wfn.org | BMF giving breaks into plus column

["Communication Ministries" <wshuffit@cm.disciples.org>]

Date: May 17, 2002
Disciples News Service
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
E-mail: news@cm.disciples.org
on the Web: http://www.disciples.org

Contact: Daniel R. Gangler, Church Finance Council
(317)713-2408, dgangler@cfc.disciples.org

02a-50

     INDIANAPOLIS -- For the first time in nearly a year,
Disciples common
mission fund shows a significant increase in giving over
the previous year. Four
more funding recipients send rebates for financial
emergencies.

     Disciples Church Finance Council reported a five
percent increase from
January through April over Basic Mission Finance giving for
the same time period
in 2001. Receipts were up from $5.8 million in 2001 to $6.1
million in 2002,
showing an increase of $291,717. That 's good news to the
76 recipients of BMF
dollars among regions, general units and higher education
institutions. 

     According to BMF records this is the first increase in
monthly
comparative reports since May of last year and the highest
monthly percentage
increase since January 2001 when BMF received a 7.5 percent
increase over
January 2000 giving.

     Church Finance Council officials give partial credit
for the April gain to an
Easter special day offering received in congregations the
last  two Sundays of
March, a positive economic climate in North America and a
well-received Easter
offering campaign. 

     Easter 2002 receipts through April totaled $735,977
compared to a total
of $373,591 received in April 2001, a 50 percent increase.
Not all 2002 Easter
Special Day offerings have been received to date. Easter
offerings from last year
were reported in the May 2001 receipts of $762,095.

     Overall 2002 receipts, including BMF gifts, continued
to lag through April
by 1.38 percent or $9.19 million down from $9.32 million in
2001. Week of
Compassion was down 11.5 percent or $1.7 million in 2002
from $1.9 million in
2001. Reconciliation Mission was down 21.6 percent or
$62,427 in 2002 from
$79,665 in 2001.

     In other CFC news, four more BMF recipients have given
an additional
$13,300 to the one-percent rebate requested of regions,
general units and higher
education institutions in order to assist other BMF
partners going through financial
crisis. CFC has received $8,000 from the Upper Midwest
Region, $2,800 from the
Greater Kansas City Region, $2,000 from the Tennessee
Region and $500 from
Disciples Divinity House in Chicago. These rebates will be
added to the $46,669
previous received for a total of $59,969. 

     Disciples BMF partners accepted this voluntary
challenge given last
November by Richard Hamm, Disciples general minister and
president, and the
BMF task force of the Team Leadership Conference. Partners
were challenged to
give one or more percent of their BMF receipts to CFC for
distribution where it is
most needed to assist BMF partners in financial
emergencies. To date none of
the rebated money has been granted to any BMF recipients.

                   -- end --

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