Presbyterians file complaint on per capita By Parker T. Williamson The Layman Volume 35, Number 4 Posted July 19, 2002 COLUMBUS, Ohio – Two Ohio Presbyterians have filed a judicial complaint against the Presbytery of Scioto Valley. John C. Minihan, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Newark, Ohio, and J. Randall Richards, an elder of Liberty Presbyterian Church in Delaware, Ohio, allege that the presbytery violated the Presbyterian Church (USA) Constitution by attempting to require its congregations to pay per-capita apportionments. The denomination’s Book of Order declares that the session of each particular congregation has the authority to determine the distribution of all church offerings. Rulings by the Permanent Judicial Commission of the General Assembly state that this authority may not be abridged by other governing bodies and that sessions may not be punished for their refusal to pay per capita. Scioto Valley Presbytery officials have persistently disagreed with this interpretation of the Constitution. In 2001, the presbytery sent a proposed constitutional amendment to the General Assembly that would have declared per capita contributions mandatory. The proposal was rejected. Despite this defeat, on Feb. 5, 2002, the presbytery adopted the following rule for its sessions: “When the Presbytery directs per capita apportionments to the sessions of the churches within its bounds [G-9.0404d], the action of the Presbytery establishes a responsibility on the part of sessions, as governing bodies of the church, to raise and timely transmit per capita funds to the presbytery, unless the Presbytery excuses a session from doing so.” Citing actions by previous general assemblies, the ruling of the permanent judicial commission in Session of Central Presbyterian Church v. Presbytery of Long Island (1992), statements by the Advisory Committee on the Constitution (2001), and a precedent-setting case, Westminster United Presbyterian Church v. the Presbytery of Detroit (1976), complainants argued, “The Constitutional and authoritative interpretations are clear, that per capita payments are voluntary, and a church may neither be compelled to pay nor punished for failure to pay … The Presbytery of Scioto Valley has unconstitutionally encroached on the constitutional power of sessions to determine the distribution of their church’s benevolences by the adoption of the above resolution.” On June 14, the presbytery filed a response with the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Covenant. “Respondent denies that the language of its motion ‘requires that per capita payments be made mandatory.’ Rather, Respondent asserts that G-9.0404d already makes per capita payments mandatory.” Scioto Valley argued that in rejecting its proposed constitutional amendment, the 2001 General Assembly merely refused to specify that per capita is mandatory. It did not declare per capita voluntary. Attorneys for the presbytery argued that since 1992, no “authoritative interpretation” of the Constitution exists that declares per capita a voluntary contribution. Although the Scioto Valley case is before the court, an action by the 2002 General Assembly, meeting one month after the complaint was filed, may render the case moot. Responding to an overture from the Presbytery of San Joaquin, the assembly declared per-capita payments by sessions are voluntary.

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