Update from Finance and Planning

First two months of
2003 off to good start

By Ronald Kelly

PASADENA—A few folks questioned my optimism when I reported with some enthusiasm that January’s income was an increase over the previous year.

I explained that we had an unusual situation the previous year and did not have all of the January income tabulated until well into February. Thus we could not have an accurate comparison until we compiled the two months of January and February this year. Nevertheless, I remained optimistic, hoping we would see a good second month of the year.

Well, my optimism has been rewarded, and I am pleased to report, the combined January and February donations this year are up five percent over the preceding year. For that we are thankful. Specifically, donation income for February totaled almost $1.6 million and the two months combined were right at $2.6 million.

Expenses for the two combined months, after adding the cash proceeds from peripheral property sales, were $300,000 less than our income. So our reserve fund gets a little boost this month.

What does this increase mean for the new Small-Step program? That’s also good news. Almost 60 percent of our congregations showed an increase compared to January and February combined for 2002. Those congregations will receive 80 percent of the overage amount into their bank accounts. That transfer will have taken place before you receive this issue of the WN.

I hope this will be an encouragement to those who worked so hard to increase their donation base. I also hope the remaining 40 percent of our congregations that had a decrease will be motivated to increase their base donations.

As I explained during the regional conferences of 2000 and 2001, we have made a major transition from a media-based ministry to a congregational-based ministry. Almost all our financial attention is focused on the work of the local churches and the international mission to proclaim the good news of God’s loving grace. During those conferences I gave detailed PowerPoint presentations documenting church income and expenses. Pastors then had access to the presentation and could use it in their local churches if they desired.

For more than 50 years, with our focus on media and the college system, we allocated more than 75 percent of the total income to the headquarters operations of the church worldwide. That left less than 25 percent to be allocated to the congregations.

For most of those years the United States funded large portions of the international expenses, while various offices worked toward becoming financially self-sufficient (most of them now are, and our international expenses are allocated to missionary outreach in many different countries).

Our budget allocates about 68 percent of member donations to the direct support of the congregations. Our goal, after the property sells, is for 85 percent of member donations to be allocated to the local church.

As the Worldwide Church of God began its spiritual transformation in the mid-1990s, the resultant downturn in donations forced many difficult decisions. The media ministry was greatly reduced. PTM is now financially independent of subsidies from the church, although a close connection remains between the two entities. After moving out of media ministries, the church had to close Ambassador University in Texas and sell the campus. However, the Ambassador education opportunity continues as the Ambassador Center at Azusa Pacific University in Southern California.

During this transformation, church officials, working with district superintendents and pastors, focused the bulk of time and finances on stabilizing the local congregations and preparing a new financial model where member donations would be retained in the local congregations rather than funneled through a central headquarters’ system.

We continue to work tirelessly on this project, although I understand progress seems slow to some. In reality we are moving along at a steady pace, though slower than we all would like.

As you know from my regular monthly reports, for the past few years our expenses have exceeded our income. However, because we have been blessed with surplus properties, furnishings and equipment to sell, we have been able to meet these overages while we maintain an appropriate reserve fund, a topic I rather thoroughly explained a few months ago. Thus, church finances, while certainly not what we all hope for (does anyone ever have enough money?) are stable at this time.

Obviously the church would like to have greater sources of income. But so many of you faithful members have given above and beyond the call of duty, and we appreciate your loving stewardship a great deal. As we move ever closer to implementing our anticipated new financial model, we do appreciate your patience and understanding. We have come a long way, but there is still some distance yet to travel.

Copyright © Grace Communion International, 2003