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BY MELISSA LAUBER
UMCONNECTION STAFF

Download the apportionment supplement.

In 2010, the Baltimore-Washington Conference celebrated the highest apportionment collection rate in years. With this money, which totaled $14,842,689, United Methodists across the region fed the hungry, gave new life to churches, reached out across the globe in life-saving mission, deployed pastors and missionaries, educated children and, in a thousand other ways, shared the Word and the love of God.

In 2010, the collection rate was 90.51 percent, up from 87.7 percent in 2007. Churches in the Cumberland-Hagerstown District paid more than 98 percent of their apportionments. Giving also went up in the conference’s two urban centers.

This rise in faithful giving is significant, especially in light of ongoing economic challenges, said Bishop John Schol.

The bishop attributes this rise, in part, to more effective use of technology, careful stewardship and an eagerness among local churches to be involved in meaningful ministry. “We know that God’s blessings multiply when they are shared,” he said.

In response to the outstanding collection rate, conference leaders say they feel compelled to pursue a vision of significantly decreasing the benevolence factor, the percentage of a church’s budget, minus mission expenditures and capital expenses, which is used to set apportionment rates.

This year, the benevolence factor is 19.5 percent. The Council on Finance and Administration is proposing that the 2012 benevolence factor be set at 18 percent and that the conference make efforts to reduce it to 16 percent over the next four to six years, said Conference Treasurer Paul Eichelberger.

The decrease will be achievable because of a clear and compelling conference vision that is moving congregations to health, strong stewardship in congregations, cost reduction through the conference use of technology and stronger staffing alignment, and spending money strategically. There are savings being realized from the new mission center and declining general church apportionments.

However, lowering the rate further depends on churches continuing to pay their full apportionments. In 2010, 531 churches, or 81 percent, paid their full apportionments, up from 71 percent in 2005. Leaders are hoping that churches will increase their giving even more, creating a 91 percent collection rate in 2012.

The proposed 2012 apportionment income budget, Eichelberger said, will be $15.1 million, up 2.4 percent from 2011, but 4 percent less than 2008’s $15.8 million budget.

The six-year budget plan CFA is pursuing is expected to reduce the amount of a local church’s apportionment payment to 10 percent of its total income – paralleling a biblical tithe.

Currently, in the average church, for every $100 put in the collection plate, $87.75 stays with the local church. Of the $100, $9.97 goes to the conference to provide for conference ministries and resources, medical benefits for retirees, operations, finance and administration, and communications; and $2.29 goes to the General Church for ministries on the national and global level.

The Baltimore-Washington Conference is one of the 15 annual conferences, among 59 total U.S. conferences, that paid its full apportionment to the General Church in 2010.

As the churches and leaders of the conference continue to celebrate connectional giving, they remain very aware, said Eichelberger, that “the local church is at the center of all we do as the primary place for the sharing of God’s love and the making of disciples.”

Breakdown of $100 donated to local church

Local Church Budget $87.75
Conference Budget $9.97
General Church Budget $2.29
Total Donation $100