Empfohlen
Weitere ähnliche Inhalte
Was ist angesagt?
Was ist angesagt? (19)
Andere mochten auch
Andere mochten auch (17)
Ähnlich wie United Methodists Transform the World Through Ministry
Ähnlich wie United Methodists Transform the World Through Ministry (20)
Kürzlich hochgeladen
Kürzlich hochgeladen (20)
United Methodists Transform the World Through Ministry
- 23. Residual cubed, x .0000000001
- 24. Total squared, times .00000005
Hinweis der Redaktion
- As United Methodists we are all called to minister to our local community. But we’re not in ministry alone.
- In fact, Libertyville UMC is part of a cluster… That includes the United Protestant Church of Grayslake, Ingleside UMC, Lake Villa, Trinity UMC in Lindenhurst, and Antioch UMC.
- Which is part of the Elgin District, home to 65 churches and growing!
- Which is part of the Northern Illinois Conference. With 370 Churches and over 20 New Faith Communities, the NIC is organized into 6 districts. The churches of the Annual Conference work together in lots of ways: by sending local church leaders to training events or to serve on conference boards and committees, by identifying candidates for ordained ministry, by ministering to the needs of the larger area through joint ministries, and finally by giving financial support to ministries and mission projects sponsored by the NIC.
- But it doesn’t end with Northern Illinois. We are part of Christ’s global church, with members numbering in the millions located around the world. As a global church, we have a global mission: As the United Methodist Church our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. Individually we can only minister to a small area, but as a connectional church supported through our connectional giving, we can truly live out our mission. There our 100’s of thousands if not millions of ministries being carried out by United Methodist around the world in support of our mission. It is our connectional giving through Apportionments that connects us all to each and every one of those ministries.
- There are numerous Biblical foundations for being a connectional church that I won’t get into here. We can also look to our founder, John Wesley, for the roots of our connectionalism. While I wish I could tell you that John Wesley invented the first apportionment formula, I can tell you that we inherited from our founder the priority of caring for the less fortunate. He encouraged those in connection with him to “earn all you can, save all you can, so that you can give all you can.”
- Our ministry is a shared ministry and we have a lot of partners. We believe that as United Methodists, each of us is called to participate in the ministry of disciple-making for the transformation of the world. Apportioned Giving is the means the Church uses to fund the work of the connection. All United Methodists are involved in global missions by fully contributing their apportionment.
- Part of our shared ministry is the day to day witness… (read slide)
- Part of our shared ministry is... Here in our conference: Bethany Home & Methodist Hospital, Bethany Terrace, Marcy-Newberry Association, Childserv
- Part of our shared ministry is... Here in our conference: North Central College, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary These are just a few examples of the ministries we’re connected to.
- Our shared ministry is funded through Apportionments. In the Northern Illinois Conference there are Three Apportioned Funds. The amount each church is asked to contribute to the three funds is called their Apportionment, and its based on a specific formula. The formula matches expenses on the local church level to similar ministries on the District, Conference, Jurisdiction, and Global Church levels.
- The first apportioned fund provides Support for our Ordained Leaders. (read on slide)
- The second apportioned fund is focused on Mission & Evangelism. (read on slide)
- The last apportioned fund strengthens the church on all levels. (read on slide)
- Let’s talk now about how we calculate the apportionment for every church.
- Apportioned giving is calculated using the local church’s spending as a baseline. A principle of matching like expenses is used so that local church expenditures are extended into similar ministries at a conference and global level. As people give to the local church, so they give to the global church.
- Each local church provides information about their budget line items in their annual statistical reports . (read slide)
- In order to provide some stability and predictability in the apportioned giving amount, the calculation uses more than one year’s worth of data. The most recent five years of budget numbers are considered, with highest and lowest years’ numbers discarded and the remaining three years’ numbers averaged. ***The implication of this approach is that changes in expenses, such as adding or reducing clergy, or taking on new programs, will not result in immediate increases or decreases to the amount a local church is asked to contribute to apportioned giving.
- As I mentioned before, the Support for Ordained Leadership apportionment is Senior and Associate Pastor related spending. Specifically, the formula looks at (refer to items listed on slide)
- The Mission & Evangelism apportionment is based on the spending of the church being the church: so all the expenses related to Deacons, Lay Staff, Programming, and all operational expenses.
- For the Strengthening the Connection Apportionment, we look at the grand total expenditures, so everything that was included in the first two apportioned funds plus benevolent & mission giving. We don’t factor in capital spending or debt spending. This grand total figure is multiplied by just 1%.
- There are two further calculations that look specifically at the means of a congregation’s ability to meet their apportioned amount. The Pastoral residual calculation compares clergy related expenses at similar-sized churches. Salaries above or below the conference average for like-sized churches indicates the means in the community. Again, this calculation provides fine tuning to the Apportionment amount. On average, it results in a $52 increase to the apportionment. Churches that have higher clergy-related expenses than the average spent at churches of the same size are asked to give more for this apportioned fund. Likewise, churches that have lower clergy-related expenses than average are given a credit for part of this apportioned fund.
- The Budget size calculation looks at the overall expenditures of a church. The reasoning behind this function is that larger budget churches generally have a higher proportion of administrative expenses. In turn, they are asked for an additional Churches with larger budgets to support the connectional ministries of the NIC at a higher level. For example: Churches with a $100,000 budget, we ask for an additional $500. The cap to this function is and increase of $32,000 to churches with $800,000 budgets or more.
- Finally, after the apportionment is calculated for a local church, if the calculation results in more than a 9% increase or decrease from the previous year, the apportionment is adjusted.
- About 25% of the Apportionment goes the seven general church Apportioned funds, while the other 75% stays here in our conference. The Seven General Funds are: The World Service Fund (which according to our Book of Discipline is the first benevolent giving responsibility of the local church) The Episcopal Fund The Ministerial Education Fund The Black College Fund The Interdenominational Cooperation Fund Africa University And the General Administration Fund
- Of that 75% of Apportionment dollars that remain here in our conference, about 20% provides supports for Ordained Leadership through (read list)
- 11% of apportionment dollars remaining here in the conference support:
- Finally, about 28% of apportionment dollars help to fund:
- It is important to remember that Apportionments represent the first-mile of our connectional giving. Apportionment dollars lay the foundation for our transforming ministries being carried out around the world.
- Our second mile gifts are 100% designated, meaning we chose where the dollars are directed. And, because of our support of Apportionments, we know that 100% of our gifts go to the mission or ministry we designated and not to administrative costs.
- Our connectional giving also encompasses the sixe United Methodist Special Sunday Offerings (Human Relations day, one great hour of sharing, native-American ministries Sunday, peace with justice Sunday, world communion Sunday, and student day) Plus, we recognize 4 Conference Special Sunday Offerings: United Voices for Children (5 th Sunday Appeal) Golden Cross Sunday Access Sunday HIV/AIDS Awareness Sunday
- The first way you can promote Apportionment giving in your local church is by learning more about apportionments yourself! www.UMCgiving.org has copious resources related to the Seven General Church Apportionments, Special Sunday Offerings, and second-mile giving opportunities. This includes stories, bulletin inserts, posters, DVD’s, offertory prayers, and more.
- These Print resources can be ordered from UMCOM (see last link in previous slide) Each of these resources would great in a small group or Sunday school class setting.
- Some other ways to promote Connectional giving in your local church: Take a moment for mission during worship each week to remind ourselves about the work of the church going on around the world. Start a regular feature in your bulletin or newsletter celebrating connectional giving. Dedicate a bulletin board celebrating connectional giving with stories and pictures from the Report or other denominational resources. Invite your District Superintendent to share some examples of how apportioned giving is helping churches in your district. Establish a covenant relationship with a United Methodist missionary and learn about their work in the mission field. Incorporate connectional giving in your stewardship campaigns and special fundraisers, or plan a special fundraising event with proceeds benefiting your church’s Apportionment. What other ways does your church promote apportionments? What other resources would your church like to have?