Becky Wong
As your current Lay
Member to Annual Conference, I attended a session to learn about the workings
of the Conference and get a preview of what the proposals will be. This year
there are 19 R&Rs in total that will be discerned at Annual Conference held
June 20 - 23rd in Sacramento. I will highlight several in the upcoming issues
of the Messenger. Today, I highlight six that all have to do with
finances and giving. You can read further about each one at the
website: cnumc.org < Annual Conference Session.
Item 2 proposes a new formula for calculating Apportionments, which is
the money each local church is assessed to fund the ministries and work of
the worldwide UM Church. If this recommendation is adopted, each church
will be assessed a tithe, 10% of their yearly operating income, as defined on
line 67 of the year-end Table III report. Income that is designated for special
use (e.g. missions) is not part of this operating income. The Annual
Conference budget will then be based on the apportionment tithing, not to
exceed 10% above the base. Anything above the base will be evenly distributed
amongst all the churches. The budget will use data from the year-end
report two years prior. This is a major shift from the present method of
calculating apportionments based on church expenditures.
Item 1 requests “Second Mile Giving” from each church, not to exceed 1%
of the tithing base. This money will be used for District Council on
Ministries, District Unions, Ethnic Minority Congregations, and New Church
Development.
Items 5,6,7, and 8 insure that the Church has a plan in
place to fund clergy pensions and healthcare for clergy retirees.
Let
us hold this year’s Annual Conference session in
our prayers!