Great Lakes Presbytery adopts Ohio Overture on byFaith Magazine

At its stated spring meeting held today (April 30, 2011) Great Lakes Presbytery voted to adopt Overture 7 put forth by Ohio Presbytery without dissent.  The overture seeks to separate byFaith magazine from the Administrative Committee budget.  The stated clerk of the presbytery was directed to send this communication immediately to Atlanta with the caveat that the overture be sent to the Overtures Committee of the General Assembly. 

This makes three a total of three presbyteries who have gone on record concurring with this overture (Illiana Presbytery also adopted this overture).  A fourth presbytery, South Coast, has adopted similar language as it proposed an alternative funding plan for the Administrative Committee.  NOTE: most of the churches in the Ohio Presbytery were formerly part of Great Lakes Presbytery until they were formally divided in 2010. 

The rationale behind the overture is fairly simple.  The Administrative Committee has been running short of funds the last few years.  Upon further review the amount of the shortfall is approximately the operating budget of byFaith.  The overture addresses this budgetary question by simply severing ties with byFaith and allowing it to stand (or fall) on its own.  Though some may complain that this is harsh I respond by noting that this is not nearly as radical as amending our denomination's constitution to impose a tax/fee system upon all churches and ministers. 

In these tough economic times all churches are cutting expenses and doing what they can to balance their budgets.  This vote affirms that the same line of reasoning ought to be applied to the AC and byFaith.