(Printed in The ARP Magazine. Read the full article by clicking h
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On Matters of Synod Administration
By: Moderator Rob Roy McGregor III
As we begin a new year, I would like to use this Moderator’s Challenge article to discuss some matters of administration that need our urgent attention. I want to focus especially on our statistical reports and on open seats on our boards, committees, commissions, and agencies.
Let me begin with our statistical reports. Early in the work of the Special Committee on the ARP Retirement Plan (a.k.a. the Moderator’s Blue Ribbon Committee), we heard a report about a drastic decrease in our denomination’s membership from 2018 to 2019. This reported decrease was based on published records—the minutes of the 2018 General Synod and the minutes of the 2019 General Synod. Especially to a professional economist who spends his share of time working with data and who teaches courses about data analysis, this shocking drop in reported membership cried out for an explanation. The explanation has to do with inadvertent errors in formulas in the spreadsheets from which the 2019 statistical tables were drawn and inconsistencies in 2019 reporting as compared to 2018 reporting. When these errors and inconsistencies are resolved, we still see a decrease in membership from 2018 to 2019, but the decline is less dramatic than it appeared to be. Now, errors and inconsistencies in reporting in 2019 as compared to 2018 can be readily corrected going forward. What is more challenging and needs urgent attention is the quality of the information that underlies what we report annually in the minutes of Synod. I would therefore like to encourage our sessions to submit timely and accurate statistical reports. I would also like to stress that this is more than just a matter of our membership data. We also rely, for example, on reported pledges to the Denominational Ministry Fund (DMF) to help determine the annual DMF allocation that is recommended to the Synod. More broadly, we need to develop a clear picture and form a reliable assessment of the status and health of our denomination, and we are greatly aided in this process by timely and accurate statistical reports.
Let me now discuss service to our denomination. The Committee on Nominations (CON) is charged with seeking out and nominating to the General Synod individuals who are qualified to serve on the boards, committees, commissions, and agencies of the General Synod and as officers of the General Synod. The CON is now working not only on the regular slate of nominations that will be presented at the 2021 meeting of Synod but also on immediately filling vacancies with unexpired terms. Descriptions of our boards, committees, commissions, and agencies and of our officer positions can be found in the Manual of Authorities and Duties (available on Synod’s website). I encourage ministers and elders to review these descriptions and give prayerful consideration to their own willingness and ability to serve at the Synod level. I encourage those who are already serving at the Synod level to give thought to ministers and elders of your acquaintance who are qualified and who might be able and willing to serve at the Synod level. Talk with them and encourage them and let them know that you are willing to nominate them if they are willing and able to serve.
Not all of the positions on our boards, committees, commissions, and agencies are restricted to ministers and elders. Is there someone in your congregation with background or experience in human resources administration or in administration of a defined benefit pension plan or a defined contribution pension plan? If so, talk with that person about his or her willingness and availability to serve on the Board of Benefits and then, if the conversation is fruitful, consider nominating that person for a position on the Board of Benefits. Let us therefore give thought to men and women in our congregations who are qualified and might be willing and able to serve at the Synod level.
I realize that this article is appearing fairly late relative to the 2021 deadlines for submitting statistical reports and nominations, but these are matters that need our careful attention not just this year but each and every year. Please make them a priority now and going forward so that we can track our status and progress as a denomination and so that our boards, committees, commissions, and agencies will be staffed with well-qualified and committed individuals. I will greatly appreciate your attention to these important matters.
Dr. Rob Roy McGregor III is Professor of Economics at UNC Charlotte and an elder at Back Creek ARP Church in Charlotte, NC.