The 4th Executive Council meeting of the 40th General Assembly Period (2016-18) was held Feb. 5-6 at the Kyodan headquarters, with 26 members present. Executive Secretary and Acting General Secretary Dohke Norikazu gave the general secretary’s report, in which he reported that 80,720,000 yen was sent to five churches as part of the relief efforts following the Kumamoto-Oita earthquake.

　Commission on Ecumenical Ministries’ Executive Secretary Kato Makoto then reported that about two-thirds of the approximately 40 schools that are members of the Mission Schools Council have no resident missionary at present and thus are appealing for missionaries. He also reported that while the office of the Committee on Continuing Relief Strategy for the Great East Japan Disaster will close its office in March 2018, committee members will continue to commute from Sendai to continue their work.

　Next, during the report of the Committee on Evangelism Strategy, Chair Sasaki Michio explained the interim report of the subcommittee that was established to look into structure and finances.

　•Its recommendation is to revise the original proposal to have each division debate and decide its own plan. Instead, all items related to Kyodan restructuring and finances would be decided by one committee.

　•Likewise, in order to reduce costs, no special commission (task force) will be established, and the number of committee members will be reduced. The present committee will be restructured and a general affairs section and evangelism section established.

　•The General Assembly will become a body that deals mainly with legally required agenda items over a two-day period in a format of about 200 delegates so that church facilities will be adequate.

　•Other agenda items will be dealt with in a separate meeting of the Mission Policy Conference, which will then be passed through the Executive Council to the General Assembly for ratification.

　•A fund called the "Nationwide Evangelism Promotion Fund" will be established to strengthen local churches and help churches that have not reached a certain level.

　These changes are being made to reflect the average loss of yearly income of some 5 million yen, and thus the goal is to decrease the overall church apportionments from 250 million yen to 200 million per year and the annual personnel costs from 150 million to 100 million yen so that it is sustainable over the next ten years.

　The matter of shared expenses for the National Christian Council in Japan was also discussed, and Moderator Ishibashi proposed that the Kyodan increase its contribution by 900,000 yen to make it a total of 9 million yen. The Kyodan discusses its portion on a yearly basis, although the NCCJ's General Assembly decides on a three-year budget that does not change over its three-year general assembly period. Thus, there is a mismatch, which is why this proposal was made. Commission on Finance Chair Aizawa Toyoshige then reported his committee’s opinion that no supplementary budget be made when an item is going over budget, for clarification purposes.
(Tr. TB)

—Kato Makoto, executive secretary

常議員会報告

加藤　誠

　第40総会期第4回常議員会は、2月5，6日教団会議室で常議員26名が参加して開催された。総幹事報告では道家紀一総幹事事務取扱は「熊本・大分地震救援対策では5教会に8072万円を送金した」と報告した。

　続いて加藤誠世界宣教幹事は「海外出張報告と合わせて宣教協力学校協議会加盟校約40校中、3分の２で宣教師不在であり、宣教師の存在をアピールするプログラムを行った」と報告した。東日本大地震救援対策継続委員会報告で真壁巌書記は「貸付金貸出２２教会中、完済８教会。エマオ石巻は２０１８年３月で事務所を閉鎖するが職員が仙台から通って仕事を続ける。３月末に教団救援対策事業全記録を刊行し、全教会に配布する」と報告した。

　伝道対策検討委員会報告の中で、同委員会が設置した機構・財政検討小委員会の中間報告があり、佐々木美知夫委員長が内容を説明した。

　「教団機構の改定と財政」教団の取り扱い事項全てに委員会を配置する在り方を改め、各部門の審議・議決は一つの委員会が行う。

　特設委員会を置かず、委員会数、経費の削減を図る。現在の委員会を改編し、総務局、伝道局を置く。

　「教団総会の規模と在り方」教団総会を一泊2日とし、法定議案を中心に扱い、議員数は200名で会場は教会を用いる。法定議案以外は宣教方策会議を「大会」として可決し、常議員会を経て次の総会に提出する。

　「各個教会強化への財政支援」一定規模に達していない教会への援助を行う「全国伝道推進献金」を設置。

　今回の変更は毎年500万円ずつ収入が減っている現状を踏まえ、2億5千万円の負担金を2億円、1億5千万円の人件費を1億円規模にすることを目指し、今後10年を維持するための変更であることが示された。

　財務関連議案としてはまずNCC負担金を審議した。石橋議長は教団現予算で810万円とした2017年度NCC負担金を90万円増額し、NCCの決定額である900万円とすることを提案した。教団は単年度ごとに負担金を検討するが、NCCは総会で決定した負担金額を総会期の3年間は変更しない。そのため教団とNCCとの間で食い違いが生じ、それを解決するための提案であった。質疑応答の後、議場は承認した。愛澤豊重予算決算委員長は、今後、決算上の支出超過を明らかにするために補正予算を作成しない方が良いという委員会の意見を報告した。