Low-giving Louisville area presbytery signs on for $1 million
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, October 21, 2005
The Presbytery of Mid-Kentucky, which wraps around the Louisville headquarters of the Presbyterian Church (USA), has endorsed a $1-million capital campaign as part of the denomination’s $40-million fundraising effort for new church development and world missions.
But the job may be easier said than done. Presbyterian membership is rapidly declining in the region despite the presence of the PCUSA’s headquarters. And the presbytery ranks near the bottom of the denomination’s 173 presbyteries in per-member contributions. As a consequence, many of its congregations are struggling to pay their staff and operating costs.
According to denominational statistics, the presbytery reported that contributions in 2004 averaged $478.37 per member. Only seven presbyteries had lower averages, including three in Puerto Rico where the per-capita income is one-third of the income average in the United States. Two of the other presbyteries in the bottom rung in per-member giving are comprised largely of Native Americans.
The comparative statistics published by the denomination also show that per-member giving by the Presbytery of Mid-Kentucky, formerly called the Presbytery of Louisville, declined by 30 percent in 2004 as compared with 2003. The Synod of the Living Waters, which includes Mid-Kentucky and 11 other presbyteries, reported contributions for all of the presbyteries averaged $858.68, slightly higher than the denomination’s average of $852.72 in 2004.
The Presbytery of Mid-Kentucky encompasses 69 congregations with an average membership of 168. With per-member giving at $478.37, the theoretical budget for the average church would be $80,214 – barely enough to pay for the church’s utilities and a minister’s salary, housing allowance and health and pension benefits.
So where will the $1 million come from? In the announcement about becoming a part of the denomination’s fundraising campaign, Joining Hearts & Hands has indicated that some of the money would be recycled Presbyterian money, including a $150,000 grant from the Synod of the Living Waters. The presbytery has also applied for a $300,000 grant from the General Assembly.
If it succeeds in raising the $1 million, the presbytery plans to spend the money mostly on new church development. Joining Hearts & Hands said the campaign will raise funds for a new church development in Mt. Washington in Bullitt County, a coordinated youth and young adult ministry with the presbytery’s four African-American congregations and the development of a ministry strategy for the presbytery’s growing Hispanic/Latino population. It said it would become part of Hearts & Hands “to support international mission personnel” – but it did not say any of the Mid-Kentucky money would actually go to world missions.
The goal of Joining Hearts & Hands is to raise $20 million for worldwide missions and $20 million for new church development with the focus on ethnic congregations. But the campaign is falling well short of its 50-50 goal. Its second-quarter financial statement, covering the period through June 30, showed that only 8 percent of the $16 million pledged was designated for worldwide missions. New church development accounted for 63 percent of the pledges and gifts and the remaining 29 percent was undesignated.
Since that report, the campaign says its gifts and pledges have risen to $22 million, pushing it over the halfway mark. That campaign has not posted its third-quarter report, which would cover the three-month period through Sept. 30.