Medical Costs, PCUSA, and Doing What’s Right

One of the things I have been proud of since becoming a Presbyterian, being ordained, and becoming a participant in our Board of Pensions is the community nature of our benefits plan.  All churches participate in the plan, even when they are between pastors, and all installed pastors and their families are covered by the plan. Congregations pay based on the salary they offer, not the health or needs of the pastor. It’s that simple; we share.  We share in the cost and we share in the benefits.  It’s a concrete example of connectionism and true community.  The proposal being brought before the Board of Directors of the Board of Pensions in March erodes our community nature.  It does precisely what we’ve been stridently avoiding; the cost of participation in the medical benefits will be based on need rather than the level of compensation.

This is a huge injustice for married pastors, particularly those with families.  Pastor’s salaries are typically low to begin with.  It’s not unusual for a pastor’s family to qualify for WIC, food stamps or fall dangerously close to the poverty line.  The deductibles and co-pays of the medical plan are already a hardship on pastors and their families. Now we are looking to add to that an additional $2,500 or $5,000 a year to cover their family’s medical care?  Sure, some congregations and some presbyteries will require that health care is provided by the congregation for the whole family … but will PNCs and congregations use the additional costs as reason to pass by younger pastors with families?  will their salaries be less in order to cover the additional health care expenses?

I understand that congregations are find the health care portion of the their BoP dues to be burdensome.  And I understand that the PCUSA health care expenses are unusually skewed because of the age and health of most pastors and their families.  These are issues, however that need to be addressed in some other way.  For instance?  Is there a way to open the Affiliated Health Care plan to all Presbyterians, not just pastors and congregational employees?  Would this ultimately be a benefit to our members?  would it make a difference in the age/health demographics in a way that would bring the costs for all down?

I understand that charging employees for family health coverage is typical in corporate America.  Maybe, then, we need to take a more active role in helping our country address the rising health care costs for everyone … not just pass those costs on to those who can least afford them.  What’s happening among us Presbyterians has been happening to our neighbors for years/decades … we need serious conversations around the moral and ethical realities of high profits gained by insurance companies, for-profit hospitals and pharmaceutical companies … something seems wrong here.

Congregations are blown away, I know, by the costs required by presbyteries for pastor’s terms of call.  But, I still think that most pastors are underpaid … grossly underpaid.  If your pastor’s salary isn’t at or above the salary level of your local public elementary school principle, you’re underpaying.  The education and responsibility level of both positions are roughly equivalent, and both are working in the service of their community, not to make a huge income.

If a congregation cannot afford to pay the full salary package of a pastor, then they have to face the truth … they cannot afford a pastor.  It’s time to think of other options: increasing their stewardship significantly, changing the staffing patterns of the church, moving to a different location, yoking with another congregation, looking for a part-time pastor, raising up Elders to be commissioned as CRE’s, merging with another congregation, or, dare I say, consider dissolution.  When pastors try to hold on to a call by agreeing to salaries less than presbytery minimums, or put their family at risk with no health care, they risk both a dependency on the congregation and a resentfulness of the congregation which hinders their ability to preach the Gospel, lead with authority, love with compassion, and keep the mission of the Church as their priority.  This is a problem.

Comments anyone?

… and now “Sandy”

When I packed my car and started driving north last year, I honestly thought I was leaving hurricanes behind.  Living 13 years on the Texas Gulf Coast … I had the names etched into my psyche … Carla, Alicia, Allison, Katrina, Rita, Ike … like members of the family … and now Sandy.

All of us will tell “Sandy” stories for years to come … some about the power being off, others about trees falling, or roofs blowing off, others about evacuating or about being flooded and rescued.  We will tell stories of the devastation, the boardwalks gone and appearing in church yards, the homes and beach, itself, reclaimed by the ocean, finding 3 feet of beach sand in living rooms, boats on railroad tracks or refrigerators in the middle of the street.   Even more importantly, we will tell the stories of people … of how neighbors worked together, about how “angels” appeared with just the right help at the right time, about how the church mobilized to feed or muck out or house volunteers.  We’ll tell stories of survival and hope … even in the midst of devastation we have seen the hand of God … not in the flood waters, but in the “stone soup” suppers and impromptu potlucks, in the serving and delivery of food pantry macaroni and cheese to families in the midst of mucking out their homes, in the offers of gift cards to Target for families evacuated with nothing but the clothes on their backs … in the stream of phone calls and emails from colleagues and churches all over the country offering to come and help, or to partner with a congregation.

Friends, this is a catastrophic disaster.  For many of us, our lives and our congregations will never be the same as it was pre-Sandy. 

At first count, I counted 25 of our 47 churches were in communities that were  described as “devastated” by Sandy …  Except for Belmar, most of our church buildings came through with only mild to moderate damage, if any.  Belmar had significant flooding.  Our families, and our communities, on the other hand, have been forever changed.  Talk to just about any congregation on the shore and they will point to members who have lost everything.  For some, like Tuckerton, where 25 families were severely affected, the impact will undoubtedly take a huge human and financial toll on the life of the congregation.

We will be recovering from Sandy for YEARS … it’s the new normal.  We have to prepare ourselves for the long haul.  In the disaster recovery world, Presbyterians are noted for being good at the long haul.  When FEMA and the Red Cross and the Baptist chainsaw teams go home, the Presbyterians are still here, working, rebuilding, supporting, and giving.

So, let’s talk, now, frankly about what to expect.  By now some of you will feel like you have mentally, emotionally and spiritually “hit the wall”.  I felt it about a week ago … for me, I had real trouble retrieving words, I lost my patience quickly, I found myself speaking without appropriate forethought.  I had trouble sleeping, yet I felt like I wanted to stay in bed forever.  I started crying more often and felt emotionally raw.  I needed a break …

I cannot say what your symptoms of “hitting the wall” will look like, but you WILL need a break …  and if you don’t take it intentionally, your body and your mind will find a way to get it for you.  Don’t make yourself sick … take time off, pace yourself, have fun, laugh, spend time with your family, call friends, exercise, eat right.  If you need help finding ways to do that, call me, I’ll let you borrow my motorcycle.

This may be the time to take advantage of the many resources our Board of Pension provides for mental and physical health.  If you don’t have a group of colleagues and good friends to share your stories with, then it’s time to find some … again … let us know, we can help.

Your congregation may be stressed with financial concerns due to Sandy.  It’s not unusual, especially if you had to miss a Sunday or two, or if a significant number of members are struggling with insurance deductibles and find a place to live, to find cash flow and income to be tragically low.  Your treasurers and finance committees should not keep financial concerns to themselves.  Nor should sessions and pastors keep these concerns to themselves … Let us help.

The Board of Pensions, PILP, PDA, and other agencies have resources, which are available to help in times like this.

Let me say this clearly … and I trust that you will hear these words in the faithfulness in which I share them.  No congregation should ever put its witness to the community at risk, especially at a time like this, in order to pay our presbytery per capita or mission giving pledge.   In fact, I believe the reason a presbytery cannot force a congregation to pay per capita, is precisely for that reason … ministry of the congregation to its local community takes precedence over obligations to the larger church.  However, we also need to remember that our per capita and mission giving to the larger church is precisely WHY we have resources to help at times like these.  So, please … be faithful in your giving if you are not affected, and be faithful in your ministry, if you are.  And let us know about any financial difficulties you may be experiencing before holding back on per capita, or falling behind on pension dues, or finding yourselves not able to pay the pastor this month.  We can help.

Regarding what we’re doing and where we’re heading: we have formed a “Sandy Recovery Team”, headed by Walt Vincent of Hightstown.  He will talk to you shortly about the efforts of the team and what to expect as we move forward.

Along with the tides of destruction and the winds of change, comes the opportunity to grow in faith, to heal past wounds, to work together in ways we never dreamed possible.  This is the time to see the church in action … brothers and sisters in Christ all across the country praying for us, visiting us, providing for us … we will be stronger, and we will be even more faithful as we come through these hard times.

This post is a copy of the Regional Presbyter Report I gave to Monmouth Presbytery on November 27, 2012

Double the Pleasure, Double the Fun

Earlier this year as I met with my EP colleagues in the Presbytery Leader Formation residency, we were each sharing about our presbyteries, and I said, “I’ve got twins!”

My two presbyteries are of the same approximate size and weight (Monmouth has a few more churches, New Brunswick has a lot more pastors). They both share DNA, but they have very different personalities. One is the over-achiever, one is the heart-warmer, one is the artist, one is the intellectual, both are smart … and, to this proud “mom”, both are “above average” on all scales that matter.

I’ve told my colleagues: Even though New Brunswick is technically the smaller of the two presbyteries, it operates like they’re much larger; I describe them as the “program church” Monmouth is larger, but, I find they operate more like a “family church”. Each has it’s own eccentricities and advantages.

New Brunswick brings a cosmopolitan, urban flair, to our family. The influence of the seminary is palpable in their analytical, critical, and intellectual capabilities. They have a deep heritage … a long history of being influencers and on the cutting edge … this leads to a confidence in their orthodoxy and orthopraxy that flirts with arrogance, but gives them a firm foundation in who they are and who they’ve been. They are organized and detailed. Like a well-oiled machine, they “do” presbytery well and have, in my opinion, one of the best functioning COM’s and CPM’s in the country . They are highly intelligent, resourceful, and individually as much the influencers as ever. They are a presbytery overflowing with leaders, and teachers, and mentors, and pastors. They care about each other, but are finding that they don’t really know each other well. They care deeply about the PCUSA and the presbytery, but the legal struggle of the recent past has left its mark … deep hurt for some, skittishness for others … distrust is not yet overt, but growing. And, while they may, at times, seem apathetic, I don’t believe apathy is part of their DNA; rather I’m convinced they’re corporately experiencing a reluctance to put their whole heart forward because they are acutely aware of the vulnerability that opens us up to.

Monmouth, on the other hand, is “Jersey Shore” … not at all like the TV show, but in their “down-to-earth-ness” and deep family ties. Their heritage is also strong but solidified in relationship and shared experience. They are determined, persevering, and have a lot of energy around being presbytery. They have a passion that has led them, at times, to open hostility. That hostility and hurt, I’m convinced, is rooted in how much they care about scripture, the church, the marginalized, and each other. Their hearts are full, and they are determined to do the right things. That determination has had them at odds with each other during some very difficult times. I hear that, I see that trust is difficult, because they’ve been hurt, and because they care. Monmouth is a presbytery of highly talented leaders who have wonderfully imaginative ideas, and, they have a heart that beats for the church, for Christ.  This allows them to share an authentic hope for the future that sometimes seems like nothing but pie in the sky dreaming, but it gives them strength, nonetheless.

Working with both of them keeps me constantly appreciating them … each of them, and it gives me a much larger grasp on the possibilities out there. not only do I have the experience of the different ways things WERE done in my previous presbytery, but I know how they ARE being done next door. And, I’m always seeing possibilities for collaboration … not so that the two become one, but so that we can fully support and complement each other.

Double the Work

I’m not going to sugar-coat anything though. As parents of multiples always tell you, the work, the sheer amount of work, can be overwhelming. My colleagues keep shaking their heads, saying things like, “twice as many presbytery meetings? Double the COM meetings? Council meetings?” Yup. And that means I can’t do everything alone. More and more, each leader will need to step and do their part. By now you probably have begun to notice some of the things which are falling to others in the presbytery. I’m relying quite a bit on committee chairs, COM liaisons, and the office staffs. We are, however, a community, working together … and I’m convinced this will continue to be much more of a blessing than a burden.