The NC Conference Council on Finance and Administration (CFA) met on March 21, 2023, to prepare proposals for the 2023 Annual Conference at the Greenville Convention Center in June. CFA is responsible for providing fiduciary oversight of the operations and finances of the Annual Conference and providing specific proposals for consideration by the Annual Conference. Highlights of the proposals to Annual Conference approved by CFA include:
- A 24.52% reduction in the 2025 budget to be raised in 2024. Find details of that proposed budget discussed below.
- An increase in moving expense reimbursements for itinerant clergy to $2,500 for eligible active clergy appointment moves, $3,800 for retiring itinerant clergy, and $2,800 for clergy couples.
- No increase in the salary of district superintendents for 2024 for the fourth consecutive year.
CFA also considered and approved a proposal by the newly formed CFA Investment Committee to set a detailed Funds Management Policy and Operations Guidance Manual for managing Conference investments and cash flow.
2025 Operating Budget Proposal
In December 2022, CFA provided the Conference Connectional Table (CCT) guidance on planning for the 2025 budget proposal to the 2023 Annual Conference. This guidance rested on the principle that the total budget was not to exceed the 2024 approved budget less the amount that would have been apportioned to churches that disaffiliated from The United Methodist Church as of December 31, 2022. With this in mind, CCT worked with the Conference ministry committees and teams to develop a budget proposal within that guideline, which called for an approximate 24.5% reduction.
Meeting this goal was important to CFA to ensure that churches remaining United Methodist did not become overwhelmed trying to carry and fund a budget designed for more ministry partners. Through careful consideration of the goal, CCT agreed to four priorities for funding in the 2025 budget to undergird the mission of the Annual Conference – anti-racism, New Faith Communities, communications, and youth ministries.
Some primary shifts were made in budget funding to reduce the budget to the requested goal. Some of those budget changes include:
- Reduction in funding for district superintendents to follow careful consideration of the number of superintendents needed and the role of the superintendency in the Annual Conference.
- Reduction in funding of organizations related by faith to the Annual Conference.
- Reduction in staffing in ministry and administrative offices of the Annual Conference.
- Reduction in funding for Campus Ministries.
- Reduction in funding General Church apportionments (as apportioned by the General Council on Finance and Administration).
Anne Lloyd, a lay member of White Plains UMC, serves as chairperson of CFA. Anne acknowledged with the CFA that reducing a budget by almost 25% is difficult work and thanked the committees and CCT for pouring themselves into that hard work to reach this point. She shared:
“We are working together, in connection, for the good of God’s ministry in the North Carolina Conference. We seek to be responsible to the churches in the Conference by aligning the budget in both purpose and amount to the continuing good work of The United Methodist Church in North Carolina. It is an exciting time to be in ministry in The United Methodist Church, and the CFA takes its call seriously to provide sound fiscal oversight for the Conference. We look forward to the coming months and years as we live into this vision cast for United Methodists in North Carolina.”
2023 Conference Ministry Changes
While CFA and CCT were preparing budget proposals for 2025, Conference leadership, knowing changes were coming to available budget funding, began making plans for doing some ministries differently to prepare for changes in staffing levels.
These changes included not filling two positions that became vacant in 2022 due to normal attrition of Conference staff – namely, the retirement of the Conference Director of Christian Formation in Connectional Ministries and the resignation of an Accounts Payable Specialist in the Treasurer’s Office. The job responsibilities for these positions were changed or redistributed to other staff.
In 2023, planned changes include the end of the position of Assistant to the Bishop created with Annual Conference approval to assist while the Conference shared episcopal leadership with other conferences in 2021-2022 and during the transition to a new episcopal leader in 2023. Other changes in Annual Conference staff included ending four other positions effective February 28, 2023 – two Communications Strategists, one part-time Administrative Assistant in Connectional Ministries, and one Benefits Specialist in the Treasurer’s Office.
To help align work with the Conference staff, one District Communications position was moved from the District Office to the Communications Office to align district and conference communications better. In another change, administrative support for Youth will shift to the Connectional Ministries Information Specialist.
Following the resignation of an Administrative Assistant in the Conference Secretary’s Office, the position was changed to part-time to be shared with an administrative assistant position in the Office of Clergy Life on at least an interim basis.
Finally, following the retirement of the Executive Assistant in the Bishop’s Office, the position will be made part-time and shared with the Director of District Operations position.
Steve Taylor, Executive Director of Connectional Ministries, states, “We are seeking to balance smaller budgets, the discipleship needs of the local church, our Conference connectional discipling priorities, and the care of our people. As we utilize tools like Asana and Zoom, we communicate better, are more collaborative in mutually prioritizing our connected processes, and are more effective in creating cooperative steps to larger ministry goals. This creates efficiency through teamwork and shared efforts. Our focus is to remain flexible and responsive to ministry needs and God’s call as the landscape of our Conference changes.”
Moving Forward in The NC Conference
At the March 21 meeting, CFA received a presentation from Bishop Connie Shelton and Rev. Tim Catlett, Executive Director of New Faith Communities, on the position and focus of the Annual Conference moving from 2023 into the 2025 budget year. Bishop Shelton shared her vision for moving forward in North Carolina and our call to make disciples of Jesus Christ, focusing on discipleship and moving our attention from what has enveloped and paralyzed our ministries over the last couple of years. Rev. Tim Catlett provided an update on the work of New Faith Communities and the response to Lighthouse Congregations in finding renewed focus and opportunities for healing with persons displaced by disaffiliation.
Bishop Shelton affirmed, “The North Carolina Conference lacks nothing! Faithful lay and clergy leaders co-creating places ‘to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world’ through Graceful Hospitality is who we are!”