Rocky Mountain Conference Board of Stewards

Board of Stewards Meeting Notes

Board of Stewards
Rocky Mountain Conference of the United Methodist Church
February 18, 2006 Meeting
by Teleconference

Meeting Facilitators: Co-Chairs Nancy Boswell and Kline Kelly

Annual Conference Worship Service Offerings

The Board of Stewards (BOS) reviewed the theme of the Annual Conference session “Churches Growing Churches”, and discussed areas/recipients that supported the theme. After reviewing the possible recipients, the Board voted to distribute the worship gifts to the following four functions:
a. Camp Joy
b. Ethnic Seminarian Fund
c. Bishop’s Initiative on Young Adults
d. New Ministries Team.

Offerings for water wells in Angola, Katrina/Rita Hurricane Relief and Global AIDS will also be received at Annual Conference (AC) but will be handled outside the worship services.

Information about the AC offerings will be included in AC information packets so that churches and individuals can begin collecting funds before the AC.

Annual Conference Petition Review

Work is progressing on an AC structure petition that is compatible/acceptable to the UM Judicial Council. The UM Judicial Council ruled against the current AC structure in the Fall of 2005. A petition will be submitted for the 2006 AC by the March 10 deadline.

2007 Budget Discussion

a. CF&A is ultimately responsible for the AC budget. For the last several years, CF&A has conferred with the BOS about the AC budget with the intent that the budget be consistant with the Vision and Mission of the AC. The BOS has reviewed AC budgets and made recommendations to CF&A. CF&A can choose to accept, to modify or to reject the recommendations.

b. The BOS reviewed the 2007 Budget Request Items to rank the relative importance of all items so that the BOS could confidently and fairly determine where cuts should be made. No numbers were discussed; however, it is known that the total 2007 Budget Requests are greater than the 2007 CF&A projection of anticipated apportionment receipts.

A question was raised about the large portion of the budget dedicated to the retiree health insurance subsidy. Is there anything the conference can do to reduce the effect this large entitlement amount has on other budget items? The response was that this represents a long-term commitment to retired clergy and any changes would raise ethical questions and require a major change in Conference policy toward retired clergy.

Comments were made that a high priority should be placed on funding of reaching out and bringing back vitality to local churches. It was also stated that this is a critical time in history of the world and there is a great need to address how to reach out to other faiths in the world. VIM was seen as a good means of working toward this end. Our churches need to see themselves as being part of a global community. It was recognized that with VIM we are using our own skills and efforts in providing important service to those in need.

Other budget items seen as important were Vision, Mission and Values, new ministries, youth ministries, young adults ministries, and Christian Education.

Several agreed that the 2007 budget and our churches should focus on program and missional development, not maintenance. It was also observed that there seems to be a “lack of joy of giving” in the support of wider missions and a suggested remedy is more communication, as a business would do, to give congregations a perspective of the good we are accomplishing through Wider Missions.

This summary was offered:

• We value retirees but must look at what is appropriate in continuing to fund retiree health insurance.
• We need to empower persons to enrich their faith story: through mission work, through new ministry groups, through individual missional activities, and by giving priority to those connections we have with others in various areas of ministry.
• We need to confirm the results of and our commitment to the General Church ministries. A larger portion of the AC budget is required by the General Church.
• We need to communicate these prioritieis throughout the conference.

c. Stories about Conference Wider Missions.
Several stories were reviewed and discussed. The role of the Communications area in getting this information out was then discussed. More work is needed in this area.
d. The chairpersons then asked the board members to be prepared to specifically determine where budget resources should be used at the next BOS meeting. Each board member should do some homework and look at the entire budget as they consider shifting numbers around. The members need to assure themselves that their decision truly reflects the AC mission and values. Each BOS member was encouraged to contact persons within their area of responsibility. Committees and groups that did not submit budget requests will have less chance of receiving similar funding as the 2006 budget.

General Information

The move to the new AC headquarters location is complete, and many person have already visited the offices. The current office hours are weekday, 9:00 am – 12:00 noon and from 1:00 pm – 4:00 p.m. While the staff is proud of the new space, there is still need to perform the work of the AC. The shortened “visiting” hours from the previous office allow the staff uninterrupted time for their work. “Work” hours have not changed.

The difference between apportionments received and that paid to the general church was reviewed with the Conference Treasurer. RMCUMC generally pays directly to the General Church in ratio to the Conference receipts that come in. This last year, the percentage was 78.8%. However, some individuals designate their contributions to a specific area and these add to this percentage. Also, the end of year closing of the conference books is affected because late payments are handled as a separate item in the following year’s books. This means that some of the late apportionment receipts also goes to GC, making the actual payment slightly higher than 78.8%.