wfn.org | GCFA plans for 1997-2000

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3335 notes).

Note 3329 by UMNS on Dec. 12, 1996 at 10:31 Eastern (5618 characters).

SEARCH:   GCFA, finance, business, funds, records, renovations,
               loans
Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT:  Joretta Purdue                     617(10-31-71BP){3329}
          Washington, D.C.  (202) 546-8722            Dec. 9, 1996

EDITORS NOTE: A photo is available with this story.

Finance agency urged to focus
on spiritual leadership

     ATLANTA (UMNS) -- Members of the United Methodist Church's
finance agency were urged to be more than bean-counters, to think
in terms of "process" and to focus on the mission of the
denomination as they facilitate its business, when they held their
first annual meeting of the new quadrennium here Dec. 3-6.
     Bishop Richard C. Looney, president of the General Council on
Finance and Administration (GCFA), advised the council's voting
directors to be servants of Christ, stewards of church funds, and
brothers and sisters in the family of God. He reminded them that
family members do not always agree, but asked that they listen to
each other with respect.
     A consultant worked with the directors to help them discuss
their role in a changing universe.
     Dozens of items were acted upon at the four-day meeting.
     New guidelines for clergy supervisory records and clergy
personnel records were approved after more debate than most
actions received in the business session. The revision of these
policies had been in committee for two years before final 
recommendations were brought to the directors at their organizing
meeting here.
     The council approved creation of a task group to update
annual conference budget guidelines.
     Directors approved a resolution calling for an early meeting
"to review and clarify the consultation process" among the General
Council on Ministries, the denomination's program agencies and
GCFA to facilitate the process in the 1997-2000 quadrennium. The
resolution also noted that the work of the Connectional Process
Team and the Connectional Ministry Funding Patterns Task Force --
both new entities created by the 1996 General Conference -- may
affect the consultation process.
     A check for $50,000 from the United Methodist Insurance
Program broker and insurer -- AON Risk Services and Kemperer
Insurance Companies -- was presented to the Africa University
scholarship endowment plan at the GCFA meeting.
     GCFA, which maintains the insurance program, learned that
almost three-quarters of the Oklahoma Conference churches had
joined the program this year, bringing the number of participating
churches to 3,767.
      Approval was granted to financial plans for FOCUS '97, a
national training event for workers in children's ministries
sponsored by the Board of Discipleship, and the Global Gathering
organized by the Board of Global Ministries.
     From separate funds, Project Equality, which monitors the
hiring practices of vendors, received $50,000 to implement a
strategic plan, and the Commission on Archives and History
received $5,000 to produce a history of the disability rights
movement within the denomination.
     Acting on a recommendation from the United Methodist
Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, GCFA
directors agreed to release money from the Interdenominational
Cooperation Fund to assist with advance expenses related to the
coming Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Zimbabwe.
     In other business, GCFA directors granted approval to several
actions, including the following:
     * creation of the Community of Shalom Foundation;
     * certification of professional church secretaries and church
business administrators; and
     * the 1997 budgets of GCFA and other churchwide agencies,
except for that of United Methodist Men that is still being
developed.
     Directors agreed to various plans for renovations of several
agencies' headquarters, including those of the Board of Global
Ministries and GCFA. The Board of Church and Society was granted
$200,000 from the Church Building Fund to support a capital
campaign to raise $2.5 million toward renovation of its 1920s-
vintage headquarters on Capitol Hill in Washington.
     At this meeting, directors established a policy for providing
personal loans against future salary to Central Conference
bishops, who are not able to obtain such loans in their own
countries. The first loan was approved subsequently. 
     In dealing with GCFA's own business, the directors' actions
included the following:
     * amending GCFA bylaws to correspond with the 1996 Discipline
and to accommodate smaller committees;
     * agreeing to continue the listening project with five visits
during 1997, with determination at the next GCFA annual meeting as
to whether further extension is needed;
     * deciding to participate voluntarily in unemployment
compensation plans in Illinois and Tennessee; and
     * approving a policy that encourages GCFA staff to undertake
a Volunteer in Mission experience.
     Sandra Kelley Lackore, who has been GCFA general secretary
for one year, supplied information throughout the meeting about
changes she has instituted to increase efficiency and reduce
expenses (see UMNS story #618 {3330}).
     LaVeeda Morgan Battle of Birmingham, Ala., was added to the
council to replace the late Richard B. Kelly. An at-large council
vacancy is not being replaced as the council moves toward a
reduction in size that becomes fully effective in 2000.
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