Minutes of

THE PRESBYTERY OF SCIOTO VALLEY

TWO HUNDRED EIGHTH STATED MEETING
Circleville Presbyterian Church
134 East Mound Street
Circleville, Ohio
April 21, 2009

THE PRESBYTERY GATHERS AS THE PEOPLE OF GOD

STATED MEETING
The Presbytery of Scioto Valley of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) held its Two
Hundred Eighth Stated Meeting at the Circleville Presbyterian Church, Circleville, Ohio,
on Tuesday, April 21, 2009, at 2:00 p.m.

Moderator Rev. David Downton convened the meeting with prayer at 2:00 p.m.

WELCOME AND ARRANGEMENTS

Host pastor, Steve Moulton, welcomed presbyters and detailed arrangements for the
meeting.

NEW MEMBERS/CORRESPONDING MEMBERS

Elders attending presbytery for the first time as commissioners were introduced and
welcomed. Cynthia Burse, new pastor at Bethany Church, was introduced. Presbyters
and guests joined in passing Christ’s peace.

FORMATION OF THE ROLL

The presence of a quorum was recognized by the Stated Clerk, Richard Hays. He
moved that the roll be as established by the written sign-in sheets. Motion carried.

AGENDA APPROVED
The Stated Clerk moved the adoption of the agenda as distributed.

The Stated Clerk moved the consent agenda:

1. PRESBYTERY MINUTES. Approve the minutes of the February 17, 2009 Stated
Meeting held at Broad Street Presbyterian Church, Columbus, Ohio.

2. COUNCIL MINUTES. Receive the minutes of the Presbytery Council meetings

held February 23, 2009, and March 23, 2009, at St. Andrew Presbyterian Church,
Columbus, as a record of all that occurred in those meetings and attach them to the
minutes of the Presbytery. (Attachments 1 and 2).

3. APOINTMENT OF ENROLMENT CLERK. Appoint Dagmar Romage as

Enrolment Clerk for today’s meeting.

The motion to adopt the consent agenda was approved.

FOR INFORMATION:

From the Committee on Preparation for Ministry:

 In March the CPM Committee received Amanda and Brian Beverly as Inquirers.
Brian and Amanda are members of the Fredericktown Presbyterian Church. They
are in the process of being enrolled in Dubuque Seminary’s 3/3 program. The
program involves two components: a) three years of undergraduate study which
must include at least 30 credits in the University of Dubuque college program,
and b) three years of graduate course work at the University of Dubuque
Theological Seminary.

THE PRESBYTERY RELFECTS ON ITS MISSION AS GOD’S PEOPLE

Vice-Moderator Ralph LeVan introduced the process for presbyters.

The Council of the Presbytery of Scioto Valley has covenanted to a “new openness to
the presence of God in the Church.” In our work we constantly strive to “lift high the
Presbytery as one portion of the Body of Christ” as we are all called to be a provisional
demonstration of the “transforming activity of God in history.”

In 2007 we challenged the presbytery to a discernment process to help us determine

where God is calling us to ministry. We conducted several listening gatherings
throughout the Presbytery where we asked a series of questions to help identify what
individual congregations desired from the Presbytery and to identify our common needs
in serving out our call.

One hundred and seventy-eight people representing seventy-one of the 114

congregations that make up the fabric of the Presbytery of Scioto Valley shared their
thoughts, ideas, and passions at these listening sessions. The council then took all of
the various responses gathered, examined them through the lens of our mission
statement, and distilled them down to three priorities for our efforts over the past two
years. These priorities were: Mission, Equipping Leadership, and Transformation. We
then took each priority and linked specific actions to them.

In the area of Mission, we celebrate today the Fall 2008 Mission Trip to Gulfport that is
to be followed up by another trip this fall. We held a rescheduled Mission Fair that
allowed our congregations to share the good news of their own mission efforts with their
brothers and sisters in Christ in the presbytery. We continued, when possible, to fund
session endorsed mission grants, and we are developing an ever-expanding online
network of mission contacts within each local congregation. One goal that we did not
achieve as of yet was a series of regional mission workdays to put both our hands and
our hearts in motion to service others. This event is now being planned for July 25,
2009. You will be hearing details about this event later in today’s meeting. We seek to
enable joint mission efforts which otherwise would not be possible if led by an individual
congregation.

Equipping leadership remains a high priority for the staff and leadership of the
presbytery. The regular PIE events, recently highly successful SpringFest conference,
and the upcoming Church Professionals retreat all strive to provide practical continuing
education for clergy and lay alike. These programmatic efforts are one aspect of
leadership development and we do this well. Where we still hope to grow is in
developing stronger interpersonal connections between and among our members. The
regional breakfast meetings led by Dana and Jeannie are one effort in this direction. In
the near future we hope to formalize links between small and large congregations as
well as develop specific training modules in the areas of evangelism, stewardship, and
congregational redevelopment.

The most challenging area of our three priorities undoubtedly is Transformation. We

have led two sets of book studies and hosted two authors to share their insights with us.
The first was on Martha Grace Reese’s Unbinding the Gospel and the second Diana
Butler Bass’ Christianity for the Rest of Us. While both of these book conversations
have given us much to think about, neither offers a clear blueprint to describe the future
of the Presbytery of Scioto Valley. Part of what we hope to do today is to further our
own understanding of where we collectively see God calling the Presbytery of Scioto
Valley for the future.

As a result of the current financial realities in which we find ourselves, the council is
currently re-examining our various cost centers and fiscal resources including the
presbytery office, mission support efforts, our land assets and our staffing. These
conversations are being done in partnership with the Trustees and the Staff Services
committee. The council has affirmed that our staff is our most critical resource and our
staffing level is the bare minimum needed to live out our mission statement. We will still
need to push each other and everyone to value their obligations to our connectional
church, but at the same time we need to be even more careful in managing the
stewardship of our resources.

Today we will be dividing into conversation groups for about the next 30 minutes. During
this time of sharing, please be intentional about joining a table that includes some folks
that you may not know as well as others. A member of council will serve as the table
host and will lead you through these three questions developed out of our mission
statement.

That statement reads:

As Members of the larger Body of Christ and the Presbytery of Scioto Valley, God calls
us to live out the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ. We do this by building
partnerships, communicating with, and supporting congregations and leaders, and
reaching out into the world with the love of Christ.
Here are the three questions:
1. How do you see the Presbytery of Scioto Valley living out our mission statement?
2. What do you value most about the Presbytery?
3. How can your presbytery support you in exploring what God is calling your
congregation to be and do today?

Council will receive the discussion points for their deliberation on future avenues of
mission for the presbytery.

PRESBYTERY COUNCIL REPORT

Dana Knapp reported for the council. On behalf of Council he moved that the 2009
Administrative Operating (Per Capita) Budget be reduced by $13,000 as follows:

Line 20 – Presbytery Meetings reduce from $10,500 to $8,000 $ 2,500

Line 28 – Church Transformation reduce from $2,500 to $2,000 500
Line 30 – Council Events/Resources reduce from $2,000 to $0 2,000
Line 39 – Staff Services Contingency reduce from $4,000 to $2,000 2,000
Line 45 – Newsletter reduce from $5,000 to $0 5,000
Line 51 – CLP Training reduce from $5,000 to $4,000 1,000
Total $13,000

The motion was approved.

CONGREGATIONAL NURTURE
Stephanie Boaz reported for the committee. The Spring Fest Conference was a
wonderful event. She thanked all who assisted in making the even possible. The
committee is looking for ideas for next year’s events. They also want to support local
church educators. An event for them is planned for the fall.

Diane Saupe reported for the Older Adult Ministry. Older Adult Sunday is the first
Sunday in May. Resources are available from the committee. The Fall OA Lisason
gathering will be October 29.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE
Lynn Coons reported for the committee.

On behalf of the committee she nominated for the positions of Moderator and Vice
Moderator respectively Ralph LeVan and Deborah Lewicki for one year term beginning
in June of 2009. There were no nominations from presbyters. The nominees were
elected on voice vote.

MISSION PARTNERSHIPS
Bruce Henderson reported for the committee. Daniel Ingwerson from Four Seasons City
Farm, spoke of the ministry which started in 2000 next to Columbus Old First Church.
Now it has 12 different sites on the near east side of Columbus. The program not only
deals with hunger, but also healthy eating, outdoor experience, and exercise. Other
issues are food security and sustainability. The project brings together many kinds of
people and generations. The garden lots improve the neighborhoods. He showed a
video produced by the Ohio Farm Bureau.

Karen Henderson talked about the “Centsibility” program (formerly “2¢ a meal”). Hunger
could be cut in half in the world if every American were to give just 7¢ a day.

A World Mission Celebration will be held October 22-24 at Cincinnati. Information will be
on the denomination web site soon.

September 14-28 has been set as the dates for a visit from representatives from Pahk 2
in Chiangrai, Thailand. Judy Baker is coordinating details.

The PC(UA) Big Tent Gathering will be June 11-13 in Atlanta.

The New Wilmington Missionary Conference will be July 18-25.

CHURCH TRANSFORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Jim Mehler reported for the committee. He reported that the committee has people
ready to work together with congregations following the Diana Butler Bass “Christianity
for the Rest of Us” model.

The committee is working on guidelines for mission grants to congregations involved in

innovative redevelopment and transformation.

The committee is studying another model for congregational redevelopment and

transformation.

STAFF SERVICES COMMITTEE

Ann Palmerton reported for the committee. On behalf of the committee she moved
adoption of revised Presbytery Personnel Policies. She explained the process which
started a year ago. A number of changes were brought to the document since the first
reading at the last meeting. She noted the changes and answered questions about the
policy. The motion was approved. (Attachment 3)

There are still items that need to be included in the policy and the committee will be
working on an addendum to it.

SYNOD REPORT
Andrew Aboagye reported on behalf of the Synod for himself and fellow commissioner
Frances Jenkins. A video presentation about the work of synod was shown to
presbyters.

Questions were raised concerning the Synod’s decreasing financial participation in the
Ohio Council of Churches. Ohio presbyteries are in conversation about the Council.
Ecumenical relations at the conciliar level has traditionally been the province of synods.
GENERAL ASSEMBLY ADVOCACY COMMITTEE ON WOMEN’S CONCERNS
Louise Davidson reported on the work of the General Assembly Advocacy Committee
on Women’s Concerns (ACWC) on which she has served for the last three years. It is
one of three advocacy committees which report directly to the General Assembly.

The committee advocates for women’s full inclusion in society and informs the
Assembly and its officers about issues which particularly affect women. The committee
also tracks the church’s response and involvement in a variety of issues and looks at
places where there are gaps in policy and program. Most recently they have researched
for-profit detention centers for undocumented aliens. Often those detained are not being
accorded full legal access or basic human needs. The committee has also been looking
at the trafficking of people of any age and gender. A recommendation on that issue was
adopted by the 2008 General Assembly. Presbyterian Women are talking with
Presbyterian Men about jointly addressing the trafficking problem. ACWC also works
with the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

VICE-MODERATOR
The Vice-Moderator, Ralph Levan, began to moderate the meeting.

TRUSTEES
Treasurer Bill Brake presented the Presbytery Financial report through February 28,
2009. Revenues are tracking $35,000 favorable and expenses are $38,000 under
budget, most of this under-expenditure is in mission money expenses being delayed
until sufficient funds are available for spending. Bill reported that Mission pledges
exceed the mission budget but the money needs to be received. On motion the report
was received.

PEACEMAKING AND JUSTICE COMMITTEE

Phil Bougher reported for the committee. He noted that the Veterans Support Task
Force will host a Memorial Day Eve worship service on May 24, 2009 at Covenant
Church. The service is to honor active duty, soon-to-be-deployed, recently separated
and long-term veterans. The offering will be for Operation Military Kids.

There will be a forum on organ and tissue donation at Brookwood church on May 17,
3:00 p.m.

Congregations interested in peacemaking issues are invited to have the committee

resource them.

COMMITTEE ON MINISTRY
Bill Acklin reported for the committee

Pursuant to the powers granted it under the Standing Rule, the Committee has taken
the following actions on behalf of the Presbytery:
1. Approved the renewal of terms of call from Reynoldsburg First Church for stated
supply Don Swift, 25% time, effective February 1, 2009:
Annual Cash Salary $15,000
Auto IRS Rate
Continuing Education $800
Medical $1,164
Vacation 6 weeks

2. Approved the renewal of terms of call from Nelsonville First Church for stated supply
Paul Van Horn, 25% time, effective January 1, 2009, pending the addition of $800
for Continuing Education Expense:
Annual Cash Salary $18,140
Auto IRS rate
Vacation 4 weeks
Study Leave 2 weeks

3. Approved the call from the Bethany Church to Cynthia F. Burse as full-time pastor,
effective April 12, 2009:
Annual Cash Salary $22,000
Social Security Offset $1,500
Housing and Utilities $21,000
Full Pension $13,545
Moving Expenses $4,200
Auto IRS Rate up to $3,000
Continuing Education $800
Vacation 4 weeks
Study Leave 2 weeks

4. Received the report from the Stated Clerk that several Book of Order citations in
the Dissolution of Pastoral Relationships Policy had changed since the policy
was adopted. Since the changes were editorial and made no changes to the
substance of the policy, the committee asked that the editorial changes be made
and reported to the Presbytery. The changes are:
a. Section II, Book of Order provisions:
i. G-14.0601 is now G-14.0610
ii. G-14.0602 is now G-14.0611; The change in the Book of Order
deletes the sentence, “In the case of a minister or associate
minister, the session shall call a congregational meeting to act upon
the request and to make recommendations to presbytery” and
replaces it with the sentence “The session shall call a
congregational meeting to act upon the request and to make
recommendations to presbytery.”
iii. G-14.0603 is now G-14-0612; The change in the Book of Order
replaces three usages of the word “minister” with the word “pastor.”
b. Section V, Miscellaneous:
i. In A., “Pastor Emeritus” becomes “Pastor Emeritus/Emerita.”
 5. Kristine Schutte, Malcolm Davis, Ginny Shanda and George Ritter were
appointed to a sub-committee to monitor persons in self-directed, independent
ministries, as provided for in the recently revised Policy on Validated Ministries.
They will receive and review annual reports from members of the presbytery who
do non-parish, specialized ministry.

All calls herein meet AA/EEO Guidelines and Presbytery minimums.

On behalf of the committee he moved that Presbytery concur with the request from the
Human Resources Office of the General Assembly Council for the Presbytery for
changes in terms of call for the Rev. Victor Makari, Middle East/Asia Minor Coordinator
and Jinishian Memorial Program Coordinator (in the World Mission work area of the
General Assembly Council), effective January 1, 2009. The annual salary (which
includes the current manse and utilities allowance of $27,000.00) changed from
$75,435.86 to $77,698.94. The motion was approved.

MOMENTS OF CELEBRATION
Presbyters shared news about activities in their congregations.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
August 16 is the date for the second “Presbyterians in the Park” at Blendon Woods
Park.

The national Stewardship Kaleidescope Conference will be March 15-17 2010, in

Indianapolis.

WORSHIP
Worship was led by the Rev. Tracy Keenan assisted Circleville organist Jack Mader and
pastor Steve Moulton. The focus was on Older Adults.

ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned with the benediction by Tracy Keenan at 5:30 p.m.

The next stated meeting will be Tuesday, June 16, at 2:00 p.m. at the Dublin
Presbyterian Church.

Attest: ________________________________
Richard S. Hays, Stated Clerk