The article about PCUSA General Assembly per capita write-offs posted yesterday generated a bevy of questions from readers. Here are the answers to a few of them.

Q: What is “per capita”?
A: The words “per capita” appear twice in the Form of Government Book of Order (G-9.0308 and 9.0404d). In neither place it is expressly defined.
The official definition is found in the Minutes of the 1995 meeting of the GA. “Per capita is an opportunity for all communicant members of the Presbyterian church through the governing bodies to participate equally, responsibly, and interdependently by sharing the cost of coordination and evaluation of mission; and of performing ecclesiastical, legislative, and judicial functions that identify a Reformed Church, while at the same time strengthening the sense of community among all Presbyterians” (GA Minutes, Part I, 1995).

It was originally intended to be every Presbyterian’s “fair share” of the denomination’s overhead costs. Over time many other costs were added, e.g. the costs of the office of the Stated Clerk, the costs of denominational meetings, the costs of the PCUSA’s participation in ecumenical bodies like the National and World Council of Churches. It has little effect on the General Assembly Mission Budget as those ministries are primarily funded through other giving streams.
The GA per capita budget for 2010 is $13,364,204 or $6.15/member.

In 2011 it rises to $13,787,533 or $6.50/member and in 2012 the per capita budget is $13,727,484 but the per member rate rises again to $6.33. Why? Primarily because as membership continues to decline the cost per member rises.

Much like the concept of local, state and national taxes, per capita is assessed to congregations for all three levels of governance: presbytery, synod and GA. The Session sends one check to the presbytery to cover the per capita at all levels. As presbytery and synod per capita assessments differ across the country, the actual per capita assessments range as well all the way up to a high of $58.43/member in Alaska.

Q: What does per capita pay for?
A: You can download the entire per capita budget from the PCUSA website. [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced in this article is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.] You will see that includes:
· General Assembly meetings and other meetings like The Big Tent, annual polity conference, elder’s conference, moderators conference, COM and CPM conferences.
· 34 permanent and special GA committees and commissions like COGA, Representation, Nominating, Ecumenical and Interreligious relations, GAPJC, Advisory Committee on the Constitution, Advisory Committee on Litigation.
· Ordination exams, vocations and Church Leadership Connection (the call process)
· Immigration issues
· Presbyterian Historical Society, Statistics, Publications,
· Constitutional Services
· Expenses of the Moderator and Vice-Moderator
· Middle governing bodies relations
· Participation in the National Council of Churches ($204,000), World Council of Churches ($458,402), the World Communion of Reformed Churches ($232,731) and other ecumenical efforts
There is also about $2.5 million in the per capita budget for GAMC related costs

Q: What is “withholding” and why are some churches doing it?
A: Withholding is an act of conscience wherein the Session chooses not to pay all or part of per capita, thereby stating it’s objection to some practice or failure of practice of the GA. Sixteen presbyteries acknowledge that there are sessions within their bounds who are withholding per capita. It could be assumed that some of the additional 42 presbyteries that are only forwarding to the GA what they receive from Sessions are also experiencing the effects of withholding.

If a Session chooses to withhold per capita, it is appropriate to notify the Stated Clerk of the presbytery in writing of the reasons for withholding and specify the remedies that would bring about a release of the withheld funds. Mindful that no governing body can bind the conscience of a future body, Sessions that desire to withhold per capita must vote to do so each year.

One session in Texas is using the withholding of per capita to communicate its concern about membership loss and the denomination’s failure to make evangelism a priority in actual practice. Presbyteries report that sessions in South Carolina are withholding in response to actions of the 219th GA related to G6-1016b. Other sessions have reported that they are withholding any future 2010 payments in objection to the GA’s request that the Board of Pensions include same-sex domestic partner benefits in the Plan.

It is not known exactly how many Sessions are withholding GA per capita but the underpayment of nearly $1 million dollars in 2009 to the per capita budget suggests that there may be many.

Q: Does failure to pay GA per capita affect our missionaries?
A: No. Missionaries are funded through the GAMC Mission Budget.

Q: When did the GAPJC rule that no punitive action could be taken against a Session that doesn’t pay per capita?
A: In 1992 the GAPJUC ruled in Session, Central Presbyterian Church v. Presbytery of Long Island that “Presbytery may not punish, directly or indirectly, a church whose session determines the distribution of the church’s benevolences in a way contrary to the presbytery’s approved policy.” The GAPJC went on to say that while “A governing body may adopt a per capita system for financing its operations, and may prepare and publish a list of churches which pay or do not pay according to that system,”… “a church may neither be compelled to pay nor punished for failure to pay any amounts pursuant to such plan.”

The 1992 ruling was reaffirmed in 2004 in the GAPJC decision Minihan et al v. Presbytery of Scioto Valley. That ruling leaves no room for question, stating that “G-9.0404d does not give the presbytery the power to require payment of per capita apportionment by sessions.”

In 2006, the GAPJC made a similar ruling in A. Kirk Johnston, Laurie Johnston, and Session of First United Presbyterian Church, Paola, Kansas v. Heartland Presbytery. Heartland presbytery had adopted a policy “that a church is ineligible to request financial assistance, if it has not fully paid its per capita apportionment and a mission pledge.” The GAPJC ruled that policy unconstitutional, saying, “In short, a congregation’s failure to pay full per capita apportionments or to fulfill a mission pledge ordinarily cannot become determinative or dispositive of a presbytery’s refusal to grant that congregation financial assistance. Therefore, a congregation’s failure to pay per capita apportionments or to fulfill a mission pledge cannot be made a condition of eligibility to request a presbytery’s financial assistance.”

So, as it stands now, per capita is voluntary for Sessions.

Q: Will the adoption of the new Form of Government have any effect on this conversation?
A: The voluntary nature of per capita is preserved in the nFOG. The restructured nature of governance at all levels provided for through nFOG will affect the GA’s per capita budget, but at this point COGA has released no financial forecasts related to the implementation of the nFOG.

Email additional questions to [email protected].

This story first appeared at The Layman Online and is used with their permission.
Source: http://www.layman.org/News.aspx?article=27773

[Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced in this article is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]