Per-capita payments decline sharply from 2000 to 2002
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, May 13, 2003
Since 2000, the payment of per-capita apportionments to support the work of the General Assembly has decreased steadily, according to information provided to commissioners to the 215th General Assembly that will meet in Denver on May 24-31.
The shortfall of collections in proportion to apportionments was 1.29 percent in 2000, 1.52 percent in 2001 and 1.98 percent in 2002, according to a report by the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly.
Nonetheless, the committee put a positive spin on its assessment of collections of per-capita. It did not mention the three-year slide. Instead, it said, “The COGA is happy to report that since the year 1996, the amount of unpaid per capita has been reduced from approximately $350,000 to about $192,000 at end of the year 2001. Continued improvement of the level of giving is encouraged.”
What the report did not say – but that the tables in the report revealed – is that collections have trailed off in the last three years during the heat of controversies about the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the denomination’s constitutional “fidelity/chastity” ordination standards. And the 2002 shortfall is 35.6 percent higher than 2001’s.
COGA did say it hopes to collect some late payments on the 2002 per capita. Usually, per-capita payments are made early in the year, based on the previous year’s church membership.
The year 1996 represented the after-effects of the 1993 ReImagining God controversy, in which several staff leaders helped arrange funding for and attended a feminist gathering in which prayers were offered to a goddess called Sophia and milk and honey were substituted in a communion service for the elements that represent the blood and body of Jesus Christ.
Meanwhile, the withholding or redirecting of per-capita, which is a voluntary contribution, has risen from $163,256.29 in 2000 to $193,369.72 in 2001 and to $262,298.49 in 2002, according to the COGA report’s tables.
The COGA report says “full participation in per capita giving preserves the connectional nature of our Presbyterian system and provides a strong witness to the good stewardship as believers of the Reformed Theology, based on the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
But some evangelicals argue that good stewardship has not been practiced at Louisville, the headquarters for the Presbyterian Church. They cite, among other reasons, the denomination’s draconian cuts in mission funding without reining in contributions to liberal religious-political programs such as the National Council of Churches, the World Council of Churches and the Washington Office.
Most of the denomination’s presbyteries pay their per capita, but COGA’s charts showed that 38 withheld between $1,000 and $63,000 during 2000-2002. The Presbytery of Hamni (which is comprised of Korean congregations) has withheld the largest amount – $62,882.23 during the three-year period.
While there is no indication on the report why a presbytery withholds money, it is notable that Hamni is at the top of the list. Members of Korean congregations give substantially more money for mission causes that they underwrite directly. The Korean congregations in the PCUSA have also been adamantly opposed to the continuing efforts to water down the denomination’s constitutional ordination requirements.
The COGA charts show a possible correlation between divisive issues and withholding or redirecting per-capita payments. Eighty-percent of the 38 congregations that have withheld $1,000 or more between 2000 and 2002 voted against Amendment 01-A, the 2001 proposal to repeal the “fidelity/chastity” ordination requirement.
Several of the major withholders are in Pennsylvania, the heart of the Confessing Church Movement within the Presbyterian Church (USA). The Presbytery of Shenango has withheld $60,460.84. Beaver-Butler remitted $42,728.87 less than its apportionment.
But there are some liberal presbyteries that are high on the nonpayment list as well. Scioto Valley has an underpayment of $51,495.81 for the three-year period and Western New York is short $35,936.71.