LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The highest court in the Presbyterian Church (USA) has ruled that local churches cannot be forced to give money to the denomination, but cautioned that withholding funds in protest is a “serious breach of trust and love.”
The 2.5-million-member church funds most of its programs with “per capita” funds, or dues, sent by local churches. That money is funneled into 189 regional districts called presbyteries, which then send the money to church headquarters in Louisville, Ky.
The July 12 decision by the church’s Permanent Judicial Commission overturned a policy adopted by the Scioto Valley Presbytery in central Ohio, which said churches had a responsibility to help fund the larger denomination.
The court ruled that payments are voluntary, but said church members are “bound together … through our union to God almighty in Jesus through the Holy Spirit,” and have “a high moral obligation based on the grace and call of God to participate fully in the covenant community,” according to Presbyterian News Service.
Several conservative groups, upset with a perceived leftward drift of the denomination, have advocated withholding money in protest.
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