Episcopal Church Budget Focuses on Mission and Growth
Episcopal News Service. July 19, 2000 [GC2000-095]
Joe Thoma, Director of communications for the Diocese of Central Florida
(ENS) The Episcopal Church's $138 triennial budget, approved by the General Convention, might seem like a dry, dollars-and-cents matter, but it is inseparable from the mission of the church, said members of the Program, Budget & Finance Committee (PB&F).
Budgeting is one of the most difficult tasks of the General Convention, agreed those asking for program funding -- as well as the church officials charged with allocating money.
"We see the whole budget as the mission of the church," said PB&F chairwoman Bonnie Anderson of Michigan, noting that the committee sought to develop a "vision-driven" budget. The triennial budget is up about 14.8 percent from the last budget, set at the 1997 convention. Committee members highlighted several proposed budget allocations, including:
- $250,000 to establish an Episcopal Youth Corps;
- an increase of $1.2 million for a total of $4.05 million for historically black colleges;
- $22,500 to increase congregational development and leadership training to the deaf and aging;
- $90,000 for a prison ministry task force;
- and $26,000 to gather data about the needs and shapes of ministry in the church.
Supporters of those programs expressed gratitude for what they received.
The Rev. Jacqueline Means, the church's director of prison ministries, said she was "both surprised and pleased" by the prison ministries allocation. "I've looked back at all of the resolutions passed on prison ministry that have led to no action. This will enable us to study the issues and develop educational materials for local use."
Bishop Mark MacDonald of Alaska said he welcomed the $375,000 allocated to the Indigenous Theological Training Institute, on whose board he sits, and funding for mission in general. "We're very excited about the focus on mission and evangelism and the mention of diversity in the context of that," he said.
Support for provincial program coordinators was expressed with a $600,000 line in the budget, a detail that pleased Bishop Jack McKelvey (Rochester), president of Province II. "It's a great move to allow us to do the mission of the church that we're called to do. This will enable us to coordinate our efforts and strengthen our ministry."
Perhaps the most talked-about initiatives in the months before General Convention were evangelism efforts called 20/20 and the Alleluia Fund. Church legislation gives them $75,000 annually each and creates a $200,000 reserve fund for 20/20, pending results of an Executive Council study.
Debate over those initiatives centered on the very nature and purpose of church spending -- and income.
Some have argued that the Church Pension Fund's phenomenal investment returns should fund evangelism efforts. The fund's assets have grown more than 50 percent in the past year alone, from $4.2 billion as of March 31, 1999, to $6.7 billion. Suggestions have included using the surplus for evangelism or other "core missions" of the church, or giving some of the money back to congregations. Fund executives pointed out, however, that their discretion is limited by regulatory limits on use of the surplus.
After convention adjourned, deputy Ted Mollegen Jr. of Connecticut, a strong proponent of 20/20, suggested that wherever the money comes from, evangelism could be seen more as an investment than an expense. "If the DFMS were to fund some church plantings, should the cost of the plantings be considered an expense or an investment?" he asked. "New congregations ultimately become sources of new income to the church, fitting the definition of an investment," he said. He added that churches obviously aren't started for that reason, "but in my opinion one should account for them as investments if they have this characteristic."
The size of the pension fund's surplus is what prompted the Church Pension Group (CPG) to adopt "The Stewardship of Abundance" as the theme of its two reports -- the Annual Report and the Report to the General Convention, Mollegen said. "It should also be noted that the CPG has a non-contributory retirement plan for its own employees," he said.
Because that plan is overfunded, the CPG has stopped making payments into it for its own employees. "In contrast, the CPG has not reduced the continuing burden on congregations since the Clergy Pension Fund became overfunded," said Mollegen, who says he wouldn't suggest weakening the clergy's chances of drawing their full pensions.
On the income side, most dioceses respond to the church's "asking" of 21 percent of diocesan budgets after the first $100,000, said Treasurer Stephen Duggan. "As to diocesan giving, it remains strong and is again over budget for 2000," Duggan said.
About a dozen dioceses are significantly below the asking, however, though the reasons vary greatly. Some have made internal growth and evangelism a priority; others hold a philosophical "10-10-10" view that people in the pews should tithe 10 percent to their parish or mission, churches 10 percent to the diocese and the diocese 10 percent to the Episcopal Church. In a few cases, withholding funds is an expression of disagreement with church policies.
Some voices in Denver called for the church to "monitor" those dioceses below the asking, or to send official teams to work with them in bringing them up to parity.
But the PB&F is taking a more "pastoral" approach in dealing with the under-contributors, members said. "We remain in close contact with [dioceses sending less than the asking], and where visits or other involvement by 815 personnel might help, we make ourselves available," Duggan said.
On the other side of the fence was Resolution C005, which called for the national church to adopt the tithe as the basis for funding. The Committee on Stewardship and Development recommended that the houses reject the resolution because, although the tithe has long been the standard for individual giving, such a basis for giving to the national church could mean reduction of giving by half of the current 21 percent of "asking."
Supporters of programs that received less than they had requested were disappointed.
The Prayer Book, Liturgy and Church Music committee reduced an original $750,000 asking to $180,000, but received only $75,000 in the proposed budget, said Sister Barbara Jean Campbell OSH of New York. "I'm disappointed that a church [which] is seeking to put an emphasis on evangelism does not seem to take seriously that liturgy is the primary tool of evangelism in the Episcopal Church," she said.
The last General Convention called for a program of liturgical enrichment and renewal, and she said she expected it to do the same this time. "And yet we continue to be unable to obtain the funds to move forward on this." The smaller budget "means fewer voices are at the table," she said, adding that the group failed to garner funding for liturgical enrichment and renewal last convention as well.
Bishop Leo Frade (Honduras) expressed disappointment about receiving no funds to "export" Cursillo to Cuba and Spain, where it originated but was later banned. "Maybe it's a misunderstanding, because many people misunderstand Cursillo. There's no question Cursillo is an exciting branch of the church," he said. He added that the program would seek funding elsewhere.
In the end, the proposed budget is balanced, as required, said Bishop Russell Jacobus (Fond Du Lac), PB&F vice chairman. The total cost of the vision of the church, as expressed through committee and commission reports and General Convention resolutions, exceeded $144 million, while only $138 million was available -- including 2 million derived from unrestricted endowments, he said. But if every diocese paid the 21 percent asking, income would surpass requests by nearly $5 million, Jacobus said.
PB&F will help church officials members on all levels make better plans, after the convention adopted additional resolves proposed by Mollegen. The PB&F report and proposals by the presiding bishop and Executive Council to General Convention, should include information from the preceding triennium about actual income and expenditures of the church; relation of the expenditures to the church's priorities; and the endowment balance and return. That information would be posted on the DFMS website when sent to bishops and deputies. A narrative would accompany each item.