INDIANAPOLIS (2/10/06) — Dwindling offerings, unfunded mandates, General Assembly losses, and organizational changes have colluded over the last decade to financially cripple the Office of General Minister and President (OGMP) of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

 

The denomination's Administrative Committee, meeting in January, was confronted by this reality as it considered approval of the OGMP 2006 budget. The budget includes operations not only for the administrative office of the GMP, but also for Week of Compassion, the Yearbook and Directory Office, General Assembly, Communications Ministries, and Reconciliation Mission.

 

Some problems had already been addressed. As reported earlier, the General Board approved a measure through mail ballot to fund the administrative office of the GMP “off the top” of Disciples Mission Fund (DMF), the voluntary collection of congregational offerings. Prior to the decision, the office was funded from the general ministries pool of DMF. DMF is divided into three pools — general ministries, regional ministries, and higher education.

 

The Administrative Committee approved the off the top amount for the OGMP — an increase from $593,311 in 2005 to $825,000 in 2006. Included is funding for the search and call of an associate general minister, a vacant position since Sept. 2003 when William Edwards left to become Ohio's regional minister.

 

The office budget and the budgets for Week of Compassion, the Yearbook, and General Assembly were approved without comment.

 

However, some committee members were concerned that Communications Ministries planned to draw down one-third of its reserves, approximately $100,000, in 2006. They approved the budget after conversation with Wanda Bryant-Wills, director of communications, and Sharon E. Watkins, general minister and president.

 

Watkins pledged that she and Bryant-Wills would present a funding plan and communications strategy at July's General Board meeting, and would not bring another budget to the committee that depletes reserves.

 

The Reconciliation Mission (RM) budget posed more problems. The office, which organizes the church-wide Anti-Racism/Pro Reconciliation Initiative, ended 2005 without deficit, primarily because the Administrative Committee in Jan. 2005 redirected mission dollars from the National Benevolent Association to RM.

 

The office's only income outside of a special allocation is the annual Reconciliation Mission Offering. The 2005 offering, which supports work in 2006, fell 25 percent below the prior year's offering, leaving insufficient funds to operate the office in 2006.

 

In an effort to keep the ministry alive through volunteer core trainers working with regional and local anti-racism/pro-reconciliation groups, Transitional Minister for Reconciliation Jessica Vazquez recommended to the Administrative Committee that her position be eliminated.

 

The Anti-Racism/Pro-Reconciliation Initiative was approved by the General Assembly without a plan to fund it. It now “depends on one offering which is extremely vulnerable” and supported by just one-third of congregations, Vazquez explained. She proposed that the committee create a church-wide commission to evaluate RM and report to the General Board in July.

 

“Some will say I gave up too soon,” she said. “But this ministry is our responsibility. The time has come to decide if we are convicted by the vision we claim.”

 

The response to Vazquez's suggestion was sweeping and somber. Lori Adams, who worked on the original mandate, said, “This is a grass-roots organizing model based on dedicated leadership. I appeal to you to figure out a way to continue leadership of this initiative.”

 

Several people questioned why the funding problem cannot be solved. “When we are approached every year with this problem, it's all or nothing. Why can't these numbers work?” asked one member.

 

Watkins told the committee, “Ending it [RM] would send the wrong message to the church” about the commitment to anti-racism, although she affirmed that funding RM has been a problem for a while.

 

Finally, the committee approved a 2006 budget for Reconciliation Mission that stays within its 2006 funding. The Executive Committee asked the Administrative Committee for 60 days to review that decision and make recommendations, including how to fund the position of minister of reconciliation.