The Outlook Blog

Little has appeared in the Outlook to date about the recommendations of the Special Offerings Advisory Task Force which were approved by the General Assembly Mission Council at its meeting in February. While the Task Force report does an excellent analysis of the present situation regarding the four churchwide special offerings and has a number of excellent recommendations, its recommendations regarding the One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) is a cause of great concern to many. As one commentator has stated, the recommendation “would fundamentally alter the historic covenant between congregations and the General Assembly regarding church wide special offerings. {It would] convert [special offerings] essentially into general revenue streams, with the GAMC determining the allocations of each, while misleadingly retaining the special offering name for them.”

During my 13 years as Director of the PCUS World Service/World Hunger program, I came to realize that OGHS is the lifeline for the compassion ministries of our denomination, providing the basic support for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, Presbyterian Hunger Program, and Self-Development of People Program. Each of these ministries has its own distinctive history and mission. OGHS was initiated almost 65 years ago, responding to the desperate human need in Europe and Asia following the Second World War. U.S. Protestant denominations worked together to form Church World Service as the avenue for responding to this critical need. Through succeeding years, Church World Service has been the principal instrument through which we Presbyterians and other U.S. Protestants have responded to major disasters at home and abroad in the name of Christ.

The Presbyterian Hunger Program was initiated in the former PCUS in response to the impending world hunger crisis. It paved the way for other major Protestant churches to address root causes of hunger, engaging in long-term development programs and addressing public policy issues related to world hunger.

The Self-Development of People program originated in the former PCUSA following the civil rights crisis, with the purpose of “empowering the powerless” and helping the poor to help themselves through self-development projects.

Together these three programs provide distinctive yet complementary avenues for us as Presbyterians and as Christian to respond to the victims of disaster, the hungry, the poor, the homeless and the oppressed in the name of Christ. OGHS has been by far the most successful and effective special offering of our denomination; over 87% of PCUSA congregations received the offering in 2011.

The Special Offering Task Force’s recommendation proposes merging the Peacemaking Offering with OGHS; eliminating any reference to specific programs and simply naming certain topical areas of work; eliminating mandated percentage distribution for the offering, authorizing the General Assembly Mission Council to make decisions annually about how the funds are to be used, thus opening the possibility of churchwide special offering simply becoming part of the general income of the General Assembly.

At a time when there is so much uncertainty in the life of our beloved denomination, we need the continuity that OGHS represents. I believe that what is involved here is the saving of the compassion ministries of our denomination as avenues for expressing the compassion of Christ for “the least of these”.