LOUISVILLE--The Presbyterian Church (USA) eliminated 37 national staff positions and cut $4.6 million from the 2005-2006 mission budget, according to the Presbyterian News Service.

The cuts were made in order to balance the 2005 and 2006 mission budgets at $114.4 million. Because it is a two-year plan, said GAC Executive Director John Detterick, "We don't anticipate having to go through this again next year."

A dramatic downturn in church income because of decreased giving necessitated the cuts, according to Detterick.

"We really are in a time of transition, where we have to look at how we receive and distribute mission funds ... and be more proactive in going with the flow of the trend toward designated giving," he said.

The cuts range from top management to the lowest level of staff support.

These and previous cuts have limited the number of associate directors by about two-thirds in three years, to fewer than 10. During those three years, more than 100 jobs at the Presbyterian Center have been eliminated.

Detterick said making this round of budget decisions has been "very, very difficult," because "every cut eliminates something beneficial to the church." However, Detterick praised the council for its work in setting four priorities: evangelism and witness, justice and compassion, spirituality and discipleship, and leadership and vocation.

Detterick said the new mission work plan "is clearly calling us away from a corporate, hierarchical model into one that's more networked and relationship-based."

"I really believe God is leading us to some new understandings of how the national church participates in the ministry of the whole church," he said.

Some effects of the proposed cuts:

Presbyteries, synods and Presbyterian Center employees will no longer receive free PresbyNet subscriptions; full-time staff support for the church's computer communications network will no longer be provided; national and regional theology and liturgy seminars will be affected by the loss of one position; in-house Spanish language curriculum will be outsourced to the United Methodist church; the office of stewardship and mission funding will be realigned.

The complete PDF file of the budget and staff reduction plan is available on the denomination's Web site at www.pcusa.org/pcnews/pdf/execctte050304.pdf.