LOUISVILLE – It’s an intricate mosaic of life in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), but the big picture looks something like this. Presbyteries feel financially stressed, with many mid council leaders saying the denomination’s per capita system isn’t working. The Office of the General Assembly, which depends on per capita, needs more funding to do its work. Many presbyteries and synods impose their own per capita rates on top of what the General Assembly assesses – which means that when mid councils can’t fully collect per capita from congregations, their own budgets take a hit. There’s confusion about why there are two agencies instead of one at the top of the denomination. The committee’s Financial Sustainability team, in a preliminary report issued at the end of 2019, raised the prospect of restructuring. Year after year, there are fewer Presbyterians – with churches getting smaller and some closing their doors, which means a smaller donor base, regardless of what funding … [Read more...]

LOUISVILLE – The per capita funding system is broken, mid council leaders say. Presbyteries are under stress — from having to send money to the national church that they are not always able to collect from congregations. Restructuring of the top levels of the denomination may be needed. And the Special Committee on Per-Capita Based Funding and National Church Financial Sustainability is trying to provide some answers to the 2020 General Assembly about what changes need to be made, and to identify some experiments or pilot projects the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) might try to see what could work better. The committee is meeting in Louisville Jan. 13-15, intent on drafting its recommendations to the General Assembly — and facing a Feb. 21 deadline. It’s not likely that this committee or even the 2020 General Assembly will be able to come up with something immediately to fix the problems. But this committee may ask the assembly to begin the process of considering … [Read more...]

A committee considering the future of per capita and financial sustainability in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has issued its preliminary report — meeting its Dec. 31 deadline. That preliminary report on financial sustainability lists a series of “draft recommendations under consideration” — matters the committee will discuss further during its Jan. 13-15 meeting in Louisville, before its final recommendations to the 2020 General Assembly are due Feb. 21. The preliminary report includes this observation: “Sadly, there is too little union, not enough community, and way too much confusion about mission among congregations and councils for our church to be sustainable going forward. This is why we recommend an examination of the possibility of reorganizing our national church. “ Among the possibilities the committee is considering: Recommending a process for restructuring the PC(USA), by proposing that the assembly create a task force to bring a proposed revision of the … [Read more...]