2010 PCA Strategic Plan

Introduction

The 38^th General Assembly adopted the 2010 Strategic Plan’s Themes, Goals, and Means, as brought to the Assembly through the Administrative Committee’s Committee of Commissioners.

This Strategic Plan is the result of long-range planning assigned to the Cooperative Ministries Committee (CMC) by the General Assembly under the Rules of Assembly Operations 7-3.c.  The plan, approved unanimously by the PCA Coordinators on October 27, 2009, and by the full CMC on January 17, 2010, was sent to the Administrative Committee (AC) for consideration in April 2010.

The AC unanimously recommended to the 38^th General Assembly that sections of the Strategic Plan be accepted or approved by the Assembly in different ways.  After considerable discussion on the floor, the Assembly took the following action, voting over twenty times on parts of the Strategic Planning Report.  Most of those votes were by obvious or substantial majorities.

·    First, the informational portions of “The 2010 PCA Strategic Plan” (see “Strategic Plan Narrative”) were accepted “for study and reflection” (AC CoC Report, Recommendation 16).  The Assembly was not asked to adopt the informational portions of the plan.

 ·    Second, the Assembly adopted the “Themes,” the “Goals,” and the “Means” of accomplishing the goals, with the exception of one “specific means” (AC CoC Report, Recommendation 17.a-c).  (See “Items Approved by the 38^th General Assembly.”)  The Assembly was not asked to approve the Objectives, Steps, Resources, Timing, and Responsible Parties listed in the charts embedded in the “2010 PCA Strategic Plan” document, but to regard those secondary items as guidelines.

 ·    Third, the Assembly accepted “A Funding Plan Model for the AC” to be used by the AC as a model in implementing the proposed funding plan (AC CoC Report, Recommendation 19).  The Assembly was not asked to vote on the details of the Funding Plan Model.  For this model to be implemented, amendments to the Book of Church Order and the Rules of Assembly Operations will be required.

 ·        Fourth, amendments to BCO 14-1.4 and 14-2 were adopted by the 38th General Assembly, beginning the constitutional amendment process (AC CoC Report, Recommendation 20).  To be enacted, they now require approval by majority vote of two-thirds of the 79 presbyteries (53 presbyteries) and a majority vote of a subsequent General Assembly (BCO 26-2).

Proposed RAO changes will be brought to the 39th General Assembly, contingent upon the adoption of the BCO changes.

Read what PCA leaders are saying about the 2010 Strategic Plan.

Click here for our Frequently Asked Questions section.

Documents

Strategic Plan Narrative - This narrative reviews the work of Strategic Planning in the PCA in light of the history and mission of the PCA.  It includes a chart, which outlines the Themes, Goals, and Means that were approved by the 38th General Assembly as well as the Objectives, Steps, and related details presented as general advice and guidelines for those involved in implementation.

We recommend that you go to the audio visual presentation by Bryan Chapell on behalf of the Cooperative Ministries Committee and view Dr. Chapell's summary with the Strategic plan documents in hand.  The highlighted portions of this narrative are the parts quoted in his presentation.

Items Approved by the 38th General Assembly – Here you will find the 2010 Strategic Plan Themes, Goals, and Means that were adopted by the 38th General Assembly (Recommendation 17a & b, Report of the Committee of Commissioners on Administrative Committee, Commissioner Handbook, p. 358).  Recommendation 17c, also adopted, “direct[ed] and authorize[d] the responsible entities and persons to proceed with the implementation to the accomplishment of the Goals, bringing specific proposed amendments to the RAO and the BCO where necessary.”

Executive Summary of the AC Funding Plan - Stated Clerk L. Roy Taylor summarizes the aspects of the Strategic Plan that relate to funding for the PCA Administrative Committee.  He outlines the need for such a plan its underlying principles, and specific ways in which it will work out in practice.

A Funding Plan Model - This model is intended to show how the new funding system for AC would work out in practice for churches, teaching elders, and presbyteries.  It describes how the Administrative Committee (AC) can implement steps to carry out “Specific Means #2” under Theme 3 in the Strategic Plan.  The 38th General Assembly accepted this model for information (AC CoC Report, Recommendation 19).

Proposed BCO Changes - This document itemizes the proposed amendments to The Book of Church Order (BCO) that will be necessary for implementation of the funding aspects of the 2010 Strategic Plan.

These proposed BCO changes were approved by the 38th General Assembly, beginning the constitutional amendment process.  To be enacted, they now require approval by majority vote of two-thirds of the 79 presbyteries (53 presbyteries) and a majority vote of a subsequent General Assembly (BCO 26-2).

Proposed RAO Changes - The proposed RAO changes shown here will be brought to the 39th General Assembly, contingent upon the adoption of the proposed amendments to BCO 14-1.4 and 14-2.

Videos

On behalf of the Cooperative Ministries Committee, Dr. Bryan Chapell, President of Covenant Theological Seminary, presents a proposed plan for the future of the PCA .  This presentation has been divided into five parts below.  Each part is between eight and ten minutes.

If you would like a DVD of this presentation, please email ac@pcanet.org.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

For updated information and further discussion about the 2010 PCA Strategic Plan, please visit byfaithonline.com.