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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodists together |
May/June 2006 |
Receipts ahead of 2005 by two percent
New tithing for connectional giving off to bumpy start
By Daniel R. Gangler
The new North Indiana United Methodist Conference Tithing Plus program for connectional giving of congregations to conference ministries launched in January 2006 has had a bumpy take off but is smoothing out as the churches send monthly remittances and the program gains altitude.
According to Brent Williams, treasurer of the North Indiana Conference, "Receipts are about the same, dollar wise, as 2005.Percentage wise we are at 19 percent of the 2006 budget, compared to 17 percent at the same time in 2005.The tithes are arriving in our office later than (apportionments arrived) in 2005, as churches are tending to pay the tithe after all of the receipts from the prior month's Sundays are tabulated."
The Tithing Plus model was a major shift for congregations from the traditional payment of conference and general church apportionments. Instead of knowing in advance what conference apportionments will be, each congregation tithes, that is pays 10 percent of each month's receipt of income. The plan was approved Oct. 8, 2005 at a special session of the North Indiana Annual Conference held at Granger Community (United Methodist) Church.
Williams told Together, "Initial readings (about the new Tithing Plus program) are inconclusive. It is working and many churches are being quite faithful. We have a few churches that have not paid any tithe through March." He further stated that District Superintendents are working on contacting these churches.
The North Conference treasurer's office will continue to communicate information regarding the tithe process directly to treasurers and pastors.
Williams went on to say that like anything new, there has been some confusion. Churches need to do their own calculation each month and send the tithe to the North Indiana Conference office.
In the previous apportionment system, the treasurer sent statements informing each congregation about its apportionment and what to pay.
Optimistic
Williams is optimistic. He said all but 50 of 565 churches have paid some portion of their tithe. The Conference Council on Finance and Administration is working with churches that saw an increase in their connectional giving as a result of the movement to a tithe.
General Church Ministries apportionments are being handled beyond the conference tithe for connectional giving. It's the "Plus" in "Tithing Plus." Williams said, these apportionments are being funded at similar levels as 2005.
Williams said another positive about the tithing program to fund conference ministries is that the conversation about tithing has opened up some opportunities to talk about stewardship in new ways. He said local church leaders and clergy are talking frankly with each other about church stewardship.
"Churches are talking to each other about what is important to do and fund in our joint ministry. These conversations are filtering to conference leaders, as well. We are being challenged to communicate better what our joint ministries are and why they are important. We are being urged to focus joint ministry and funding efforts in those areas that the conference can do and needs to do, rather than what the local church can do better."
Congregation viewpoint
From a congregation's viewpoint, the Rev. Paul Arnold, pastor of The United Methodist Church at Columbia City and chair of the North Indiana Conference Council on Finance and Administration said, "Tithing Plus is working fine here at Columbia City. We have paid our apportionments at 100 percent for many years so it was just a matter of adjusting how we figure our remittance. It is much easier to explain to church members what our share of conference ministry is by saying that we contribute a tithe of our income."
Arnold told Together that they were one of those churches whose apportionment estimate would increase and that has not been a problem.
"I really think it is a matter of priority," he said.
Arnold was not aware of a lot of confusion on the part of churches figuring a tithe. He did feel that where the program came up short was the fact that "we did not think to announce at the beginning of this change that district apportionments were an additional amount."
He said CF&A tends to think on conference level, since it's responsible for the conference budget.
When it comes to the general church apportionment, "half of the general church amount is above and beyond the tithe which includes area and conference support," Arnold said. "Our goal from the beginning is also to include the general church amount within the tithe. I hope that we can reach that goal in the next few years."
No matter what kind of system the conference uses to fund its connectional ministries, "A trimmed down conference budget is necessary. When the conference (membership) continues to get smaller, we cannot continue to increase the budget," he said.
"A giving method based on income or a percentage of income just makes more sense as to the strength of a church than other criteria we have used in the past," Arnold concluded. (See sidebar.)
Last updated on 25 Apr 2008