Washington Presbytery allows dissent on per-capita payments By John H. Adams The Layman Online Tuesday, April 29, 2003 While a few presbyteries are trying to punish local congregations whose sessions withhold or redirect some of their per-capita apportionments, the Presbytery of Washington in Pennsylvania has a policy that honors the principled objections of the leaders of its local churches. That policy is a compromise between the actions of two General Assemblies – the 211th General Assembly in 1999 that issued an authoritative interpretation that required presbyteries to remit 100 percent of the per-capita apportionments and the 214th General Assembly in 2002 that reaffirmed that payment of per capita by local sessions is voluntary. The Presbytery of Washington's policy allows a session to withhold or redirect per-capita money that would go to the General Assembly. Furthermore, the presbytery policy no longer obligates the presbytery to make up the difference. The policy was developed after one of the presbytery's largest congregations, Peters Creek United Presbyterian Church, discontinued paying its per capita to support the denomination. It did not discontinue its support for middle-governing bodies (synod and presbytery). The leaders of Peters Creek, a 700-member evangelical congregation that is one of 1,292 Confessing Churches within the PCUSA, decided to withhold their denominational apportionment as a way to express their dissatisfaction with statements by the General Assembly and the General Assembly Council that failed to affirm that Jesus is Lord of all. At first, the Presbytery of Washington made up the difference for the Peters Creek shortfall. In response, the Peters Creek session decided to withhold some of the presbytery's per capita as well. That led to a series of meetings and negotiations – and a policy that was adopted by the Council of the Presbytery of Washington on April 16, 2002. Previously, the presbytery's administrative manual declared that the presbytery "is obligated to pay full per capita to the General Assembly and the Synod whether or not it collects the full amount from the particular churches." But that statement was replaced by two paragraphs. The first dealt with congregations that simply lack sufficient funds to make their full per-capita payments. In such cases, the policy says, "Representatives of the presbytery shall meet with the Session to offer stewardship support and guidance. The Presbytery shall pay the outstanding portion of per capita to the General Assembly and Synod." The second paragraph dealt with principled objections, such as that by the session of Peters Creek. The full text of that paragraph is: "If the particular church withholds payments of per capita due to a matter of conscience, the Session shall notify the Stated Clerk of the intent in writing. Representatives of the Presbytery shall meet with the Session to hear those concerns and offer guidance and interpretation of per capita funding. If after this meeting the Session still votes to withhold full payment or a portion thereof the Presbytery shall honor the Session request and not remit funds in dispute. The Session shall be strongly encouraged to submit an equal amount to a validated Presbytery, Synod or General Assembly Mission." Since that policy was adopted, Peters Creek has remitted its full per capita for the work of the synod and presbytery, but not for the denomination. Peters Creek now gives what would have been the denomination's share – about $4,000 – to support validated presbytery ministries to elderly and homeless people. But Peters Creek also honors the scattered objections from within its own congregation. Members who believe they are obligated to remit per-capita support, even if the session does not do so from the overall pool of contributions, are invited to send their contributions to a per-capita account that is passed along to the presbytery, says Rus Howard, pastor of the congregation. Historically, the Presbyterian Church (USA) has said that per-capita payment is not compulsory. A key ruling by the highest court in the denomination – the Permanent Judicial Commission of the General Assembly – affirmed that principle. Further, it said higher governing bodies could not punish congregations for failure to remit all or part of their per-capita payments. With membership losses and objections to denominational policies taking a toll, some Presbyterian leaders – including Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick – have issued threats to coerce sessions to remit their full capita. In a statement denouncing ministers and elders who had discussed possible separation from the Presbyterian Church (USA) or withholding per-capita apportionments, Kirkpatrick said, "Such actions are unconstitutional, and I urge that they stop. It is a violation of our ordination vows to promote schism or the defiance of constitutionally sanctioned governing body directives." A minister or elder can be excommunicated for violating an ordination vow. While the per-capita policy has historically been based on a Biblical willingness to give – "God loves a cheerful giver" – the 1999 General Assembly sent a compulsory dun to the presbyteries with its authoritative interpretation, which is not a constitutional mandate. "Therefore, a presbytery has the responsibility to remit per capita allocations to synod and General Assembly, even though a congregation does not pay the per capita allocated to it by the presbytery," that assembly said. The 214th General Assembly adopted a more temperate policy: "Whereas giving to the church must be based upon a joyful response to God's providence and grace, and whereas our polity is based upon connectional, covenantal relationship of governing bodies to one another and to higher governing bodies; the 214th General Assembly expresses its concern that for many reasons, churches do not pay their share of per capita. "Be it resolved that presbyteries are urged (1) to partner with those churches who struggle financially to pay per capita and (2) to work pastorally with those congregations who choose to withhold their per capita. Individual sessions are reminded that to withhold per capita puts at jeopardy the connectional and covenantal nature of our church that is affirmed by our ordination vows. "We call on General Assembly agencies, synods and presbyteries to work to alleviate the problems that lead to withholding so that the church may proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole world. We believe that at such a time as this, it is not wise or prudent to change the current understanding of the way per capita is collected and transmitted. Nevertheless, presbyteries are encouraged to raise per capita payments from churches through voluntary payments in the spirit of II Corinthians 9:7: 'Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (NIV).'"

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