CORRECTION – PLEASE READ
Dear Florida GMC Family,
When I was a layperson serving as lay leader at my home church in the Orlando area, we had a major renovation/construction project at the church. During the construction phase, we adopted a phrase: joyfully flexible. We encouraged one another to be joyfully flexible if your favorite parking spot was unavailable due to construction equipment or your preferred entrance into the church was temporarily closed.
Throughout my ministry, I’ve continued to use that phrase: joyfully flexible. As we start this new movement, there are growing pains. We also don’t have everything figured out yet. The metaphor often gets used that we’re building the plane as we’re flying it. Some people find that exciting. Others find it frustrating. Regardless, I want to thank you in advance for being joyfully flexible!
Earlier today I sent out an email that included clarifications about connectional funding. We sent out an Excel worksheet with a bad formula, and I messed up an address. We’ve gotten quite a few questions and emails in response. I apologize for that. Thank you for being joyfully flexible and remembering our conference staff is extremely small and working overtime to help build a thriving annual conference. There are a lot of moving parts right now!
Please make sure that the person responsible for finances at your church receives this email. I encourage you to send it to your financial secretary and your finance team.
- Connectional funding is governed by paragraph 349 of the Transitional Book of Doctrines and Discipline. (You can read the entire book by clicking: https://globalmethodist.org/what-we-believe/). Please read the paragraph before emailing or calling with additional questions. The paragraph defines operational income very explicitly.
- Connectional funding is based on a percentage of a church’s operational income. The United Methodist Church based apportionments on expenses - what you spent on yourself. We're intentionally trying to do things differently. Operational income is defined in paragraph 349. Again, please read it. Connectional funding for the general church is capped at 1.5% and funding for the annual conference is capped at 5%.
- Current connectional funding is 1% for the general church and 1.5% for the Florida Provisional Conference. Before Florida was operational as a conference, its funding rate was 1%. That's true for all geographical areas that are still in the pre-launch phase. Now that we are operational, the funding rate effective September 1, 2023 is 1.5%.
- Connectional funding should be remitted monthly. We understand that’s not always possible and ask that you please keep your presiding elder in the loop if that’s not possible. Some churches have chosen to pay all of their connectional funding in advance - thank you!
- Effective September 1, 2023 (when the Florida Conference went operational), to remit your connectional funding, you should write two checks: one to the general church (1% of operational income) and a separate check to the Florida Conference (1.5% of operational income). Please do not send general church connectional funding to the Florida Conference. (Any Florida Conference funding submitted to the general church has already been remitted to us.)
- To determine connectional funding for this year, please use your 2022 operational income. You only owe funding for the period of the year you have been a part of the GMC. You will not receive a bill from us. We are all Christians, and we trust you! Please let us know if you need help.
- To assist us with accounting, we ask that you use a form to send in with your check. It helps us credit it to the right place. We have prepared one form that can be used for both payments. You can cut it in half. Please use the two mailing addresses for checks that are on that form. We have also attached an Excel spreadsheet to help with determining funding. There is no need to send the spreadsheet with your checks. To access the forms, please click the links towards the bottom of the email.
- General church funding goes to pay for things like the General Conference that will occur in Costa Rica next year, starting annual conferences in Africa, Asia, and Europe, general staff salaries, etc. The Florida Conference connectional funding supports our conference's budget. We will share a complete and fully transparent budget at the convening annual conference in January. Here is an example of how conscious we are of keeping funding low: the budget of the FLGMC is about $530,000. The budget of the FLUMC is about $8.5 million. Our budget is not even 10% of what you're used to funding.
- The general church is working on setting up ACH transfers in the very near future. We'll let you know once that's implemented.
If you have questions, please feel free to contact our Conference Administrator, Rev. Nako Kellum, at nkellum@floridagmc.org, or our Senior Administrative Assistant to the Cabinet, Julie Bullerdick, at jbullerdick@floridagmc.org. You can also call our office at the number below.
Again, thank you for being joyfully flexible! Please keep praying for the peace of Jerusalem and everyone in harm’s way. God bless you!
All God’s love,
Jay Therrell
President pro tempore