Lehigh Presbytery Mission Grants for Churches
Mission Grants may be applied for by churches and members of Lehigh Presbytery. Please submit application 3 months before anticipated expenditure.
Lehigh Presbytery Mission Grant Application
Resources
- Board of Pensions
- Board of Pensions Forms
- 2019 Benefits Plan-Menu Options & Pastor’s Participation at a Glance
- 2019 Quick Facts & Dues Schedule
- Book of Order 2017-2019
- Book of Order 2017-2019 – Korean
- Book of Confessions 2016
- 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Sample Policies
Samples you may edit to fit your church:
Honorariums for Moderating & Pulpit Supply
Lehigh Presbytery Pulpit Supply List 12.13.2018
2019 Honoraria for pulpit supply & moderating
| Moderate a Session or Congregational Meeting |
$75 + travel expenses* |
| Supply Preaching | |
| One Service | $150 + travel expenses* |
| Two Services (Same Day) | add $50 to the above for each additional service on the same day |
| * Travel includes mileage at IRS rate (to be determined for 2019) + tolls | |
2019 Minimum Terms of Call
Salary & Housing: $47,992
Full Pension & Medical:$17,757
(37% of Salary & Housing: Medical 25% [minimum dues basis for medical is $44,000], Pension 11%, Death & Disability 1% [dues based on actual effective salary])
Reimbursement: Transportation @ IRS approved rate – to be determined, Continuing Education – two weeks + $750 [may accumulate to six weeks and $2,250], Vacation – one month
Per Capita – 2019
$36.00 per member
Breakdown: $24.75 Lehigh Presbytery; $8.95 PC(USA) General Assembly; $2.30 Synod of the Trinity
2019 Stated Meetings of Lehigh Presbytery
Forms
- 2019 Clerk of Session Form
- Church Per Capita & Mission Remittance Form
- 2019 Mission Support PLEDGE FORM
- Lehigh Presbytery Mission Grant Application
- Lehigh Presbytery Pulpit Supply List 12.13.2018
- Interim Pastor Contract Template
- Temporary Supply Contract Template
- Session Minute Review Form
- Standard IRS Mileage Rate – information on current IRS mileage rate
- Statistical Reports – information and latest report on Lehigh Presbytery
Clerks of Session Newsletter
Important Announcements
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Annual Report to the PA Department of State
Churches should submit an Annual Corporation Report to the PA Department of State to help reserve your corporate name and doing so will exempt you from the Decennial Filing in 2021.
You can verify that your church is correctly registered with the state by going to the PA Department of State site – and doing an entity search – https://www.corporations.pa.gov/Search/corpsearch
By doing this you will know the correct corporate name to use when filing the report. You may view the online fillable form by clicking the link below….
We encourage every church to do this annually. It’s FREE!
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2018 Standard Mileage Rates for Business, Medical and Moving Announced
IR-2017-204, Dec. 14, 2017
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today issued the 2018 optional standard mileage rates used to calculate the deductible costs of operating an automobile for business, charitable, medical or moving purposes.
Beginning on Jan. 1, 2018, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (also vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:
- 54.5 cents per mile for business miles driven, up 1 cent from the rate for 2017.
- 18 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes, up 1 cent from the rate for 2017.
- 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations
The business mileage rate and moving expense rates each increased 1 cent per mile from the rates for 2017. The charitable rate is set by statute and remains unchanged.
The standard mileage rate for business is based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile. The rate for medical and moving purposes is based on the variable costs.
Taxpayers always have the option of calculating the actual costs of using their vehicle rather than using the standard mileage rates.
A taxpayer may not use the business standard mileage rate for a vehicle after using any depreciation method under the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS) or after claiming a Section 179 deduction for that vehicle. In addition, the business standard mileage rate cannot be used for more than four vehicles used simultaneously. These and other requirements are described in Rev. Proc. 2010-51.
Notice 2018-03, posted today on IRS.gov, contains the standard mileage rates, the amount a taxpayer must use in calculating reductions to basis for depreciation taken under the business standard mileage rate, and the maximum standard automobile cost that a taxpayer may use in computing the allowance under a fixed and variable rate plan.
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Important Federal Court Ruling on Failure to Report Child Abuse
Published in Church Law & Tax Report, January/February 2016, pg. 12, Senior Editor Richard R. Hammar, Christianity Today, publisher.
A federal court in Pennsylvania ruled that a local church and denominational agency could be sued on the basis of the legal principle of negligence per se by a victim of child abuse as a result of their failure to report. ….. This means that a mandatory child abuse reporter’s failure to comply with a state child abuse reporting law’s requirement to report a known or reasonably suspected incident of child abuse would render that person automatically liable for monetary damages without a need for the victim to prove actual negligence. [Doe v. Liberatore, 478 F.Supp.2d 742 (M.D. pa 2007)
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Act 153
There have been significant changes to the Pennsylvania State Child Abuse Law. Click here to view the changes and how to comply.
There has been a change in who is identified as a Mandated Reporter. According to the law, “An individual, paid or unpaid, who, on a regular basis of the individual’s role as an integral part of a regularly scheduled program, activity or service, accepts responsibility for a child…” This means any individual, who meets the above definition, which includes clergy, staff and volunteers is a Mandatory Reporter.
As a result, a church must:
- Require all clergy and other employees, who accept responsibility for a child, to take three (3) hours of Department of Human Services approved training no later than June 30, 2015
- For new employees, who will bear responsibility for children, this training must be taken within 90 days of hire or the beginning of volunteer service
- All employees over the age of 14 and adult volunteers (who are responsible for children) must complete background checks. All must complete the PA STATE POLICE CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORD. All must complete the PA STATE POLICE CHILD ABUSE HISTORY CLEARANCE. All employees and any volunteer who has lived in PA for fewer than the last ten continuous years must complete the FEDERAL CRIMINAL HISTORY BACKGROUND CHECK (with submission of fingerprints)
- Volunteers are currently not required to undergo Mandated Reporter training, but it is recommended.
Board of Pensions – 2019 Traditional Benefits Package
The Board of Pensions traditional benefits package is 37% of effective salary (Medical 25%; Pension 11%; Death and Disability 1%). If the effective salary is lower than the Medical participation minimum of $44,000., then the medical portion would be based on the Board of Pensions minimum effective salary.
The Pension (11%) and Death and Disability (1%) are based on the persons actual effective salary.
2019 Benefits Plan-Menu Options & Pastor’s Participation at a Glance