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General Conference 2004
Rocky Mountain Conference News and Resources
Day 10
Judicial Council rules on apportionment question
May 5, 2004
By Neill Caldwell*
PITTSBURGH (UMNS) — The United Methodist high court ruled
May 5 that unwillingness by a pastor to lead a local church toward
full payment of apportionments is not a chargeable offense.
In the United Methodist Church, apportionments are defined as
the funds each annual conference or local church pays to support
international, national and regional missions.
The Judicial Council ruling’s “Analysis and Rationale” section
did state, however, that any clergy member’s “deliberate” encouragement
of a church “not to pay its apportionments in full, when
the church is otherwise able to do so … may rise to the
level of a chargeable offense under Paragraph 2702” of
the church’s Book of Discipline.
The council was asked by the General Conference to determine
whether or not a pastor’s unwillingness to counsel his
or her church to pay apportionments constituted “failure
to perform the work of the ministry” or “disobedience
to the order and discipline of the United Methodist Church,” two
of the chargeable offenses listed in Paragraph 2702.
The request for a declaratory decision included language in
the Book of Discipline (Paragraph 823) related to the “Proportionality” section
of the Episcopal Fund, which provides for salary of church bishops.
(The Proportionality section states that “the amount apportioned
to a charge for the Episcopal Fund shall be paid in the same
proportion as the charge pays its pastor.”)
In its ruling, the council affirmed that the duties of a pastor
include “leading the congregation in the fulfillment of
its mission through full and faithful payment of all apportioned
ministerial support, administrative and benevolent funds.” (Paragraph
331.2f)
The decision continued: “The pastor of a church has an
important role in leading a local church to … pay its apportionments
in full, including the apportionment for the Episcopal Fund,
but the pastor does not carry this responsibility alone. The
pastor of the church is just one of many individuals, lay and
clergy, who have responsibility for providing leadership to a
local congregation and thereby leading a local church toward
full payment of apportionments. To hold the pastor of a church
personally accountable for a chargeable offense when a church
under his/her leadership does not pay its apportionments in full,
including the requirement for proportionality in the case of
the Episcopal Fund, is unjust.
“The clear legislative intent of the list of chargeable
offenses in Paragraph 2702 is to hold pastors accountable for
their own personal actions, not the actions of other ordained
or lay persons.”
*Caldwell is a correspondent for United Methodist News Service.
News media contact: (412) 325-6080 during General Conference,
April 27-May 7. After May 10: (615) 742-5470.
United Methodist News
Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org
General Conference links:
If the main General Conference site is slow or busy, you can
also try some of the General Church agency web sites below, or
the unofficial
ones
listed
on
the main RMCUMC GC2004 page.
Please keep the Rocky Mountain Conference Delegates in
prayer: Janet Forbes, Youngsook Kang, Olon Lindemood,
Chuck Schuster, Aaron Gray, Judy Hill, Brad Laurvick, Dan O'Neill,
Liwliwa Robledo, and Peggy Sewell.
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