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By Kathy L. Gilbert*
March 12, 2010 | NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS)
United Methodist churches are struggling to pay their apportioned giving
in full.
A UMNS photo illustration by Kathleen Barry.
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There are probably 24 million reasons United Methodist churches
didn’t pay their 2009 apportionments in full.
At the end of 2009, 14 of the 63 annual conferences in the United
States paid 100 percent of the money asked of them by The United
Methodist Church to support ministries around the world.
The total collected was $24 million short of the $150.3 million
budgeted and agreed to by members of the denomination at the 2008
United Methodist General Conference, its top policy-making body.
The recession, declining membership and a lack of commitment to or
understanding of apportionments are some of the reasons that add up to a
collection plate that keeps coming back only partially full.
The Rev. Tom Seay, pastor of Colonial Heights United Methodist
Church in Kingsport, Tenn., might speak for many pastors when he says,
“We budget to pay full apportionments, but we do so realizing we
probably won’t make it. We have to pay the mortgage and the electric
bill first.”
Broken promises
The United Methodist Church works as a connection. Apportionments
are the fuel that makes it possible for the church to make a difference
in the world. No one local church is responsible for establishing a
university in Africa, supporting the work of the denomination’s boards
and agencies, supporting historically black colleges or providing
financial support for the education of ordained ministers. But every
local church does contribute to all those missions and many others when
they pay their apportioned amount.
The United Methodist Book of Discipline, the denomination’s lawbook,
has this to say about the importance of the financial obligations to
apportionments: “Payment in full of these apportionments by local
churches and annual conferences is the first benevolent responsibility
of the Church.”
In the average local church, 12.4 cents of every dollar given
support annual conference ministries, 3.3 cents support
ministries beyond the conference, and 84.3 cents of the donated dollar
support ministries of the local congregation.
The United Methodist General Council on Finance and Administration
uses a formula established by General Conference to determine how much
money each conference will be apportioned. Many annual conferences use
the same formula to determine how much each church will be apportioned
for general church and annual conference funds.
Seven funds get apportionment dollars: World Service Fund,
Ministerial Education Fund, Black College Fund, Africa University Fund,
Episcopal Fund, General Administration Fund and the Interdenominational
Cooperation Fund.
Jurisdiction payments
The U.S. church is divided into five jurisdictions or regions. None
of the jurisdictions paid apportionments 100 percent.
Percentages paid:
- Northeastern, 92.1
- South Central, 91
- North Central, 81.5
- Southeastern, 78.7
- Western, 74.7
In each of those regions, however, there are conferences and churches
that contribute every cent.
Faithful’s giving diluted
The California-Nevada Annual (regional) Conference, part of the
Western Jurisdiction, was at the bottom of the list, paying 49.6 percent
of its general church apportionment.
The Rev. Kent Millard says the decline in auto manufacturing has
affected church giving in Indiana. A UMNS photo by Ronny Perry.
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Bishop Warner Brown, episcopal leader of the conference, said a
number of churches in his area pride themselves on paying 100 percent,
but the effect is diluted by many who do not.
Even the churches that have paid 100 percent in the past are
struggling now.
“I don’t have to fight with my church to pay apportionments, they
just don’t have the money this year,” said the Rev. Vickie Healy,
pastor of Wesley United Methodist Church, Fresno, Calif.
The economic downturn has had a “dramatic impact on our churches,”
Brown said. Many people have lost jobs or homes and have had to
relocate. However, the conference has a 30-plus year pattern of not
paying all their apportionments, he added.
Warner is planning “major changes” to improve apportionment payments
by the end of 2012.
“It is my hope and expectation that the improvement will continue
into the future and we will get back on par with the other conferences
of the church,” he said.
Missions accomplished
Seay’s church, Colonial Heights, is in the Holston conference, which
is part of the Southeastern Jurisdiction. Seventy-five percent of the
churches in Holston contributed 100 percent, said Bishop James E.
Swanson, episcopal leader for the conference.
Swanson sent a letter to churches that failed to contribute all
their apportionments, pointing out the accomplishments of their
“sister” churches who gave their “fair share.”
“I ask you to join with the 75 percent of the churches in Holston
that pay 100 percent of their Fair Share. I ask that you help new
children and youth be filled with great memories, men to discover a new
relationship with Christ, women to walk in freedom and dignity, pastors
and their families to receive decent salaries and church members to
learn how to offer them Christ.”
Merger, depressed region
Two other conferences that struggled with their apportionments were
South Indiana (50.1 percent) and North Indiana (53.5 percent). The
conferences merged in 2009 and this is the last year Indiana will
report as two conferences.
Since the merger, there has been “substantial progress” made on
connectional giving, said Jennifer Gallagher, conference treasurer.
Indiana has depended on automobile manufacturing. When that
declined, thousands lost their jobs, said the Rev. Kent Millard, chair
of the conference council on finance and administration. He is also
pastor of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, a congregation with an
average worship attendance of more than 3,000. St. Luke’s decreased
expenses “dramatically” to end the year in the black, he said.
Indiana went to a tithe program for apportionments a couple of years
ago, Millard said.
“The income received by the local churches was down, and therefore,
the income to the annual conference and general church was down as
well,” he said.
“I think it is good that the income to the annual conference and
general church are tied to the income for the local congregation.
When the local congregations thrive, the annual conference and General
Conference thrive and when local congregations struggle, the
annual and General Conferences struggle and that is probably how
it should be. We are the body of Christ together and when one part
suffers, it affects the whole body and when one part rejoices, it
also affects the whole body.”
*Gilbert is a news writer for United Methodist News Service in
Nashville, Tenn.
News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615)
742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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