wfn.org | Task Force Seeks Data on Funding

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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 (3428 notes).

Note 3427 by UMNS on Feb. 11, 1997 at 16:29 Eastern (8864 characters).

SEARCH: funding, United Methodist, General Council on Finance and
Administration, GCFA, apportionments, giving, stewardship, study,
benevolences
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                          73(10-71B){3427}
          Washington, D.C.  (202) 546-8722           Feb. 11, 1997

Task force gathers information,
seeks more data on funding-related factors

     CHICAGO (UMNS) -- The members of the Connectional Ministry
Funding Patterns Task Force of the United Methodist Church are
gathering information with extensive homework assignments and
reporting responsibilities divided among the 18 members.
     "If we can define the right questions, we are half way
there," said Donald R. House, an economist from Bryan, Texas, who
presented a statistical analysis of Texas Conference apportioned
giving beyond the local church.
     Consideration of the apportionments system will be a part of
the task force's work as it moves to fulfill its General
Conference mandate to recommend ways to fund the connectional
ministries of the denomination.
     Now, some churchwide mission and administrative ministries
are supported by apportioning or allocating bottom-line amounts
between the denomination's 66 U.S. annual (regional) conferences
according to a formula that uses membership and financial data.
The conferences allocate their apportionments among the local
churches either directly or through the districts at the same time
adding apportionments to provide for conference ministries.
     Other churchwide ministries are supported by various forms of
designated giving, including Advance Specials and special Sunday
offerings.
     House's analysis, complete with graphs on an overhead
projector, represented months of work on his part and -- with
questions and comments from the task force -- several hours of
presentation time. House heads his own company that does studies
for commercial and not-for-profit organizations. 
     To present his data, House taught his colleagues some basics
about econometric analysis, a study of relationships between
measurable factors.
     He said economists ask who is the most efficient at doing
which missional task, some of which require funds and some of
which do not. He reminded the task force there is extreme
competition for missional resources, both people and money.
     Task force members spent almost a full day divided among four
working teams, processing information they had garnered since
their October 1996 meeting. Each team has been assigned one or
more clusters of issues from a list constructed at the earlier
meeting.
     Michael J. McConnell, reporting to the larger task force from
the team on issues related to the social and economic environment,
noted the diverse interests of individual United Methodists and
local churches. "Who are the United Methodists of the future?" he
asked.
     Drawing on the reference material participants had read for
this task, McConnell generalized that people in the United States
are seeking spiritual nourishment but tending not to seek it in
churches, nor are they the "joiners" they once were.
     Issues this subgroup indicated an interest in pursuing
further included the effect of demographics on spending and
giving, and general patterns of spending and giving outside the
United Methodist Church.
     Having already read a number of books on church fund raising,
team members also intend to explore secular resources related to
management, marketing and business, said the Rev. Patricia Farris,
a district superintendent from San Diego, who chairs this
subgroup.
     She said they were looking at possible sources for distrust
of institutions, including rebellion against authority as a
generational characteristic, dissatisfaction with positions taken
by the general church on controversial issues and objections to
clergy appointments. The latter included appointing an ineffective
minister or moving a beloved pastor, she explained. 
     Reporting for the team on local practice and covenant issues,
the Rev. Lee Sheaffer, Richmond, Va., and Mary Silva, San Antonio,
Texas, mentioned some of the same issues raised by others. 
     "Trust is crucial but strained," they reported.
     They mentioned a perceived gap between local church issues,
on the one hand, and conference and general church issues on the
other. They theorized that less credibility is given to ministry
that takes place farther from the local church, although
exceptions were noted.
     This team commented that there has been a generational shift
in the church.  The older generations have accepted the values of
younger church members such as lack of denominational loyalty.
     "Perception and reality are not the same, but perception will
shape action or reaction," the subgroup reported.
     The team working on stewardship and commitment issues shared
observations from extensive reading. Over and over these resources
indicated that "we don't talk enough about money," said Jeannie
Trevino-Teddlie of Fort Worth, Texas. 
     She shared two thoughts from articles in Christian Century
magazine: "Theology is more important than institutional policies"
in determining who gives and how much, and "church giving must be
thought of as one component of Christian life."
     The team brainstormed ideas for further study, including such
things as a quadrennial emphasis on stewardship, 1-3 minute video
segments on the missionary journey of United Methodists and
seeking common characteristics of conferences that have good track
records in paying their apportionments.
     Reporting for the team on spending and data collection, House
said the team is requesting pension and health care information
from the Board of Pension and Health Benefits.
     "The future cost of health care is another part of the
equation" that the group also hopes that board can shed light on,
House advised. The team is also looking at different methods
conferences use to fund pension and health care benefits as some
direct bill each church for one or both. Conference experience
with the use of HMOs will also be explored, he indicated.
     This team is learning about experiences in the three
conferences whose treasurers are part of the subgroup: David H.
Dolsen, Rocky Mountain; Aquilino Javier, Northern Illinois; and
Martha A. Scarborough, Mississippi, but they would like more
conference apportionment histories to broaden the data base.
     Conferences that have a computer-readable record that
includes each church's number (assigned by the General Council on
Finance and Administration [GCFA]) together with its total
apportionment paid and total apportionment assigned are being
sought. Inquiries or disks may be directed to Donald R. House,
RCC, Inc., Suite 285, 3833 Texas Ave., Bryan, TX 77802-4039. He
can be reached by e-mail at dhouse@rrc-inc.com or by telephone at
(409) 846-4713.
     He said more records will enable the group to give better
data to the task force and to draw better conclusions.
     House reported from the team that, in an attempt to meet
concerns voiced by local churches, one conference had gone through
four formulas for determining apportionments without significant
change in the pattern of payment.
     Continuing his report, House said that the team could find no
way to apply the concept of tithing to churches in lieu of
apportionments. Such a substitution would result in a "huge
magnitude drop," he said. House offered instead the suggestion of
a clergyman of another denomination, that 50 percent be spent on
ministry to others and 50 percent be spent on ministry to self.
     This team also decided to seek data on the success of
apportionments made at the district level. 
     The Connectional Ministry Funding Patterns Task Force
expressed the need to stay in touch with several groups, including
the Connectional Process Team, which is charged with making a
recommendation to the 2000 General Conference for the
denomination's future direction and structure.
     Bishop Alfred L. Norris, task force president, praised the
whole group for its productivity and said he was optimistic about
the work. 
     The bishop will host the next meeting of the task force in
Albuquerque May 16-18. A conference call for the group is planned
for April, and the teams are planning conference calls as needed.
     With just over two years remaining before the first draft of
its report is due, the task force has additional meetings planned
in October this year, February and May next year and an October
1998 meeting with the Connectional Process Team. Up to four
meetings in 1999 are scheduled.
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