With the inevitability of separation being widely acknowledged by leaders of every major region and faction of our denomination, the United Methodist Church is now going through a major, slow-motion split. American congregations have a historically unique and rapidly expiring opportunity to disaffiliate from the denomination, keep their properties, and decide our own futures. There are important questions of spiritual costs, moral complicity, and missional opportunities. But any congregation considering staying United Methodist should also understand that that would be a very big, financially costly decision, because of the requirements of excessively high United Methodist apportionments.
It is essential in practice and biblical in principle for congregations to share their resources, work together for Christian mission, and support structures of biblical accountability.
But United Methodist apportionments pay for so much more.
Congregations considering as big and likely irreversible an undertaking as remaining United Methodist at this time have a moral and stewardship responsibility to examine the details of such a major, long-term financial commitment, and discern whether or not this is a worthy investment.
As noted, it looks likely that the amount of United Methodist apportionments demanded per active member will increase in 2024, some UMC congregations have already been charged much higher apportionments than the widely cited statistic of “about” 10 percent of congregational income, and the large differences between high United Methodist apportionments and much lower connectional funding in the Global Methodist Church offer major, permanent savings for congregations transferring into the GMC.
Defenses of United Methodist apportionments that focus on particular good things funded by them are misleading. Congregations who disaffiliate from the UMC will be free, like their individual members, to donate to United Methodist seminaries, agencies, institutions, programs, or missionaries they value, such as through UMC designated-giving opportunities (or to non-UMC ministries doing similar work), as much or as little as they like.
On the other hand, congregations who choose to stay UMC will be forced to pay large United Methodist apportionments every year in perpetuity, to fund not only work they appreciate, but a whole packaged deal, which includes much that they might find wasteful, controversial, or even unfaithful.
So what do we get from high United Methodist apportionments?
United Methodist apportionments pay for structure and programming at the district, annual conference, jurisdictional, and “general-church” (i.e., denomination-wide) levels.
UMC annual conference structures can be extremely bloated. For example, the Phoenix-based, tiny-membership Desert-Southwest Conference has 18 conference and district staffers, including its own bishop and four different district superintendents. With an average worship attendance of just 9,227, this amounts to one regional staffer per 513 worship attenders! Larger-membership conferences have much larger staffs.
Jurisdictional United Methodist apportionments support the UMC’s system of regionally electing bishops. For decades, this has yielded the “benefit” of different regions of the same denomination fostering contrary belief systems. Equivalent conferences, structures, and costs are unnecessary in the GMC, because of how its main plan would make bishop elections part of General Conference again.
At the general-church level, the UMC has over a dozen permanent, denomination-wide boards, commissions, and agencies, whose existence often results in requiring further United Methodist apportionments to fund parallel regional structures.
For those interested in paying to remain United Methodist, here is how much U.S. congregations are being charged for seven distinct general-church United Methodist apportionment funds in 2023:
- The Ministerial Education Fund (MEF): $25.84 million (17.37% of all 2023 general-church apportionments)
Primarily props up the denomination’s mostly liberal 13 official seminaries in the United States. As documented, these trainers of new ministers have been overwhelmingly critical of traditional biblical sexual-morality standards, have often promoted radical theology and far-left politics, and in several cases openly promote such non-Christian religions as Unitarian Universalism, neo-paganism, and Islam.
- The Episcopal Fund: $22.65 million (15.23%)
Pays for bishops around the world. The current salary for U.S. bishops is $175,595, plus free housing and other generous benefits. This contrasts with the legendary self-sacrifice of the first Methodist bishop elected in America, Francis Asbury.
Despite these salaries, diminishingly few bishops are actually doing their jobs of faithfully protecting the church’s doctrine and upholding its moral standards. Recent developments have made clear that even moderate theological conservatives can no longer be elected as United Methodist bishops in any part of America.
While the small-membership Western Jurisdiction now has two bishops who are openly same-sex-partnered, in defiance of denominational rules, the areas to which they are assigned do not even fully pay for their own bishops. So United Methodist apportionments required of congregations in the rest of the country subsidize these gay activist bishops.
American bishops’ salaries are over twice as much as African and Filipino bishops’ 2023 salaries of $86,299. Although according to one website, that latter salary is over 23 times the average per capita income in the Philippines, several dozen times the average per capita income of most African countries with a significant United Methodist presence, and well over 100 times the average per capita income of several of United Methodism’s African strongholds.
- The Interdenominational Cooperation Fund: $2.02 million (1.36%)
Generously props up ecumenical councils, including the National Council of Churches (NCC) and World Council of Churches (WCC). As IRD/UMAction has extensively documented over the years, there has been little to no meaningful accountability when the NCC and WCC have used this money to promote theologically liberal or secular left-wing political causes.
- The Black College Fund: $10.31 million (6.93%)
Helps fund 11 UMC-affiliated historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Supporting higher education opportunities, especially for members of historically oppressed communities, is valuable. However, “The Black College Fund does not offer scholarships.”
Some may question if such broad grants are the best stewardship of church money, particularly given concerning wider trends of UMC-affiliated colleges and universities doing little to be distinguishably Christian. After all, the presidents of United Methodist colleges and universities are not necessarily required to be Christians of any sort.
In January 2019, presidents of UMC-affiliated colleges and universities (presumably including at least several BCF school presidents), took a unanimous stance opposing traditional biblical values on marriage and sex, a stance such presidents have repeatedly expressed since 2006. Their 2019 statement further urged the UMC to change to similarly affirm “full inclusion in the life and ministry” (and implicitly, leadership) of the denomination of all persons regardless of “creed”!
- The Africa University Fund: $2.31 million (1.55%)
Supports the UMC-affiliated Africa University in Zimbabwe. If the 40 active U.S. bishops agreed to reduce their salaries to “only” $115,000 (while keeping their housing and other benefits), the savings would be more than enough to cover this entire fund.
- The General Administration Fund (GAF): $9.08 million (6.11%)
Per an official breakdown, last year some 89 percent of this money funded two general agencies—the General Council on Finance and Administration and the General Commission on Archives and History (more on them later)—and General Conference expenses.
The latter raises major questions of stewardship. Millions of dollars in United Methodist apportionments have now been spent—year after year after year— for the next General Conference, without much to show for it. Rather than doing their jobs of figuring out how to make General Conference happen, a majority faction of those entrusted with these funds have pursued an unprecedented, extraordinarily cynical power-play of blocking General Conference from occurring before 2024, even knowing that this may have incurred millions of dollars in various cancellation fees.
The key staffer for these expenses is the Rev. Gary Graves, Secretary of the General Conference. It is not clear what these United Methodist apportionments are paying him for. Even after African leaders begged him to do a basic duty of his job—send non-American delegates the invitation letters needed for travel visas to enter the U.S. for General Conference—letters were never sent. In contrast to even his very liberal predecessor, Graves is unresponsive to basic requests for information. At the 2019 General Conference, he was notoriously belligerent in his anti-traditionalist biases. This included a particularly ugly incident in a public hallway when he repeatedly screamed “NO!” and tried to block a duly elected traditionalist lay delegate from sharing with fellow delegates handouts of proposed amendments to the Traditional Plan. Furthermore, a petition was submitted to that assembly for the General Conference to exercise its right, under UMC Constitution ¶16.5, to remove lesbian activist bishop Karen Oliveto from office. But under Graves’s watch, this valid petition was never published, and reportedly never even came before the Committee on Reference. This blocked delegates from ever having a chance to potentially adopt it. A similar, valid petition to discipline Oliveto was submitted to the next General Conference and again, under Graves’s leadership, has not even been printed among the petitions to be considered. Graves has not offered clear responses to repeated inquiries about this matter.
The rest of this fund pays for:
- The Judicial Council, which has recently become very controversial for its erosion of basic constitutional, democratic checks and balances. It is a matter of public record that in recent years, the Judicial Council has abandoned its longstanding practices of timely decisions and transparent expectations about when cases will be decided, and has issued a series of rulings to establish major policy changes by consistently usurping legislative authority, always giving one faction of liberal U.S. bishops every significant change it wants. This has included the Council blatantly “legislating from the bench,” such as by actually inserting an entire new paragraph written by the Judicial Council into the Discipline (which only General Conference has the right to do) and by arbitrarily changing an explicitly inflexible date set by the Discipline from September 1 to January 1. Observers have been alarmed by the lack of accountability for Judicial Council members openly violating their own rules of judicial ethics against colluding with one side of a pending case (with liberal U.S. bishops, in the case in question). Its recent decision to prevent new elections for the 2024 General Conference dramatically preserved the power of U.S. liberals at the expense of Africans, which the Judicial Council accomplished by contradicting itself and disregarding plain words of the UMC’s supposedly governing Discipline.
- The Standing Committee on Central Conference Matters, which has been criticized as an unnecessary, colonialist relic. This powerful committee also represents further disregard for constitutional checks and balances. Despite functioning as a General Conference legislative committee, most members of this powerful committee are appointed by the liberal-American-dominated Council of Bishops. Despite functioning as a General Conference legislative committee, many of its members are bishops, with the same voting rights in committee as duly elected General Conference delegates.
- Pension and salary aid for the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference.
- A Contingency Reserve Fund, which “provides funding for unforeseen or emergency situations that fall within the scope of general administration.”
- The World Service Fund (WSF): $76.49 million (51.44%)
By far the largest general fund, the WSF funds ten general agencies, with well over 400 staffers. Despite some downsizing in recent years, this bureaucracy remains massive.
For decades, we at UMAction have attended countless board meetings of several of these agencies, repeatedly finding open disdain among agency leaders for conservative American church members whose congregations pay their bills. I have also observed disregard for frugal stewardship, such as with the General Council on Finance Administration renting busses to treat its board members to a fancy restaurant dinner (when bringing a sandwiches to the office could have fed everyone for a fraction of the price), or General Board of Church and Society meetings rushing to conclude the UMC’s work earlier than scheduled, resulting in a sloppier job done but also the chance for board members to enjoy free sight-seeing trips to Washington, D.C., paid for by United Methodist apportionments.
Furthermore, these agencies have a long record of deliberately under-representing Africans, who are the majority of United Methodists. Geographic representation on these agencies is mainly determined by allocations in the Discipline—allocations which have largely been proposed over the years by these agencies themselves and then rubber-stamped by deferential General Conferences. This preserves liberal American power and limits theologically traditionalist influence. International balances of these governing boards have not significantly changed since 2017, and are not affected by recent instances of one American replacing another American.
You can find documentation here on some of the controversial left-wing staffers funded by United Methodist apportionments. You can find the official report here, submitted to the 2016 General Conference, on the salaries of top general-agency staffers (which have doubtless risen significantly since then).
You will especially want to follow this link to find documentation of controversial left-wing stances recently promoted by all eleven agencies funded by United Methodist apportionments.
Here is some more basic information about each of the agencies your congregation will be required to continue funding through United Methodist apportionments if it chooses to stay UMC:
General Commission on Archives & History (GCAH)
2022 GAF apportionments: $1.1 million (the latest official breakdowns of GAF allocations and WSF allocations in the main list of GCFA Financial Reports are for 2022)
Total staff: 6
Percentage of Africans on governing board: 0 (yes, ZERO)
General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA)
Total 2022 GAF + WSF apportionments: $6.2 million (over two-thirds from the GAF and the rest from the WSF)
Total staff: 61
Percentage of Africans on governing board: 05.3% (1/19)
2022 WSF apportionments: $547,591
Total staff: 4
Percentage of Africans on governing board: 06.5% (4/62, in the most recent listing, which appears to have not been updated for 2021 or beyond)
General Board of Church and Society (GBCS)
2022 WSF apportionments: $2.8 million
Total staff: 18
Percentage of Africans on governing board: 03.3% (2/60) – and ZERO on 12-member Executive Committee
Discipleship Ministries, aka General Board of Discipleship (GBOD)
2022 WSF apportionments (separate from line items to strengthen African American and Native American congregations): $8.9 million
Total staff: 111
Percentage of Africans on governing board: 08.7% (2/23)
General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM)
2022 WSF apportionments (separate from plans to support Korean, Asian-American, Pacific Islander, and Hispanic/Latino ministries in the USA): $28.5 million
Total staff: 115 staff, 175 missionaries in a variety of categories and short- or long-term capacities, and 193 Nationals in Mission (as of summer 2022, according to communication from GBGM staff). Note that the work of GBGM missionaries often emphasizes social services more than evangelism or church-building, and that “apportionments only cover about 38% of the total cost of missionaries.”
Percentage of Africans on governing board: 18.2% (6/33), and one of the four officers
General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM)
2022 WSF apportionments (separate from the much smaller fund to support UMC seminaries outside of the USA): $8.7 million
Total staff: 42 (confirmed via email today from GBHEM staff)
Percentage of Africans on governing board: 11.1% (2/18)
General Commission on Religion and Race (GCoRR)
2022 WSF apportionments: $2.5 million
Total staff: 8. This agency’s CEO, whose six-figure salary is paid by United Methodist apportionments, is a UMC clergyman who is openly living in a same-sex marriage, in defiance of the Discipline, facing no accountability. He began his leadership at GCoRR by suggesting that Jesus Christ was morally imperfect and needed to learn to become more compassionate.
Percentage of Africans on governing board: 10% (2/20) as of late 2020 (GCoRR has not responded to inquiries seeking more updated information)
Despite the UMC Discipline (¶806.9) forbidding any such general agency from “giv[ing] United Methodist funds to any gay caucus or group, or otherwise us[ing] such funds to promote the acceptance of homosexuality,” the Reconciling Ministries Network, an unofficial gay activist caucus, recently announced, “We are also thankful to GCORR for their grant to RMN to partially fund our Intersectionality Vacation Bible School Curriculum!” This sounds like a worthy investment of United Methodist apportionments for those believe that vacation Bible schools for children are a good chance to indoctrinate youngsters in secular LGBTQ+ liberationist and intersectional progressive ideologies.
General Commission on the Status and Role of Women, aka CoSRoW
2022 WSF apportionments: $1 million
Total staff: 5
Percentage of Africans on governing board: 10.5% (2/19)
General Commission on United Methodist Men
2022 WSF apportionments: $377,871
Total staff: 8
Percentage of Africans on governing board: 05.3% (1/19)
United Methodist Communications (UMCom)
2022 WSF apportionments: $18.3 million
Total staff: 83 full-time and one part-time staffers (per email last summer from UMCom staff)
Percentage of Africans on governing board: 14.8% (4/27)
Disaffiliating from the UMC is a major decision, usually requiring significant one-time costs (for which loans are available). But choosing to “stay UMC” is no less of a major decision, which will definitely require excessive annual costs of high United Methodist apportionments, with your congregation having little realistic possibility of reforming expenses detailed above which it may find objectionable.
Either way, you should count the costs and make an informed decision.
Comment by George on January 7, 2023 at 9:00 am
Where do I start? First, it appears that most of our apportionments pays salaries. Not food for the hungry. Not medical care for the sick. Not bibles or much of anything else.
There is a reason this information almost never gets down to the faithful who fill our pews.
That seems strange since over $18,000,000 is for United Methodist communications.
I wonder what is being communicated and to who? The amounts that are being given woke causes is staggering. Liberal theological colleges that ignore what our Bible teaches.
Other college funds but not for scholarships. Just a slush fund for unknown board members. I could go on and on . Wake up UMC members. You are being played by the bishops (for life) for your money, not caring for your soul. Read Matthew 7:7 and become aware of what is happening inside your church. Ask. Look. Seek.
Comment by Gary Bebop on January 7, 2023 at 1:59 pm
The baggage costs of United Methodism are staggering. Traditionalists must sober up and take the exits. But we can expect many foolish ratiocinations to be posted in defense of UMC bloat.
Comment by Paul on January 7, 2023 at 7:21 pm
Here we go again. Apportionments are too high. Yet I don’t recall Lomperis or any others complaining that Wespath was voted most important issue to address first at GC2019. Oh yes, the Traditional Plan was next, but money money money seemed of utmost importance.
Comment by Eric Rathburn on January 8, 2023 at 7:29 am
Seems the only thing more wasteful and graft-ridden than Washington, D.C. is the United Methodist Church.
Comment by George on January 8, 2023 at 5:06 pm
But wait. There is more as we peel this onion. If any of these agencies fail to spend all they were budgeted, they get to keep it in their personal slush fund. Doesn’t effect their next years budget. They don’t return unspent money. The UMC does not lower the taxes (please excuse me) I mean the apportionments . They may even get more each year. There are millions of unspent dollars that the bishops control. I’m sure they are counting on this to make up the lost revenue from churches disaffiliating. Add this to the money that some of the bishops are requiring for a church to leave the UMC. When they say it’s not about the money, ITS ABOUT THE MONEY !!!
Comment by senecagriggs on January 9, 2023 at 5:53 pm
THE new, progressive U.M.C. is dead, but they will have buildings to sell over the next few decades that will support the skeletal bones of a once thriving denomination. Bishops and administrators gotta be paid. Even less males will feel called to pastorates leaving females [who comes cheaper] increasingly filling the remaining pastorates thereby leading ultimately to the total emasculation of the UMC. I’ve read [in the past] that female pastors are not generally an attraction to adult males seeking a church.
[ If that’s not true, I’d be interested to hear.]
Comment by Neil Johnson on January 12, 2023 at 10:11 pm
Interesting read. If you can tell a tree by its fruit, the least valuable thing by multiples is men.
$337k? The most valuable is the World Service Fund at $76 million? Couldn’t tell what their mission was, but last I knew God didn’t need any help running the world, he’s got this, we only need to turn to him and ask for forgiveness right? Isn’t that our job and mission? Turn, wash, forgive, repeat, something like that?
Are you guys familiar with the military term subversion? That’s what is happening, be it, our own sins, the devil or partners with forces outside our country, it’s not a “coincidence”. Sun Tzu, that art of war., the highest art form of war is to take over a country (or church) without firing a shot. Educate an entire generation in our ways (marxist, Godless)….and voila…..
This is very interesting, our church burnt, they are denying use of insurance money for ANY structure, we are 12, we are paying our dues…..we are following scripture, interesting times. We worshipped in a tent for the first 2 years from burn, now in a construction trailer on site, working on getting permission to build. I suspect their love of the money is very strong. One parishioner mentioned, “I think they made the decisions for us before the fire trucks left the property.”……
Comment by Christopher on January 18, 2023 at 12:50 pm
Lol…As church affiliation in the US is ALWAYS by choice, no one is forced to pay an apportionment. As a pastor, I have found that when I detail the apportionment as you have done here, people realize that their givings (not forced takings) are mostly being well-spent and their giving INCREASES. People generally like that we are connected to one another in both spiritual and tangible ways.
Comment by George on January 20, 2023 at 9:37 pm
So you as a pastor knows where all the money goes when it goes on up the line to the bishop’s feeding troughs. No you don’t. And that means your congregation doesn’t know either. And if everyone is so happy that they want to give even more, they must have been lied to or very very liberal. Take your pick.
Comment by Kris on January 29, 2023 at 1:20 pm
It’s truly unfortunate that this beautiful church has been sullied by the power of money and archaic doctrine. It’s time to get back to the reality of who we are…beloved children of God. Every one of us. Remember.
Comment by George on February 2, 2023 at 1:33 pm
Kris, follow the money. Who has all of the power to decide on how it is spent. Loyal United Methodist gave and gave, trusting those in powerful positions would spend it wisely.
You mentioned “archaic doctrine “. Just what doctrine has “sullied” your “beautiful church”? You fine what the Bible teaches offensive? You have wrapped yourself in a rainbow flag and spout love,love,love. There is an old “archaic message” which says you will reap what you sow.
Comment by Zachary on March 14, 2024 at 11:06 pm
I was attending Charge Conference for our local church a few months ago and witnessed the DS tell our traditionalist senior pastor that the primary duty of the senior pastor was to make sure apportionment were fully paid. Otherwise, the bishop would make “a hard decision.” We all knew what was meant. Don’t be concerned about making disciples for Christ. That’s not you primary function. Pay up, or we’ll find someone who will. Your job depends on it.