Sharing God's Gifts

THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

And

“APPORTIONED FUNDS”

Every United Methodist Congregation is "connected" and in partnership with other United Methodists around the world. We share in a worldwide ministry of making disciples of Jesus Christ. The funds we share for this effort are called "Apportionments."

 

Each congregation contributes its fair share of "apportioned" funds to help in doing good through an awesome network described below. Be sure to click on the links at the bottom of this page to find out more about the shared "connectional" work we are doing beyond the local ministry of our congregation.

 

Of each dollar contributed, on average:

·        84.3 cents stays in your local church for ministries and expenses

·        Less than 4 cents goes to United Methodist church wide missions, salaries and administrative cost

·        12.4 cents goes for regional ministries in your annual conference and jurisdiction

(See Illustration of How the Loaf is Divided)

      Each United Methodist congregation has a Finance Committee that recommends the budget for local mission projects, operating expenses and salaries. That budget is approved annually by your church council ("Board of Stewards" at NFUMC).

      Apportioned Funds Enable United Methodists to Do Together What No Church, District or Annual Conference Could Do Alone.

      We believe giving is an act of worship. We believe giving is, as 2 Corinthians 9:15, NRSV, teaches, our way of saying, "Thanks be to God" for the most generous gift of all…our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

John Wesley and his followers saw our work in the simplest terms. To paraphrase his inspiring words:

"Do all the good you can, in all the places you can, to all the people you can."

We United Methodists follow in Wesley's footsteps, supporting one another and helping God's children whenever and wherever we can. One way we accomplish this task is through our apportioned funds, a method of giving that proportionally allocates the general church budget to conferences (which subsequently apportion to local churches). This method of giving has become a strong, generous tradition and a personal, lifelong commitment.

Together, through our connected congregations, we United Methodists accomplish what no single church, district or annual conference ever could hope to do. In this way, each individual, each family, each congregation gives a fair share for the church's work. We combine our prayers, presence, gifts and service to make a significant difference in the lives of God's people…in every place we can…as often as we can.

 

The seven apportioned funds include:

(Click on links below to learn more about each.)

World Service Fund
Ministerial Education Fund
Africa University Fund
Black College Fund
Interdenominational Cooperation Fund
Episcopal Fund
General Administration Fund

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How Apportionments Are Computed

How Are Apportionments Computed?

Step One:   Conference determines annual budget, consisting of retired ministerial support, regional ministries, new church development, and General Church apportionments to the North Georgia Conference. For 2007, this amount is $24,340,000.

Step Two:   At calendar year end, the local church completes the Local Church Report to the Annual Conference. (For the 2007 Budget, information from the 2005 reports is used).

Step Three: The Treasurer’s office accumulates all local church reports and determines each local church’s operating expenses. Operating expenses consist of salaries, pension benefits, clergy housing-related expenses, expense reimbursements, current program expenses, expenses related to commercial insurance and other current operating expenses. Operating expenses (also referred to as “decimal” expenses) do NOT include: HealthFlex premiums, payments on indebtedness, or capital-related expenditures. Also, expenses related to “self-sustaining” activities and local benevolences are NOT considered operating expenses.

Step Four: The Treasurer’s office totals the local church operating expenses for all 926 North Georgia United Methodist churches. For 2005, the latest year available, this total is $166,027,818.

Step Five: We determine “the decimal.” This is the Conference budget, divided by total church operating expenses. For 2006, the  calculation is $24,340,000/$166,027,818 = .147, or 14.7%. (This compares to 15.5% in 2005)

Step Six:     We multiply an individual church’s operating expenses by the decimal, arriving at the total gross apportionment. We then prorate the gross apportionment to fifteen individual apportionment line items.

Step Seven: If CFA Recommendation 15 is approved, a reasonableness test will be applied to churches whose membership exceeds 1000. Adjustments may be made by the Cabinet to the computed apportionments of certain churches within that size range, based on the formula detailed in recommendation 15.

Step Eight: We total the apportionments for each individual district and send it to the district superintendent for review.

Step Nine:   District offices notify pastors of their apportionment amounts at the late summer district set-up meetings. This information is provided on a “Local Church Apportionment Report.”

Please note: The above explanation details the computation of Conference apportionments. It does NOT include District Work Funds (DWF). The computation of DWF varies from district to district, based on the approved district budgets. Some districts use the above decimal computation with their district. Others use a “per member” computation. Please check with your district office if further computational detail is needed.