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Editor’s Note: As the 2012 General Conference
approaches, United Methodist News Service is looking at details of
legislation and offering information to help readers better understand
how the church works. A number of proposals are aimed at restructuring
the denomination and its general ministries, so UMNS asked the top
executives of each agency to answer five questions about their agency's role in the church. This is the response from the General Council on Finance and Administration.
A UMNS Report
7:00 A.M. ET March 20, 2012
1. One issue to be debated at General Conference is
restructuring. What would the church miss if your agency no longer
existed?
The motto for the General Council on Finance and Administration is
“serving the church through the ministry of administration.” This is
based on the passage in Acts 6:1-7. As the only council among the
general agencies created by the General Conference, the finance and
administration council is charged in ¶703 of the 2008 Book of Discipline
“to perform defined responsibilities of review and oversight on behalf
of the General Conference in relation to the other general agencies.”
In ¶806, the assigned fiscal responsibilities are to hold in trust such
funds as may have been authorized by the General Conference and
distribute them only in support of the ministries of the respective
funds. “The council shall be accountable to The United Methodist Church
through the General Conference in all matters relating to the
receiving, disbursing and reporting of such funds, and agencies
receiving such funds shall be fiscally accountable to the council.”
2. What is your agency’s primary mission? How do you accomplish this in the most effective manner?
As part of the finance and administration council’s administrative
ministries, it is responsible for protecting the legal interests of the
denomination, collecting and analyzing the church's important
statistics, serving as the trustees of the assets given to the
denomination, and maintaining an insurance program to all United
Methodist local churches in the United States where acceptable on an
underwriting basis. Staff members provide assistance and advice to the
jurisdictions, annual conferences, districts and local churches in all
matters relating to the work of the council.
Moses Kumar, United Methodist General Council on Finance and Administration. A UMNS photo courtesy of GCFA.
View in Photo Gallery
3. Name at least one exciting thing your agency has been
involved in during the current quadrennium. How does it relate to the
Four Areas of Focus?
One exciting development in the finance and administration council
this quadrennium has been the creation of a web-based, integrated,
data-management system that assists local churches and annual
conferences with collecting, processing and reporting an extensive
amount of data related to clergy and lay leadership, appointments,
contact information, statistics and records. Currently, 39 annual
conferences are using the system, with more joining as they see the
advantages of entering the data once for use by the many organizations
that require this information as part of their ministry. There is also
an innovative online weekly statistics dashboard called Vital Signs.
This is part of the council’s support of the vital congregations
movement and is used by more than 5,000 congregations in the United
States.
4. How does the average United Methodist pastor or member benefit from your agency’s work?
Our work benefits the average pastor or member by providing much of
the “back office” financial and administrative work that enables the
bishops and general agencies to do their ministry with the people of
The United Methodist Church. We like to say that if we have done our
work correctly, no one will know that we have done it at all. It is the
necessary and important work that helps make ministry happen.
5. How much money and how many employees does it take to maintain the work your agency is currently doing?
GCFA now employs 56 staff members with an average annual budget of $6.7 million.
Learn more: Website of the General Council on Finance and Administration
For more information, visit the 2012 General Conference website.
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