Amid church exits, work starts on record-low budget

As the number of church disaffiliations rises, United Methodist financial leaders have started preparing what will be the denomination’s lowest budget sent to General Conference in nearly 40 years.

The board of the denomination’s finance agency, the General Council on Financial and Administration, already was preparing to send the lawmaking assembly the lowest budget since the 1990s. On Nov. 18, by an 18-2 vote, the GCFA board approved shrinking the proposed four-year budget even further to a total of about $373.7 million for the years 2025-2028.

The current proposal requires significant cuts to all funds that support denomination-wide ministries — including general agencies and bishops.

The new bottom line marks a reduction of more than a third — more than 38% — from the denomination-wide budget that General Conference approved in 2016. It would be the lowest budget to come before General Conference since 1984, when the denomination had far fewer members on the African continent and had yet to establish Africa University, now supported with denominational funds.

Ultimately, General Conference — now thrice delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic — will have final say on the denomination’s next four-year budget when it meets in spring 2024.

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