NOW, I'm sounding like a real district superintendent!!! Preliminary numbers show that the Heartland North district, the best district in Missouri Methodism---heck, the best district in United Methodism---double heck, the best district of any type anywhere, came in in apportionment giving at a 4.8% higher level for 2006 than for 2005 ...92.2%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now, there was a time when I would have thought that being excited about apportionment payout was reserved for money crunchers and general secretaries. Now, any non UMCer reading this may wonder what I am talking about. Apportionments are the first-mile-giving-beyond-the-local-church --- the percentage that each church pays for caring for our retired pastors, for supporting our seminaries, for Africa University, for payment of salaries for people like me, for ministries funded by the annual conference, for the World Service fund which manifests itself in ministries that span the globe and for many other ministries outside the walls of the local church
Apportionment giving, and apportionment raising, is harder now than it was 30 years ago--The world has flattened..."Why should I give to money to a ministry over which I have no direct control?" some folks say. We have a large and sometimes cumbersome structure that was erected with good intentions--we have boards and agencies that sometimes seem to gobble up the local church dollar faster than we can pass the offering plate..."Why should I give to merely keep up a bureaucracy that I don't understand, and I am not sure is needed?" some folks say. Good questions, good questions. I can reply by telling stories of lives changed; of ministries begun and sustained; of ministers cared for in their old age, of youth educated, children vaccinated, hungry whom are fed, and hopeless persons offered the good news of Christ because of apportionments given by United Methodist churches.
That, of course, is what we hear often. But I also think of a couple of other things, too. I think of the connexion, of hand holding hand, a little church in my district, Bogard UMC and the largest church in our state, Manchester Missouri. Both pay their apportionments in full, not only to be "loyal United Methodists", but to be a part of something bigger than themselves, and together to provide the grace and gifts that God wants to give to persons around the world, in ways that they could not do by themselves. And, sometimes, when I am waxing theological, I think about apportionment giving as another way to live out what Wesley called "the means of grace." Wesley used this term to mean those practices which provide a channel for the Holy Spirit to work in a persons lives so that their spirit expands, their attention to God around them sharpens, and their inner life is enriched, which leads to acts of mercy and justice. When a church hands over that money each month to the conference treasurer, it is a sacred moment. When the financial secretary sits down with pen in hand, or when he generates that check by computer that is "sent in," it is not only a way to facilitate a broader ministry of the church, but it also, if done in the right spirit, enriches the inner life of a congregation as well. We are caring for those outside ourselves, sometimes giving to persons we will never see, through channels in which we put our trust. We are going to God with open hands as a congregation offering what we can to others who need us. Should we keep those channels accountable as to how the dollars are spent? Of course. But as we dare to trust our precious resources through the means of grace called apportionment giving, the hearts of our churches are strangely warmed by the grace of God, which mysteriously returns to us as we share it. This apportionment thing is as much about that, as it is about the bucks themselves.
And I am so very grateful that God has given me 64 churches that teach me every day how to love them more, how to serve them more faithfully, and how to love God through that service more dearly and with open hands.
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2 comments:
Congrats. Well done and well said.
Susan
There is no doubt it is very difficult for many to understand this "strange" practice of sending sums of money into the unknown. My friends in the house church movement gag when I tell them we send (I don't use pay, we pay for goods and services, we send to causes and programs) our apportionment money. After I get them to stop bashing the old line church I tell them all the good work in the wider world that money is used to do. I find it interesting that my good neo-Christian buddies who send money (rightly so) to causes like free the slaves or city union mission but can't see how africa university or other social justices causes are doing the same good but in larger form (and perhaps with clearer accountability). I do realize that some have been so wounded by the church that anything the old line does will be looked at with a critical eye. Thanks for this post. I am printing it and when I get over to the Liberty or Gladstone Starbucks (or the Friendly Bean) I am pulling this out.
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