When it comes to local taxes, what constitutes a church?

If you were the defendant in the following two circumstances, which would cause you the most worry: facing the IRS in federal court in a civil lawsuit alleging tax evasion, or confronting the Daviess County Assessor, even threatening a lawsuit, to challenge a tax assessment?

For Randall Jarvis of Jameson, both circumstances are reality and inter-related. At issue is a church or, more specifically, if there is a church. And while the IRS lawsuit prompted recent coverage by The Kansas City Star (reprinted in part on page 8), it’s the local question that concerns Mr. Jarvis the most. The local issue questions whether the Jarvis ministries are actually a part of a church.

In letters directed to Daviess County courthouse officials, Mr. Jarvis asks why two properties of The Church of Jesus Christ’s Disciples have been removed from tax exemption status. To date, according to Mr. Jarvis, there has been no response.

“It’s not about the $300 in taxes,” Jarvis says. “Everyone knows that a church chapel, school, and parsonage are not taxable in this country. So, the real question for people living here in Daviess County is, why aren’t any church chapels and parsonages tax exempt in a county with dozens of them?

“Churches don’t know how to organize or act as churches,” he says. “If a church in Daviess County is not currently tax exempt, then the trustees should record the property involved in the name of that church, because it may not qualify for the exemption if the (property) title is in a private name.”

Jarvis is not anxious but is willing to redirect his appeal on this local tax assessment to a federal district court. He served notice to the Daviess County Commission by certified mail dated Jan. 17, 2003 – the last of nine requests for a reply stating a reason for the change in tax exemption. Filing a lawsuit this week keeps the matter within the time frame for an administrative court decision.

“It might be that a federal court will have decide because they (the county) won’t tell me why they’ve changed their assessment,” Jarvis says. “It must have to do with their own bias toward our church.”

This, perhaps, is one question that both the local tax assessment dispute and the IRS tax-evasion lawsuit share: What exactly constitutes a church?

Mr. Jarvis is calm and confident when discussing the IRS lawsuit, despite the headlines and the hassle. He states his Church of Jesus Christ’s Disciples meets the IRS’s definition of church.

This is the third time he has faced such charges. No official termination of IRS allegations against Mr. Jarvis was made the first time about 3 years ago. The second time, in a lawsuit filed last March, a letter was issued indicating dismissal. The experiences leaves Jarvis certain about the current lawsuit pending in federal court.

“As soon as the judge sees that the IRS is not contesting the legitimacy of this church, the case will be dropped just like the two times before. I expect this to happen March 5 at the federal courthouse in Kansas City. This will be another paperwork matter that will not be filed nor pursued.

“This won’t attract any headlines, and I don’t want to create a situation to embarrass anyone. Frankly, I don’t want publicity because publicity tends to attract people who really are out to steal what is rightfully the government’s to collect. All I want to do is pursue my religion.”

So, just what is religion according to Randall Jarvis? Obviously, such a question cannot be easily explained although central to how The Church of Jesus Christ’s Disciples is perceived. This question is as old as America.

County officials view what anyone driving in the Jameson area might see: a modest mobile home housing a family of seven and 23 acres of land off a nearby gravel road with some stacked hay bales forming a sort of shelter. To Jarvis, the mobile home is a parsonage; the hay bales form a straw bale chapel and school building appropriate to its country setting.

Jarvis says the church congregation meets regularly, usually a gathering of four or more people on the Jewish Sabbath (Friday evenings). The church school currently has an enrollment of just 3 – all Jarvis children enrolled in home schooling – although two other families have sent their children to this church school up until recently. Other students are sought and welcome.

“That we have maybe four or five people meeting on any given Friday may contribute to legitimate questions about our church,” Jarvis says. “But other churches in Jameson may not have many people involved, even though they are much older congregations. Having a low attendance in a town of 120 people is not an indication or reflection upon the church itself. It’s tough enough to get people out on Sunday, let alone Friday night.”

While some may scrutinize what the Jameson church is now, Jarvis says what’s more important is what the church can become and what it is in other parts of the nation. It’s a matter of perspective. Jarvis is a missionary in Northwest Missouri who has no job outside his church.

“If someone looked at one Baptist missionary in Brazil just starting a congregation, that might not look very impressive,” Jarvis says. “Coral Ridge Baptist University might look better but someone from Brazil could care less since he (or she) has never seen the university and it isn’t in Brazil for him or her to attend. So, from the guy living in the woods of Brazil’s point of view, the Baptists might look weak on organization.”

Jarvis explains that although raised in the Mormon faith, including a life-changing 2- year missionary experience at the Marshall Islands, he now works outside the Mormon church. As a practical matter, Jarvis is an ordained Elder in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints but is excluded from LDS activities. He is not asked to speak before Mormon groups or lead Mormon activities. Still, he expresses trust and respect for the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints.

“I come from an LDS background but I have a vastly different approach in terms of practical applications,” Jarvis says. “In my denomination, you cannot establish an interfaith ministry to help the poor. The LDS Church has no method of sponsoring ministries for its members, like the Baptists or the Pentecostal. The LDS Church uses the Salvation Army to help the homeless or poor instead of setting up its own ministries for its members. Therefore, I had to figure out how to best go about this on my own.”

There are several “Jarvis-associated entities claiming to be ministries” as stated in the article published by The Kansas City Star – Order of Jesus Christ Disciples, Order of Christian Disciples, The Church of Jesus Christ Disciples or Christian Disciples International. These are named beneficiaries in the trust now being contested. Jarvis explains that these are parts of the same church.

Jarvis’ church at Jameson is part of an interfaith charitable service fellowship that involves lay ministers and pastors from many different denominations. Jarvis estimates that a few dozen loosely aligned ministries involve groups as small as the Jameson church to congregations numbering several hundred. Collectively, this fellowship has helped hundreds of families who are not even a part of this church, ways to practically apply the gospel of Jesus Christ.

“There are a huge number of people who are stymied by their own church denomination,” Jarvis says, “and yet they have a conviction to act in ways, quite naturally, that are 20 years ahead of the services within their denomination. This is not about networking but about ways to directly live the gospel of Christ.”

Jarvis points to biblical scripture when describing methods of stewardship to administer to the poor. He says churches such as his parallel the challenges and difficulties that first century Christians faced in meeting human needs.

Jarvis learned independent thinking early in life. He grew up in the Silicone Valley of California, the son of an electric engineer who specialized in submarine warfare. He benefitted from worldwide travel experiences although his formal education ended with high school. And yet, he advanced into the world of finance to become a mortgage banker.

“I am proof that you do not always need a college degree to enter some professions,” Jarvis says. “I am sorry to say I once was into the corporate ladder lifestyle. I had Janus investments and business opportunities. I began the worldly path to ‘success.’ But after a couple of years I realized that being a mortgage banker was far from helping the economic development of Third World countries – helping people like those in the Marshall Islands who helped me see what life is really all about.”

That is what brought Randall Jarvis to Northwest Missouri – the needs of the poor. Jarvis prefers talking about ideas that might generate new jobs in this region and goals to meet the spiritual and practical needs of people on a daily basis.

About seven years ago Jarvis was into helping people set up financial trusts as a means of living biblical stewardship. He explains that his business associations with mortgage bank professionals and a law professor who operated large foundations helped him offer financial advice to others. Ironically, as he now faces IRS allegations in a federal court in Missouri, an attorney who is a Missouri Bar Association member helped draw up trusts now in dispute.

“I figured if something was wrong with what I was doing, the attorney would have said something,” Jarvis says.

Jarvis stopped advising people on irrevocable trusts about 3 years ago after the IRS issued a position paper detailing misapplications that could result in lawsuits. He contends he is not guilty of fraud. He offered his services on a donation basis to anyone, and read through the scriptures to explain why trusts could be used to donate more to churches.

“If you are a parent, this analogy should make sense,” Jarvis says. “If you have a son who turns 18 and who goes out on his own against all that you’ve taught, are the consequences of his actions his fault or yours? Sometimes what happens makes the parent look bad but, in reality, it’s not always the parent’s fault.”

Jarvis says the people who filed the tax returns while operating the trusts now in dispute had the responsibility of meeting tax law requirements. He believes some people now facing IRS problems knowingly misapplied his advise in setting up and operating the trusts; others may not have harbored such a deliberate intent but, none the less, did the opposite of what he advised.

“I think the IRS is acting properly in many of the circumstances,” Jarvis says. “I do not challenge the authority of the government in rightfully collecting taxes.”

Jarvis says publicity on tax scam lawsuits this time of year is “business as usual” for the IRS. He isn’t surprised that allegations such as those pending against him are publicized. It’s a method the government uses to encourage tax filings and compliance. That’s the intention – not necessarily reporting the outcome of a specific case such as his.

“If I were them or the IRS were my business, I’d do exactly the same thing,” Jarvis says. “It’s an effective way of reminding people to file their tax returns properly.”