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Message
from the Conference Minister,
Conference Moderator and Conference Vice-Moderator
After hours of difficult deliberation, the Board of Directors voted at
its meeting last Saturday, May 2, to suspend operations at Pilgrim Point
Camp, effective at the end of the 2009 camping season. Members of the
Board are currently working to make available detailed information about
this decision, which will appear in the May 27 edition of COMMAntary and
then be posted on the website. Additionally, the Board anticipates an
hour of plenary time at the Annual Meeting - from 4:30 - 5:30 pm on
Friday, June 5 - to explain this action and to respond to questions.
Members of the Board will also be available at a Saturday afternoon
Annual Meeting workshop.
To be sure, the recent collapse of the financial markets contributed to
the urgency of this choice. The Ashley Endowment, which by Board vote
(November 2006) provided "up to $100,000 annually for the creation and
support of a full-time position to be called Pilgrim Point Camp Managing
Director," fell below its received value of $6.7 million last
September. In March 2008 it was worth approximately $7.5 million; at
the end of March 2009 it was valued at $4.8 million.
In fiscal 2008, budget deficits at Pilgrim Point Camp required $25,000
from Conference operating funds in addition to the $100,000 from the
Ashley Endowment. Projections point to an even larger gap between Camp
revenues and expenditures for the 2009 camping season. Because selling
depreciated assets will further erode the value of the Ashley Endowment
and slow its growth, the Conference Finance Committee and Board of
Directors face hard choices about wise and faithful use of resources to
cover the anticipated costs of supporting the Camp during the current
year.
The Board also took into consideration the data gathered as a first-step
toward the development of a business plan for the Camp. That
information revealed a declining number of youth campers - from about
500 in the year 2000 to about 300 last year. It also showed that only
about one third of Conference congregations utilize the camp. The four
local churches with the largest Sunday Schools do not send youth to the
week-long programs. Indeed, youth from seven churches comprise 56% of
those that participate in these camps. (The full report by David
Kettering is available for review at
www.uccmn.org.)
The changing patterns of participation are not limited to Pilgrim Point
Camp, but are part of much larger demographic and cultural shifts. Rev.
John Roschen has helped us to see how the growth and decline of church
camps is associated with the institutional "pig moving through the
python" effect created by the Baby Boomer generation. Many church camps
were purchased forty to sixty years ago as the "Boomers" were in
elementary and junior high school and at a time when enrollment in UCC
Sunday Schools was high. Today, far fewer youth are in our Sunday
schools. Church camps of other denominations in Minnesota (Episcopal,
Methodist, etc.) are facing similar challenges, as are UCC camps across
the United States.
As you receive this information, the Board of Directors asks you to keep
in mind the following:
1. The Board vote is to suspend operations at Pilgrim Point Camp at the
end of the 2009 camping season. No decision has been made about the
property, except to make arrangements for its security.
2. The Christian faith formation and discipleship of children and youth
is a core strategic priority of the Minnesota Conference United Church
of Christ, and the Board is committed to allocating limited resources in
ways that fulfill this goal faithfully and effectively.
This is the 50th anniversary year at Pilgrim Point Camp, and plans are
being made to acknowledge and celebrate a half-century of rich and
transforming ministry in joyful and fitting ways at the Annual Meeting
and throughout the summer of 2009.
We give thanks for your understanding and support, and we welcome your
questions.
Rev. Dr. Karen Smith Sellers, Conference Minister
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Rev. Mark Kuether, Conference Moderator
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Dr. Lisa Lindesmith, Conference Vice-Moderator
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