Budget, Church Abroad Claim Council Time
Episcopal News Service. November 23, 1983 [83217]
NEW YORK (DPS, Nov. 23 ) - The sums were large (nearly $23 million), the geography vast (four continents, one live by satellite), the room crowded and the agenda equally so, but the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church survived it all with a certain aplomb and left town with its work completed for another year.
The Nov. 16 to 18 meeting of the Council, held at the Episcopal Church Center here, passed a $22,881,500 General Church Program Budget for 1984 by a unanimous voice vote. All but approximately $4 million of that amount is expected to be raised through the apportionment pledges of the dioceses. The unanimous approval came after months of staff consultation, study and refinement by the committee chairs and a day of work in the six standing Committees.
By the time the budget vote was taken the Council had already been at work for a day-and-a-half and had heard reports on refugee problems in Belize and the Church in Namibia, spent time exploring the National Conference of (Roman) Catholic Bishops Pastoral Letter on peace and had viewed a live, televised conversation between Presiding Bishop John M. Allin in New York and Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie in London. In their remaining time, the councilors apportioned $660,000 in undesignated Venture in Mission funds (Eds. See DPS 83220, page 10), acted on a variety of shareholder resolutions, affirmed additional Jubilee Centers (DPS 83219, page 8) and hailed the work of a number of retiring senior staff members.
The 1984 budget will be slightly higher than the current one of $20,883,000 which is based on pledges of $16,649,000. Although the pledge gap between the years seems wide, the dioceses have actually pledged above what had been anticipated and are expected to have contributed slightly more than $17 million to this year's budget by year's end. Since, by canon, the Council is required to operate on a balanced budget, Church finance officers generally estimate apportionment income lower than the full apportionment level would be.
Council learned that the anticipated income increase continues to outstrip the fixed operating costsstaff, insurance, utilities, postage, plant, etc.-- by enough to permit some program increases. The biggest of these is in the World Mission in Church and Society section which will climb by slightly more than $1 million. Although some of this is the result of a small staff expansion, most of it will be used to support increased work in the Anglican Communion, especially through aid to indigenous development plans.
Since the General Convention of 1979 accepted a revised apportionment formula, more and more dioceses have been striving to meet their assigned figure and thus the revenue sources are becoming more stable and predictable. This takes some of the "white-knuckle and gulp" aspect out of the budget process and allows staff to plan on a firm basis. One executive commented that the outcome of that was that each year, the anticipated needs and the anticipated income became easier to reconcile.
Although the budget was the most important matter the Council handled in the meeting, items that also commanded their interest included four special orders of business that brought the Council into contact with Church in Belize and Namibia and with ministries in peace issues and communication.
At the opening session, Council member Pamela C. Chinnis of Washington briefed the Council on a recent meeting of the Anglican Council of North America and the Caribbean which focussed on the efforts of Christians in the tiny country of Belize to meet the needs of a flood of refugees from many other Central American countries. (Eds. See DPS 83214 of Nov. 17 and 83218 in this mailing for additional details.)
Hawaii's Bishop Edmond Browning was the Council representative on a delegation sent by Archbishop Runcie to Namibia. He told the Council that Hawaii's diocesan convention, upon hearing his report of that trip, voted to allocate $79,000 -- 10 percent of its annual budget -- to help rebuild the Church there. He was joined by fellow Councillor Bishop Furman C. Stough who has also recently returned from a visit to Namibia with which his diocese -- Alabama -- maintains a companion relationship. Their convention had voted $100,000 to help rebuild a school destroyed in fighting between guerrillas and the occupying South African troopers. The Council responded to their reports with three resolutions urging support for Namibia and ordering staff to seek additional funds for rebuilding. (See DPS 83218, and, from past mailings, 83213 and 83197)