What's New for GC 2024 Part 1: The Budget

Part 1 of a three part series

Key points:

• Delegates to General Conference will be presented with a budget of about $346.7 million to fund the church’s work for the next four years.
• The budget represents a nearly 43% reduction from the previous budget, as revenues have dropped due to church closures and other factors.
• General agencies and ministries are working on ways to adapt to an environment with tighter resources.

The proposed four-year budget for The United Methodist Church represents the largest funding reduction in the denomination’s history.

Delegates to the denomination’s legislative assembly, the General Conference, will be asked to adopt a budget for 2025-2028 when they meet April 23-May 3 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The budget adopted by the previous regular session of the General Conference in 2016 was $604.03 million, a 0.2% increase over the previous quadrennial budget. The General Council on Finance and Administration had proposed a slight decrease for the 2017-2020 period, but several proposals adopted from the floor increased the final approved total. After the 2020 General Conference was postponed, the Judicial Council — the denomination’s top court — ruled that the budget would stay the same until General Conference approved a new one.

The proposed 2025-2028 budget of approximately $346.7 million is a reduction of nearly 43% from the previously adopted budget. The budget figures described here are based on the results of the most recent meeting of General Council on Finance and Administration with the Connectional Table in February. Ultimately, General Conference delegates will decide on the budget passed.

Why so large a reduction?

A major driver has been the unusally high number of closures of local congregations in the United States since 2019. GCFA documents the closure of 9,640 congregations in the United States during that time, representing 32.2% of U.S. congregations. Of these, 7,673 or 79.6% were the result of disaffiliation.

Of the 1,967 local churches that closed for reasons other than disaffiliation, 1,491 were listed as “discontinued.” Churches are discontinued when, for whatever reason, it becomes clear they can no longer continue to function as local churches. The numbers also included 237 closed specifically for financial reasons, 182 closed because of church mergers, 56 abandoned, and one that was no longer part of an ecumenical shared ministry.

These losses have substantially reduced the giving power of United Methodists in the United States. American United Methodists are the sole contributors to five of the seven denominational funds (the World Service, Africa University, Ministerial Education, Black College and the Interdenominational Cooperation funds), which together represent 78.7% of the 2017-2020 denominational budget. Central conferences, which will soon likely comprise the majority of United Methodists worldwide, were expected to contribute to the Episcopal Fund and the General Administration Fund — 3.9% and 3.9% of those funds respectively. This meant United Methodists in the United States were expected to fund about 99.1% of the denominational budget during the previous quadrennium.

We may not see losses in U.S. churches in the coming four-year period on the scale of the preceding one, but the substantial revenue losses from church closures will likely have a long-term impact.

What happens to the seven funds?

World Service Fund
The World Service Fund underwrites the program ministries of the worldwide United Methodist Church. This includes funding for most of the general agencies except the United Methodist Publishing House, Wespath Benefits and Investments, United Women in Faith and the General Commission on Archives and History.

It also supports the six racial/ethnic ministry plans: Native American Comprehensive Plan, Strengthening the Black Church for the 21^st Century, Asian American Language Ministry Plan, Korean Ministry Plan, National Plan for Hispanic/Latino Ministry and Pacific Islander Ministry Plan.

Because of the uncertainty about total funding that may actually be available, the proposed budget holds the Connectional Table, the racial/ethnic plans and funds, the General Commission on Religion and Race and the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women at close to the 2017-2020 funding levels and on a fixed funding basis, with a net decrease of 0.9%.

The fixed program funding for GCFA related to the World Service Fund, meanwhile, would be reduced by 49.7%, and for the Interdenominational Cooperation Fund by 85.2%. Fixed funding means, regardless of actual income, these ministries would be guaranteed the full amount listed for the coming quadrennium.  

Meanwhile, the General Board of Church and Society, Discipleship Ministries, Global Ministries, the Central Conference Theological Education Fund, United Methodist Men, United Methodist Communications and the contingency reserve would be cut by 52.8%, and their actual funding would be “on ratio” — that is, based on the percentage of the budgeted amounts actually received.

So, if World Service receipts are 83% of what was budgeted, these agencies would receive only 83% of what was allocated to them, even with the substantial budget cuts. This would be an additional 8.4% cut relative to the proposed budget as appears in the current draft version of Volume 3 of the Advance Daily Christian Advocate, which contains the legislation for General Conference. Savings from these cuts, among others, would be transferred to support the Episcopal Fund.

To offset some of these additional cuts on agency staff, GCFA proposes a one-time transfer of funds from the Benefit Trust to the various general agencies facing increased on-ratio cuts. These funds would be drawn from proceeds from expired legacy defined benefit plans. This would help cover some benefits costs for general agencies without affecting current retirees. 

Ministerial Education Fund
The third largest fund in the denominational budget, the Ministerial Education Fund (MEF), is divided among annual conferences for clergy education activities they provide, the 13 U.S. United Methodist seminaries to support scholarships for certified candidates, and the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM) to support connectional ministerial education and formation.  GBHEM manages and distributes scholarship funds sent to seminaries. The MEF budget is proposed for a 47.8% reduction. This would mean substantially curtailed available scholarship funds for those preparing to become clergy during the coming quadrennium.

The Black College Fund
The United Methodist Church has a long history of providing direct support to historically Black colleges and universities related to the denomination or its predecessor bodies. This fund would also be reduced 47.8%.

African University Fund
The Africa University Fund has supported the creation and ongoing growth of Africa University in Zimbabwe since 1988. While the university has grown substantially since that time, with more than 2,200 students from 28 African countries annually, this fund has still provided about 14% of the university’s operating budget. The university has also built a growing endowment thanks to generous gifts from individual United Methodists over the years, now totaling over $100 million.  Proceeds from the endowment support scholarships for its students. The quadrennial budget proposes a 47.8% reduction.

The Episcopal Fund
The Episcopal Fund supports the compensation, travel and staffing needs of the active bishops and benefits for the retired bishops of the denomination. This fund has been the subject of significant concern in recent years. The most recent version of that budget proposes funding for 32 bishops in the United States (39 bishops are currently serving) during the 2025-2028 quadrennium. Twenty-two bishops would be supported in the central conferences (20 are currently serving). This would support two additional bishops in Africa, where The United Methodist Church continues to grow. Overall, the Episcopal Fund would be reduced from the previous quadrennium by 15.2%. This brings the proposed total of bishops to 54, 12 fewer than the 66 bishops originally budgeted for in 2017-2020 and two fewer than the 56 bishops currently serving.

The General Administration Fund
As its name suggests, this fund underwrites the bulk of the work of administrative and service agencies of the denomination, including the administrative (as opposed to program) work of the General Council on Finance and Administration, the General Commission on Archives and History and the Judicial Council. It also provides the funding for the General Conference and its Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters as well as pension and salary aid for the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference.

The proposed General Conference line item includes a 15.4% increase over the previous 2017-2020 budget because of the bishops’ announced plan to call a special General Conference session in 2026. Archives and History would see a 9.6% decrease and the Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters a 5.6% decrease. GCFA and the Judicial Council would be substantially reduced by 59.1% and 43.5% respectively.  Pension and salary aid would be cut by 29.3%. Funding for the contingency reserve would also be reduced by 55.7%. Overall, the General Administration Fund is projected to experience a 27.5% reduction.

Interdenominational Cooperation Fund
The Interdenominational Cooperation Fund supports the ecumenical and interfaith work of The United Methodist Church and its partners worldwide. The includes the denomination’s support for the National Council of Churches, the World Council of Churches, the World Methodist Council, the Pan Methodist Commission, as well as its own ecumenical work through the staff of the Council of Bishops (the Office of Christian Unity and Interfaith Relations and the ecumenical officer of the Council of Bishops).

The proposed budget includes no funding for most of these activities for the coming four-year period. GCFA proposes that funding would come instead through reserves the fund has built up over previous quadrennia. Overall, this fund would experience a 72.1% net reduction in apportioned funds for the coming quadrennium, substantially reducing its reserves. Whether funding for these ministries will be provided through the general church budget in the future is unknown.  

How will these reductions affect the church?

Each general agency and ministry funded through the denominational budget is actively planning how to diversify revenue streams, realign and refocus its core work, and determine what it will no longer do during the coming quadrennium. Some administrative services, such as websites and databases, are already being consolidated onto shared platforms in an effort spearheaded by United Methodist Communications. Two major general agencies, Global Ministries and Higher Education and Ministry, are experimenting with sharing a single general secretary. And several proposals are going to General Conference to change the formula for determining the number of bishops within a jurisdiction, as well as proposals to eliminate jurisdictions and their associated costs entirely.

While projected general agency finances will grow far tighter, the mood among denominational leaders is generally upbeat. They see the innovation and revisioning this new situation will require as a challenge that can be met when United Methodists are focused on what it takes to accomplish their common mission: to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.