Parker T. Williamson
Editor emeritus and senior
correspondent of The Layman
In the July/August issue of
The Layman, we included a
column titled “
Follow
the Money.” Noting that denominational agencies are suffering
a major meltdown from declining congregational contributions, we
encouraged Presbyterians to watch for signs of creative bookkeeping.
Some of those signs are coming to the surface:
- More than two years after many Presbyterians gave generous
offerings specifically for post-Katrina hurricane relief, the
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) program has yet to distribute
$12 million of the donor-designated gifts – claiming on the
program’s Web site that its work is “designed for
long-term needs.” Those officials have developed a plan through
2013, with most of the funds focused on maintaining a “network
of villages and church host sites for volunteers.”
Spin-off plan
- General Assembly Council members now are considering a plan to
spin off PDA into a separate corporation. Their thought is that by
giving it some distance from the denomination, they can qualify
future disaster-relief appeals for matching funds from employers who
don’t want to support religion per se, but might channel funds
to humanitarian causes. During their September discussions, some
council members wondered aloud how such a plan would play in Peoria,
especially in light of PDA’s Katrina record. Some expressed
anxiety about the success of such a venture, considering the fact
that Presbyterians do not trust their denominational leaders.
- On another front, leaders of the “Heart and Hands”
campaign are playing a fast and loose numbers game. Established by
the 213th General Assembly in 2001, Heart and Hands was billed as a
five-year capital funds campaign to raise $40 million in new dollars
for missions at home and abroad. Half of the proceeds were to
support overseas missions and the other half was to be designated
for developing new churches at home.
Heart and Hands never got off the ground in spite of the fact that
campaign managers have spent $4,527,317 of their $4,852,448 in cash
income promoting it.
Warned by former Princeton Seminary President Thomas Gillespie that a
campaign disappointment would be disastrous for the denomination’s
future, Heart and Hands leaders began a desperate search for ways to
report their failure as a success. Noting that several presbyteries
already had launched their own campaigns for new church development
funds, Heart and Hands negotiated an arrangement whereby dollars raised
in these presbytery campaigns could be counted in the Heart and Hands
total. Presbyteries were assured that although Heart and Hands would
claim credit for the money, no dollars would change hands. The
presbyteries would raise it. The presbyteries would spend it. But Heart
and Hands would add the numbers to its own reports.
These reports have helped Heart and Hands’ managers claim some
modicum of success. They now say that they have raised $27,560,367
million in cash and pledges. But the fact of the matter is that, in many
instances, these are not new dollars raised by Heart and Hands.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) is suffering a serious erosion of trust.
This did not happen overnight. For years, the Office of the General
Assembly paid lip service to a constitution that it refused to enforce,
vainly hoping that by looking the other way, it could maintain peace.
Denominational wordsmiths suggested that Presbyterians who will not
abide by constitutional standards simply say that they are, according to
their own private definition of those standards. The 2006 General
Assembly exacerbated that duplicity by reaffirming the ordination
standards, while simultaneously saying that local governing bodies need
not obey them.
The Office of the General Assembly privately admits that the
Presbyterian form of government is representative, not hierarchical. But
its lawyers are advising presbyteries to make hierarchical claims when
taking congregations to court over their property. Increasingly,
Presbyterians in the pews understand that their denomination has an
integrity problem. With this realization comes the loss of trust.
Responsibilities
We urge our fellow lay leaders in congregations of the Presbyterian
Church (USA) to take their fiduciary responsibilities seriously. It is
not enough for session members to satisfy themselves that money given by
their members is channeled to the appropriate denominational fund. One
must continue to follow that money through that fund and to its final
disposition. When your people gave an offering to help the victims of
Katrina, was it spent for that purpose? Will it be used to fund some
proposed disaster bureaucracy? If your congregation gave an offering to
help Katrina victims, your church session has a fiduciary responsibility
to make sure that Katrina victims received the funds.
Words are wonderful. After all, we are people of the Word. But the deeds
we do in service to the Word also are critically important. For the Lord’s
sake, follow the money.
The Rev. Parker T. Williamson is editor emeritus of The Layman.