Take membership numbers out of funding formula, task force suggests
5/5/1998
CHICAGO (UMNS) - A task force studying the funding of United Methodist churchwide ministries will recommend taking the number of members out of the equation that the denomination uses to assess the amounts of money it will seek from each annual (regional) conference.
The churchwide apportionments, as these "fair share" askings are called, will be determined using a new formula if the tentative recommendations made here by the Connectional Ministry Funding Patterns Task Force remain unchanged. A final decision will be made by the denomination's General Conference, the church's highest legislative assembly, meeting in Cleveland in the year 2000.
The task force crystallized 18 months of intensive work to give direction to a five-person writing team named during the two-day meeting here May 1-2. In addition to questions on churchwide apportionments, which currently account for about $104.5 million a year, the task force looked at education on Christian stewardship, "prior claims" and other funding issues.
About half the task force came a day early to hammer out a recommendation on the future - or lack of one - for the concept of apportionments. Their conclusion was in turn debated by the whole task force to reach consensus.
Some church members have strongly called for an end to apportionments, which they often term a "tax." Task force members, after exploring alternatives and surveying opinion within the denomination, decided they believe asking for specific amounts from each conference is best.
The new formula is based on ability to contribute, however, task force members say - rather than on a share of the amount needed. At the heart of the recommendation is a formula that multiplies local church expenditures, less current capital expenses, by a percentage yet to be determined. The percentage would be modified for each conference within a specific range by an index based on an assessment of the area's potential economic growth or decline. The task force anticipates a transition period for phasing in the indexing over a period of approximately three years.
Indexing represents a major change as it is a means of focusing on the future rather than the past, task force members said.
Options for choice is how the task force described its consensus to not recommend combining or adding to the current eight churchwide apportioned funds: World Service, Africa University, Black College, Episcopal, General Administration, Interdenominational Cooperation, Ministerial Education and Focus 2000:Mission Initiatives. Members said they expect the mission initiatives to be folded into World Service at the end of the quadrennium as was done at the end of the preceding quadrennium. Although the current apportionment for each fund is computed using the same formula, some conferences typically pay them at a slightly different rate.
Also in the area of conference choice, task force members discussed at length the current linkage between conference benevolences and World Service specified in the Book of Discipline, the denomination's rules and church law. The task force favored undoing the mandate so conferences could act on their own preference. Conferences currently are free to treat the other churchwide funds individually, combine some with other churchwide funds or join them with conference funds in apportioning the amounts needed among the congregations.
The task force and its theological consultant, the Rev. Bruce Birch, are already at work with the United Methodist Publishing House to produce a stewardship curriculum. The publisher hopes to preview the new resource at General Conference and have it on the market a year or two later.
Task force members said they found financial decision-making and stewardship to be disconnected too often in the local church - a fragmentation contributed to by the division of related responsibilities among the churchwide agencies in the denomination's Book of Discipline. This concern has been forwarded to the Connectional Process Team, a study group created by General Conference to articulate a "transformational" direction and an organizational structure for the denomination.
"Prior claims," a funding mechanism used differently in three cases of churchwide finance, was extensively discussed. These first entitlements supply part of the budget of the General Council on Ministries, a coordinating body related to program, and the General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA), a collection and management body for handling money. Another form of prior claim results from contracts between specific funds and the General Commission on Communication for promotion of the funds. The issue of prior claims was referred to the General Funds Coordinating Committee of GCFA.
These topics are to be developed in a draft report that will be circulated through the church in September and subsequent months..
The report will be presented to GCFA at its December meeting. Further changes are expected before GCFA, in turn, presents the report to General Conference.
Don House, an economist and member of the task force, and Bishop Alfred L. Norris of Albuquerque, N.M, chairman of the task force, gave a presentation to the Council of Bishops at its meeting that concluded in Lincoln, Neb., on May 1. House has led the task force's study of economic trends and their effect on giving to churches. He has also used his skills to track apportionment history within conferences and to assess the impact of parts of the current apportionment formula.
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