 Taking hostages  The Layman Volume 36, Number 5, Posted November 24, 2003
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. |
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