United Methodists increase giving to church by
more than 50%
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A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose Sandra Lackore, with the General Council on Finance and Administration, answers questions during a Feb. 15 media conference.
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Sandra
Lackore, top staff executive of the United Methodist Church's General
Council on Finance and Administration, answers questions about giving to
general church funds and causes during an online news conference in
Nashville, Tenn. A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose. Photo #06158. Accompanies
UMNS #090. 2/16/06 |
Feb. 16, 2006
By Linda Green*
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - Amid a year of natural disasters, United Methodists
reached deep into their pockets and increased their total giving to the church's
ministries by more than 50 percent over the previous year.
The denomination has much to celebrate in "the overwhelming generosity of the
people of the United Methodist Church, who increased giving by 53.6 percent
compared to 2004," said Sandra K. Lackore, top executive of the denomination's
General Council on Finance and Administration in Nashville. She spoke to United
Methodist media by telephone and Web conferencing Feb. 15.
Total giving in 2005 was $244.7 million, which is $85 million more than in 2004,
she said. Of that, $80 million was for tsunami and hurricane relief efforts.
Total giving in 2004 was $159.3 million.
Individuals, churches and organizations contributed significantly to the United
Methodist Committee on Relief for immediate and long-term hurricane recovery
efforts, and initiatives are being developed with assistance by local people in
both Mississippi and Louisiana, she said. "It is not being driven by UMCOR's
design but being driven by local design."
What does the more than 50 percent increase in overall giving mean? According to
Lackore, it reflects that within the last two years, the church has given people
new and different ways to contribute.
"The connectional covenant is present in the faithfulness of so many local
congregations and conferences in meeting their commitment to the apportioned
general funds in 2005. These funds drive the financial mission statement of our
denomination," Lackore said. "By working together and fully participating in the
general apportioned funds, we make possible the mission and ministry of Christ."
Through the end of 2005, she said, 30 percent of the giving was done by online
contributions or direct giving - "giving that did not come through annual
conference treasuries." That, she said, is "significant in the life of our
denomination."
The council is researching donor identities "to discern whether that giving is
coming all from United Methodists, whether it is coming from persons interested
in what the United Methodist Church is doing, whether it is coming from persons
excited by what we are doing, especially in our relief efforts, and could ? want
to be part of United Methodist congregations," she said.
In the last 10 years, the level of giving to church-related causes has been
"steady," she said. "The blip has been online giving." The council is trying to
determine what that means for the financial health of the denomination, which is
tied to local church and annual conference giving. She defined the health of the
denomination as "good" but said membership loss is a continuing concern.
Membership in the United Methodist Church in the United States for 2004 was 8.1
million, a loss of 66,402 people, or 0.82 percent, over 2003, according to GCFA
statistics.
Despite the long-running decline in U.S. membership, Lackore told the editors
and communicators that gains continue in the 59 annual conferences in Africa,
Europe and the Philippines. About 1.9 million additional United Methodists live
in those areas, called central conferences, and the fastest growth in membership
is occurring in Africa.
Membership losses will be reduced if U.S. annual conferences "open ourselves to
really learning from the central conferences ? so that we can grow our
membership in the jurisdictional conferences," she noted.
Lackore also took note of the generous, second-mile giving by United Methodists
during times of crisis and on the ongoing financial needs of churchwide
ministries throughout the year.
"We want to note the faithfulness of our denomination to the connectional
covenant of apportioned giving," she said.
She paid special tribute to the leadership of 15 annual (regional) conferences
that "demonstrated the power of our connection by participating at the 100
percent level of all apportioned funds." That was an increase of three
conferences over 2004, and seven additional conferences were recognized for
giving 90 percent or more to church-related causes and ministries.
Apportionments are the contributions requested of each of the 63 U.S. annual
conferences for the support of denominational ministries and administration. The
apportionments are determined by the church's top legislative assembly and
managed by GCFA. Each annual conference sets apportionments for its local
congregations, and the amount includes support for conference projects, programs
and ministries.
The conferences highlighted for having a 100 percent commitment to the church's
seven funds were Alaska Missionary, Baltimore-Washington, Central Pennsylvania,
Desert Southwest, Detroit, Illinois Great Rivers, New York, North Carolina,
Northern Illinois, Oklahoma Indian Missionary, Peninsula-Delaware, Red Bird
Missionary, Rio Grande, Texas and Wisconsin.
The seven conferences contributing 90 percent or more for apportioned giving
were Arkansas, Holston, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Central Texas, North Texas and
Southwest Texas.
The Louisiana and Mississippi annual conference, significantly damaged by
Hurricane Katrina, were acknowledged as examples of faithfulness in honoring
their financial commitments to the denomination. These two conferences, "in the
midst of extreme devastation and hardship," maintained their apportioned giving
at or slightly above their 2004 contributions, Lackore said.
Three additional conferences affected by last year's hurricanes - Alabama-West
Florida, Florida and Texas - maintained or "slightly" increased their level of
giving for all seven of the church's apportioned funds.
Church members gave more generously in 2005 than ever before, Lackore noted.
"The people of the United Methodist Church have a great capacity for giving."
*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.
News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or
newsdesk@umcom.org.
Related Articles
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United Methodists set four-year budget
United Methodist hurricane relief exceeds $62 million
United Methodist disaster donations suggest new ways of giving
Resources
General Council on Finance and Administration
Why We Apportion
2005 Annual Conference Apportionments
Sharing God's Gifts
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