The United Methodist group responsible for allocating most of the general church’s budget has recommended how to slice up a much smaller financial pie.
Under the proposal, not all ministries will bear the brunt equally of planned budget cuts scheduled to start in 2021, and one fund will see a substantial increase.
The Connectional Table Allocations Team released a 76-page report on Jan. 29 outlining its recommendations for how to divide $361.6 million — about a 23 percent drop from the current budget.
“This report has been a collaborative effort that has been grounded in deep listening and prayer,” says the Rev. Kennetha J. Bigham-Tsai, the Connectional Table’s top executive, in a statement. “I am deeply grateful to the members of the Allocations Team, and to CT and agency staff who have brought the best of themselves to this process.”
The team’s report is not the final word. In April, the recommendations will next go before the full Connectional Table and the board of the General Council on Finance and Administration, the denomination’s finance agency. Those two bodies, which jointly develop the general church budget, may alter the recommendations.
Ultimately, General Conference — the denomination’s multinational legislative assembly — will decide the size and allocation of the 2021-24 denominational budget when it meets in 2020.