Speakers oppose overture seeking to make per capita payments mandatory By Craig M. Kibler The Layman Online Saturday, June 17, 2006 217th General Assembly Birmingham, Ala. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- There was considerable opposition Friday afternoon to an overture that seeks an Authoritative Interpretation regarding whether session per-capita payments should be mandatory. The overture (023), from the Presbytery of Baltimore, seeks an Authoritative Interpretation of "G-9.0404d regarding session responsibility to pay per capita." In an open hearing before the Committee on General Assembly Procedures, which scheduled a vote on the overture later during the General Assembly, not one of the people speaking supported the proposal. The Rev. John Verstecker of Philadelphia Presbytery said, "This Authoritative Interpretation, if adopted, would cast a very broad net that I believe would remove a lot of the latitude that sessions now maintain." "It would make the obligation of paying per capita obligatory on my session," he said, which would mean that decisions would have to be made on whether to fund mission priorities or per capita. Rev. James Quillen, a pastor in Cordova, Tenn., told the committee that, "What is possible is not always wise or timely. [An Authoritative Interpretation] will overturn all of the precedents that have gone before" regarding the voluntary nature of per-capita payments. "To mandate payment," he said, "will destroy the fragile trust that exists in several of our presbyteries." Rev. Gale Watkins, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Phoenix cited the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Committee ruling in the Minihan case, in which the court described per capita as a benevolence. "Per capita is not a tax," he said, "but a specialized benevolence that allows higher governing bodies to do their work. It is not a tax." Reject the overture, Watkins urged the committee, and, "In so doing, say 'Yes' to the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission." Jack Sharpe, an elder from the Presbytery of Carlisle, told the committee to "reject this overture because it would overturn the historic principles that a session controls its benevolences." The overture, he said, "is a reaction of the institutional church toward people who won't pay their per capita." Charlie Brown, an elder from Central Presbyterian Church in Merced, Calif., said that, in his congregation, "We rely on God's benevolence in our church. The tithes and offerings in our church are not mandatory, and we don't believe the General Assembly should make it mandatory."

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