Presbytery votes to compel churches to pay per-capita
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, February 6, 2002
The Presbytery of Scioto Valley in Ohio is seeking permission to compel its congregations to pay their per-capita apportionments, a policy that conflicts with decisions of general assemblies in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the denomination’s highest court.
The Ohio presbytery also has scheduled the review of and a later vote on a draconian overture that would empower presbyteries to punish congregations that do not pay their full per-capita apportionment.
Crowd thinned before vote
The vote for an overture to compel per-capita payments was held late during the meeting of the presbytery Feb. 5 after many commissioners had gone home. By a margin of 70-57, the presbytery favored compelling per-capita payments. Earlier, the presbytery voted 105-103 against Amendment 01-A. Thus, at least 81 fewer ballots were cast on the per-capita issue.
The companion overture would allow the presbytery to place any non-complying congregation on the presbytery’s inactive roll – thus denying the congregation representation at presbytery and other governing bodies. It also would allow the presbytery to “refuse loan requests, loan encumbrances from such church, or any other activity requiring presbytery approval.”
Since presbyteries must approve building projects to accommodate church growth, the application of such punitive powers could prevent congregations from growing. The only significant growth in the denomination – which has lost 1.7 million members since 1965 – is among evangelical congregations.
Presbyteries are responsible for collecting per-capita apportionments to support the work of the General Assembly, synods and presbyteries. Each congregation is assigned a proportion of the costs of those three governing bodies based on the number of members in the congregation.
Historic principle challenged
Both Scioto Valley proposals challenge the historic principle that per-capita payment is voluntary, not compulsory.
Numerous congregations have withheld per-capita apportionments as a witness against decisions that seemed to reach beyond the boundaries of the Reformed faith. For instance, withholding per-capita to support the General Assembly rose to an estimated $325,000 in 1994, the year after feminists held a national conference on ReImagining God as a goddess named Sophia.
The denomination provided major funding for the conference and a number of its women from its staff in Louisville attended. Leaders of the denomination defended the 1993 conference until the 1994 General Assembly declared that ReImagining God was beyond the bounds of the Christian faith.
There was another surge in withholding per-capita payments in 1999 after the General Assembly Council voted 41-40 to authorize that Women of Faith Awards be presented to two lesbian activists.
Record withholding expected
During the meeting of the General Assembly Council in Louisville Jan. 29-Feb. 2, General Assembly Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick issued revised budget figures that estimated per-capita withholding in 2003 will total $425,000. That would be a record.
None of the evangelical renewal groups in the denomination has called for withholding per-capita payments, but they have recognized that sessions have the absolute right to determine how the tithes and offerings of a congregation are spent.
The denomination’s recent history on per-capita has had two different directions: Presbyterians have consistently affirmed that per-capita payments are not taxes and isolated presbyteries – with encouragement from some of the denomination’s staff leaders – have sought to make the payments compulsory.
The key court case on the issue was settled in 1992. The General Assembly’s Permanent Judicial Council ruled that Presbytery of Long Island could not compel First Presbyterian Church of Huntington, N.Y., to pay its per-capita apportionment to support the work of the presbytery.
The Huntington church withheld payment after the presbytery sponsored a seminar led by a self-proclaimed witch. The court also said presbyteries could not punish congregations that do not pay their assigned per capita.
‘Relationship is voluntary’
In 2001, the General Assembly voted against an overture from Scioto Valley asking that per-capita payments be obligatory. The 2001 commissioners added a statement to their decision: “Per capita is one of the sinews of our covenantal relationship. We believe that relationship is voluntary rather than mandatory. Nonetheless, we urge sessions to contribute per capita especially in seasons of disagreement, uncertainty and controversy.”
The per-capita issue heated up recently when Kirkpatrick issued a statement that included a threat against sessions that withhold payments. “It is a violation of our ordination vows to promote … the defiance of constitutional sanctioned governing body directives,” he wrote – despite the repeated assurances of the General Assembly and church courts that per-capita payment is voluntary.
Many regarded Kirkpatrick’s language as a threat to discipline – whether by censureship or excommunication – ministers and who exercise their constitutional prerogative to redirect their per-capita to ministries that they believe are more faithful to the gospel. Violating one’s ordination vows is one of the most serious offenses in the denomination.