Episcopal Press and News
Budget Process at General Convention to be Mission Driven
Episcopal News Service. May 25, 2000 [2000-103]
Joe Thoma , Director of communications for the Diocese of Central Florida and a member of the ENS news team at General Convention
(ENS) Whoever first said that democracy is messy might have had the Episcopal Church's General Convention in mind -- especially in the area of budgeting for programs.
One constant strain that runs through convention resolutions is that of unfunded mandates. Programs are approved but the money isn't. That leaves some projects on hold, others partially fulfilled and some competing for outside grants whose source might influence the direction of the work.
"General Convention is a legislative body, and so it is a political process -- hopefully in the best sense of the word," said the Rev. Ernest Bennett, canon to the ordinary in Central Florida and a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Program Budget & Finance.
"But it also means that General Convention will pass legislation that sounds good, but doesn't consider budget ramifications," he said.
This summer's convention must act on the proposed budget of $136,444,000 for the next triennium. Excluding the cost of the migration ministry program, which is almost completely funded by government grants, the overall budget is up by 13.5 percent, said Treasurer Stephen Duggan. About 9 percent represents inflation over three years and the rest is made possible by better than expected investment income.
Major changes in spending include ecumenical relations, youth ministry, aid to overseas dioceses, communications, Title IV legal provisions involving the process for formal ecclesiastical complaints against clergy, and continued upgrading of computer systems. The communications and computer increases are primarily to increase service to dioceses and congregations, Duggan said.
Duggan said he and others are working to make the church budget less a sum of disparate funding agendas and more a tool of the Church's mission and vision. "Traditionally, we've started with the budget as a planning tool," Duggan said. "We'd like to make it more mission and vision driven.
"We also recognize that the budget is the sacrificial giving by people, so it's not the Church Center's budget, but a budget of the people of the church," he said.
To make the process more flexible and responsive, programs would be evaluated according to how they "fit" the church's mission and vision.
In the past, programs that were approved but not funded sometimes sought outside grants. That practice could make the overall focus on mission and vision less cohesive, Duggan said. If adopted, funding for General Convention-mandated programs would come entirely from the church budget. Non-church grant writing would be prohibited.
But flexibility would be fostered by an annual review of the budget. Some commissions that need additional funding in years between General Convention might receive help from an annual reallocation, he said.
"A reasonably detailed budget will come from General Convention," Duggan said. "But facts change, people change and conditions change."
So the Church Center staff will take the budget approved by General Convention and, based on the actions taken at convention, present a revised 2001 budget to Executive Council in the fall of 2000. Similar adjustments would be made each fall for the following year.
Where the money is coming from is fairly predictable -- most dioceses response to the church's "asking" of 21 percent of diocesan budgets, after the first $100,000.
"As to diocesan giving, it remains strong and is again over budget for 2000," Duggan said. About a dozen dioceses are significantly below the asking, and the reasons vary greatly. Some have made internal growth and evangelism a priority; others hold a philosophical "10-10-10" view that people in the pews should tithe 10 percent to their parish or mission, churches 10 percent to the diocese and the diocese 10 percent to the Episcopal Church. In a few cases, withholding funds is an expression of disagreement with church policies.
"We remain in close contact with [dioceses sending less than the asking], and where visits or other involvement by 815 personnel might help, we make ourselves available," Duggan said.
In the meantime, some dioceses are urging a more efficient General Convention. Colorado, for example, is proposing that the convention meet less frequently, with fewer deputies, and make better use of technology to cut costs.
The Standing Commission on Domestic Mission and Evangelism, formed by the 1997 General Convention, aims to make the structure of the Church more clearly reflect its mission. And its centerpiece proposal is a call to double the baptized membership of the church by 2020.
"The commission was genuinely concerned with real evangelism and not just superficial numerical growth to make ourselves feel better," said the Rev. John Guernsey of Virginia, secretary of the commission.
One rationale for the evangelism effort is the Zacchaeus survey, produced by the Episcopal Church Foundation last year. That survey of church members nationwide found that Episcopalians are committed to church work at the congregational level, they feel an attachment to their Anglican heritage and that they would welcome the opportunity to work together more at the diocesan and national levels. The survey also said many of the Episcopalians interviewed expressed an openness to diversity.
"I think we realize that the only way we will be able to accomplish the movement forward is if we have the leadership to do it," Guernsey said. "And that means reaching not just the next generation but two generations forward, and raising up more people of color and people whose first language is not English."
Another resolution proposed by the commission would send 10 percent of the church's national budget back to the dioceses and parishes for church growth. That proposal underscores the point that evangelism must be intentional and sacrificial, Guernsey said.
Several efforts on the diocesan and regional level have begun addressing the question of bringing more young people into the church -- both as laity and clergy.
In February, about 400 people met in Maryland with Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold to explore ways of bringing young people into the faith. And a group of young clergy has begun a network that would help define "Generation X's" contribution to the church.
Two seemingly opposite proposals at this year's General Convention will raise a discussion about the future of the Episcopal Church's nine provinces.
The Standing Commission on the Structure of the Church has filed Resolution A124, which would "Discontinue the existing system of provinces..." in favor of other networks not based on geography.
"For many years the church has viewed the provincial system with concern as to the effectiveness of the provinces," the commission's Blue Book report says. "Some provinces are very active in programs enhancing the mission and ministry of the church, while others are not."
On the other hand, a resolution that emerged from a recent meeting of the Provincial Leadership Conference, representing provincial presidents and vice-presidents, as well as coordinators and national staff, supports a resolution (B005) that "reaffirms the current system." It argues that provinces can be "ties that bind" together several aspects of the church's ministry and that it is too early to abandon the provincial system.
Unlike some other churches, the Episcopal Church elects its leaders and, in doing so, expresses its hopes about the future. And those leaders appoint all the committees, commissions of the church, shaping the future of the church's deliberations -- and its dreams. The General Convention itself is the product of a whole series of elections at the diocesan level. Bishops are elected in diocesan conventions and the dioceses choose deputies, half lay and half clergy, to send to General Conventions.
In 1997 the House of Bishops elected a new presiding bishop -- and the House of Deputies ratified the election. This time the House of Deputies will elect a president to succeed Pamela P. Chinnis, who served as vice president and has been president of the house since 1991. She completes over 20 years of elected leadership in the church and she will be feted and honored at several points during the convention.
Church tradition usually elects the vice president of the House of Deputies to the presidency, and alters between lay and clergy. Several candidates have announced their availability but the slate won't become official until convention convenes and their names are put in nomination.