The General Assembly, desiring that the financial contribution of each Congregation may be related to the situation of the Church as a whole, and that Congregational categories and groups reflect expenditure by the Church on stipends, Employer’s National Insurance, and pension provision, direct as follows:
1. There shall be four descriptive categories:
Group I: aid-giving charges
Group II: self-supporting charges
Group III: subsidised charges
Group IV: other congregations.
2. A charge shall be placed in Group I if in any year its remittances to Central Funds exceed the result of dividing the net expenditure met out of congregational remittances (or which should be so met) by the number of sanctioned charges at the year end excluding charges in Group IV.
3. A charge shall be placed in Group II if its remittances exceed 120 per cent of the Equal Dividend in any year, but not to such an extent as to permit it to be placed in Group I.
4. Group III shall consist of charges which have a minister or resident lay preacher, or which are deemed under current legislation to have the right to obtain one, but which remit less than 120 per cent of the Equal Dividend.
5. Group IV shall consist of Congregations which do not have a minister or resident lay preacher, and which are not deemed under present legislation to have the right to obtain one.
6. The General Assembly repeal the second and third sections of Act XVIII, 1978, Amending Act XII, 1977, from the words, “In order to maintain the emphasis upon …” to the end.