wfn.org | Take membership numbers out of funding formula, task force

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

suggests

May  5, 1998	Contact: Joretta Purdue*(202)546-8722*Washington
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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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