purpose of this meeting is to name the priorities for the work of each new Presbytery and for the Conference Ministers. The participation at the first meeting was great. The project team and the facilitators hope to see even more people at this second meeting! To view one of the important agenda items at the next new Presbyteries meeting see the section For Discussion May 31 on the last page of this newsletter.

The Assets and Funding Task Group

This task group has now met with all of the Presbyteries and with the Toronto West Presbytery and Tri-Presbytery corporations. Meetings are planned with Toronto United Church Council, the mission support committee and with the United Church Foundation. When these meetings have been completed, the task group will issue a document to all participants in the process summarizing what they have heard in response to the questions posed in the discussion paper. The questions were:

1. When looking at the role and mandate of the Task Group, are there issues or considerations that your Presbytery or their Corporations feels are of particular importance and that the Task Group must ensure it addresses?
2. What are your Presbytery or their Corporations’ commitments that must be honoured?
3. What should the process be to identify commitments that should be honoured, as well as those that must be honoured?
4. How can we best determine the future use of the funds and what uses are a priority for your Presbytery or their Corporations?
5. Are there specific investment and administrative models that the Task Force should look at, aside from the partnering options proposed?
6. What should the decision-making body for ongoing grant requests and asset administration and investment decision look like?
7. What are the investment performance expectations? What are acceptable administrative fees?
8. What should be the nature and structure of the oversight function, including but not limited to fund management performance?

The task group will then assess what it has heard and begin shaping some options for further discussion with the representatives, before finalizing its recommendations to the Steering Group. Recommendations are expected in the fall.

To see read the full discussion paper go to the Toronto Conference website: Restructuring Project>Commissions and Task Groups> Assets and Funding Task Group

Communications Strategy

The Steering Group has begun work on developing a communications strategy. Whereas the original intent was to establish a task group to take on this task, the SG has gleaned enough information and has assumed responsibility for it. They will however, be seeking volunteer involvement in the implementation of the strategy. The SG also has an immediate need for volunteers to help in conducting a survey of congregations and their technology. If you understand “techie” terminology, are amiable and articulate on the telephone and have some time to offer to the project, please submit your name to the Project Manager Carol Paniccia at cpaniccia@torontoconference.ca.

For discussion May 31

Two issues need to be addressed:

1. the new Presbyteries need to make plans for how they will function starting July 1, 2009;
2. the new Presbyteries do not have the ability to make any Decisions until they come into existence on July 1, 2009, though each of them will have the responsibilities of a fully-functioning Presbytery on that date.

How these issues could be addressed:

1. The new Presbyteries could name a small group to listen to the discussions on May 31 and to draft solutions to present to the new Presbyteries for further refinement at the October 18, 2008 meetings of the new Presbyteries. This would be a way of gathering the opinions of the new Presbyteries without attempting to find an immediate common mind, which would be difficult in groupings of 100-150 people.
2. The Conference’s annual meeting could name the small group as a Commission which would have the authority to implement the wishes of the new Presbyteries as an interim structure for the new Presbyteries effective July 1, 2009. The new Presbyteries would then confirm their structure in the fall of 2009.

A draft motion which could be presented at the Conference annual meeting:

MOTION by ___/___ that Toronto Conference appoint a Commission consisting of (insert names of those nominated by the new Presbyteries) to develop draft solutions to assist __________ Presbytery on the following topics:

• a governance structure for the new Presbytery, including the composition of the Presbytery Executive
• a committee structure for the Presbytery that will address personnel, property, program and public witness issues
• nominations policies, including terms of office
• frequency and times of Presbytery meetings
• developing a vision for how to be a Presbytery that will be energetic and exciting and will do things in a new way that will encourage the participation of those who are not involved in the current functioning of Presbytery
  • a vision that includes accessibility, inclusiveness, diversity and listening for voices often not heard
• a process for selecting a name for the new Presbytery
• a plan regarding current Resource Centres, if applicable
• a plan for nominating Commissioners to the next General Council
• (other items which the new Presbytery may identify)

and that the Commission report to the October 18, 2008 meeting of the ______ Presbytery with proposals for consideration;

and that following the October 18, 2008 meeting of the new Presbytery, the Commission make Decisions on an interim Presbytery structure to be effective July 1, 2009, to be reviewed by the new Presbytery in fall, 2009.