By Maureen Wright

At the Presbytery meeting last week, I shared that in my work as the Transitional General Presbyter and my work as Stated Clerk, I am often invited to be a part of decision-making conversations. I have been thinking about how churches and presbyteries make decisions.

This prompted me to think about how groups of people make decisions. When I initiated a Google search for decision making theory, a long list of information popped up from an AI summary to articles from Stanford University and Deloitte Development, Inc. Some of the information lists two theories, some three – normative, descriptive, and prescriptive.

The other end of the spectrum on decision making seems to follow the children’s books by Laura Numeroff that include If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Most of her books follow a similar pattern; in the case of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, the mouse asks for a cookie, which reminds him of something, which reminds him of something else. Eventually, the mouse gets back to the original thought. I have watched groups follow this pattern when trying to make a decision, often with the result of ending up where they started without making a decision.

Presbyterian polity is unique; decisions are not made by bishops, and the members of congregations are not the sole decision makers. Instead, our decision making is done by Presbyters. For sessions, ruling elders are the primary decision makers. For presbyteries, minister members and ruling elder commissioners are the decision makers. Fundamental to our decision-making process is the belief that when we gather in “councils” (sessions, presbyteries, synods, and the General Assembly), the Holy Spirit is present. This makes our decision making different than corporate decision making, different than the decision making of civic organizations to which we belong, different than many non-profit organizations’ decision making.

Creating space for God in our decision making is difficult. It requires us to acknowledge in real ways God’s authority – in our lives, in our churches, and in our presbytery. It is often easier to make decisions with the tools that we use for decision making in the rest of our lives. Yet God calls us to something different.

Yes, God asks us to consider decisions from statistical and/or financial lenses. We need to be responsible and look at the bottom line.

God also demands that we engage in Bible study and prayer. Finances need the grounding in stewardship that looks not just at numbers but impact, witness, and sharing the good news. Minister member Joan Stewart’s “Jesus math” is real. God is able to do much with little. God asks us to take risks and trust. However, we also need to ask the “should we” question; does this answer witness to God’s kingdom?

In a time when church and presbytery budgets are shrinking, we need to be clear about our goals and priorities. The Presbytery’s budget has three basic streams or pots. Our budget comes from per capita assessment; each member shares the burden of the cost of doing our mission and ministry. Our budget also comes from mission giving – gifts from our congregations to support mission and ministry. Finally, our budget comes from our investments. There is no fairy dust or magic wand – our per capita and mission giving are shrinking both because we now have less than 6,000 Presbyterians in the Presbytery and because our churches have changed their mission giving decisions. It is a difficult time to “be church.”

So, when we seek to make decisions, it is important to not get bogged down in theory or run in circles. It is very important to understand what God is calling us to do, to be clear on the values we have identified in our discernment of God’s will. In a conversation last week over breakfast, my husband was sharing with our son-in-law the reality that in the “old days” when church and presbytery budget extras were common, we could afford to do many good things. In this time when our resources – time, talent, and funds – are less, we need to be very clear to make decisions that reflect our discernment of God’s will.

As the Presbytery implements our Strategic Plan, it is essential that we think about our decision making. We need to be guided by God, by what God is calling us to do. The use of our time, talents, and resources needs to guide our “what do we do now?” – what we let go, what we keep, and what we begin. This is our kingdom work.