Parker T. Williamson
editor-in-chief
A recent letter we received from a missionary is heartbreaking.
She’s risking her life in a country where the gospel is unwelcome,
but that’s not what troubles her. She’s worried that if
Presbyterian congregations redirect their mission and per-capita
offerings, headquarters might bring her home.
She has cause to worry, for hostage-taking is a common practice among
regimes that are desperate to preserve their power. When the General
Assembly voted in 2002 to cut 34 missionaries out of the budget, we
witnessed ecclesiastical hostage-taking. Presbyterians were warned by
denominational officials that more cuts would follow if they don’t
increase their giving.
Make no mistake about it: Terminating those 34 missionary positions was
not necessary. That was a deliberate choice, recommended by bureaucrats
who knew there were alternatives. They could stop funding a Washington
lobby that fought for partial-birth abortion and will continue using
Presbyterian dollars to challenge the law that now bans this evil
practice.
They could cut huge appropriations to the National Council of Churches
and the World Council of Churches. Thanks to incessant lobbying by
Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick, the Presbyterian Church (USA) pumps
more money into these moribund associations than any other denomination.
They could shut down a curriculum publishing division that has lost
credibility with people in the pews. Less than ten percent of our
congregations purchased the denominational curriculum last year.
They could reduce jobs in Louisville – starting with the office of
the stated clerk, especially among persons who fail to “preserve
and defend” the constitution and, in many cases, actually work to
undermine it. Voices from Louisville, the Covenant Network and
Presbyterians For Renewal are defending the current bureaucracy by
suggesting that missionary jobs will be lost if congregations redirect
their mission and per-capita offerings. Presbyterians should recognize
this age-old tactic for what it is and engage it with an appropriate
response.
Our friends in the Episcopal Church USA are showing us the way. When
African archbishops refused to bless the American bishops’ decision
to “consecrate” a person who left his wife for a homosexual
partnership, they were warned that mission funding from the United
States could be cut. That was a palpable threat of ecclesiastical
hostage-taking, for many African Christians depend on American mission
gifts. Nevertheless, the courageous Archbishop of Rwanda, Emmanuel
Kolini, responded: “Money cannot be used in this way. We have
always been poor. They cannot make us poorer by withholding what we
never had.” Peter Akinola, archbishop of Nigeria, expressed a
similar conviction: “The Nigerian Church will never be held ransom
to money,” he said. “We can evangelize without it.”
Although they are willing, the Africans may not have to endure such a
sacrifice. American Episcopalians have begun to redirect millions of
dollars away from their national bureaucracy (more than $500,000 from
congregations in Dallas alone). Much of that money may go to those very
Africans who stood firm in the face of intimidation.
Presbyterian bureaucrats and their supporters should pay attention to
what is happening in the Episcopal Church USA. Any attempt to protect
per-capita and undesignated mission budgets by holding evangelical
ministries hostage will trigger a reaction akin to throwing gas on a
California wildfire. Presbyterians will not be coerced. There are ways
to support selected ministries and remain faithful to the gospel –
by giving to donor-restricted funds such as those administered by the
Outreach Foundation and Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship. Where trust is
broken, blank-check benevolence must end.
Parker T. Williamson is chief executive officer and editor in chief
of the Presbyterian Lay Committee’s publications.