5 Florida United Methodist Review Online

Churches ask: to give, or not to give

By Michael Wacht

LAKELAND — Church members across the conference have been meeting for their annual charge conferences, and some of the questions they have been considering are whether church members understand why the church pays apportionments, also called connectional giving, and what their payment will be for the next year.

While churches are required by the Book of Discipline to “make proper and adequate provision for the financial needs of the church, including…items apportioned to the church…,” there is no single attitude toward connectional giving within the conference or individual churches, according to the Rev. Tom Marston, the conference’s treasurer.

He does say there are a number of factors that contribute to a church’s decision to give and how much.

A strong economy produces less charitable giving, according to Marston. He said that somewhat strange phenomenon could be one reason Florida Conference churches are 2 percent behind in connectional giving as of this past August, compared to the same period last year.

Marston said accountability, leadership within a church and interpretation are other factors.

“A lot of the problem is: why are we doing this?” Marston said. “We don’t communicate the results of ministry. People don’t care about light bills, they care about the number of people ministered to.”

The Rev. Todd Stube, pastor of Poinciana United Methodist Church in Miami says one of the major reasons his church struggles with paying its connectional giving is understanding the value of sending the money outside of the community.

“When people see so much need around them, it’s hard for them to write a check to the institution,” he said.

Stube says attitudes in his 300-member church toward giving have changed as church members have become more focused on missions. When Stube arrived at the church two years ago, it had never paid more than 37 percent of its annual connectional giving. A major reason is the church had “no clear sense of purpose in Jesus Christ,” he said. “There was no outreach in this church, through the Gospel or socially.”

This year, however, the church is participating in its community, “raising money and offering the Gospel,” Stube said. “They are rediscovering their Biblical and Wesleyan roots, and it’s really getting exciting as lives are being changed.”

The Rev. Bill Barnes says the members of his church, the 3,500-member St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Orlando, have always paid 100 percent of their connectional giving. “There has never been a question in the seven years I’ve been here about apportionments,” he said.

St. Luke’s members celebrated the missions of the church and the giving that made them possible Oct. 23 at the church’s “Celebration ’99” event. “Through your efforts and your donations to the operating budget, St. Luke’s ministries provided help, support and guidance to those in need,” the invitation flier said.

A list of the church’s missions and ministries was included in the flier, along with the amounts church members paid to those ministries in 1999, ministry descriptions, examples of how many people had been reached and testimonials from people involved. Nearly $325,000 of the church’s annual $2.4 million operating budget went toward apportionments and outreach.

While Barnes recognizes the problems and issues the general church faces, he said he does not believe in using connectional giving as a political tool to affect change. He also said the church should model behavior for its members.

“I also hope those people in this church who are tithing wouldn’t withhold their tithe while this church goes through a time of discernment,” he said.

Marston said churches need a new understanding of the conference to help them understand the financial connection. “We’re like a web,” he said. “The conference is not on top, but seeking to connect all the other parts.”