Churches have until December 31 to submit final Ministry Share remittances for 2023, and any Ministry Shares received in the new year will be applied to 2024.

JAMES DEATON
Content Editor

Ministry Shares are the financial lifeblood of the connectional ministry we share as United Methodists here in Michigan and worldwide. United Methodist churches generously give a portion of their offerings each year to make this mission and ministry happen.

The Treasury Office requests that local churches submit their final Ministry Share remittances earmarked for this year by December 31, 2023, to ensure there is time to issue closing income statements and for the conference to turn in final apportionments to the general church.

Any payments the Treasury Office receives after that date will go toward 2024 Ministry Shares. In short, remittances will be attributed to the year they are received.

Rev. Leslee Fritz, President of the Michigan Conference Council on Finance and Administration, wants to remind churches of the deadline and ensure expectations are clear.

“A lot of churches pay their Ministry Shares, or a substantial portion, near the end of the year,” she explains, “which is understandable based on how church finances work. I’m a local church pastor, I get it. But churches must recognize the December 31 deadline to make sure what they intended happens. You’re welcome to submit a payment in January, but it will count toward 2024.”

Generous giving to aid ministry beyond the local church setting is part of our faith DNA, going back to the denomination’s founder. John Wesley methodically created circles of mutual support that included small groups organized into larger societies and circuits.

The connexion Wesley created was a care-filled system and structure that brought a sense of unity and support to the shared work of spreading the gospel. The connectional nature of The United Methodist Church is felt in our understanding of communion as an open table, as God’s gift of grace poured out on all people, and through our appointment system.

It’s also evident through our stewardship and financial giving. Here in Michigan, when United Methodists give to their local churches, most of the money — approximately 85% — stays with the local church to pay staff salaries, keep the lights on, and other matters. The Michigan Conference asks local churches to pay a portion of the remaining 15% of their giving to support the work of the Michigan Conference, the districts, and the general church. These dollars given for ministry are called Ministry Shares.

Ministry Shares are collected from local churches, and much of that money returns to local churches through various means. In fact, 75% of all Ministry Shares stay here in Michigan to support connectional ministry at the conference, district, and local church levels.

Examples of your Ministry Shares at work include supplementing the financial support of the vital rural ministry of God’s Cooperative Country Parish in the Upper Peninsula. Read this article to learn more about your Ministry Share dollars at work there.

Your Ministry Shares will help send young adults from Michigan to Florida in February for a ministry discernment event sponsored by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry. Read about this upcoming event and how going there has impacted young adults in the past.

Your Ministry Shares were at work on Advocacy Day in March 2023, when over 300 Michigan United Methodists met at the Capitol to advocate for better gun violence prevention laws. Read more about this “Methodist miracle” and how the event empowered our collective witness.

The remaining 25% of Ministry Shares received from local churches go to the general church, which supports denominational work abroad, such as funding for Africa University, a United Methodist-affiliated school serving students from over 20 African countries, and funding for our global missionaries and ministries, doing a world of good all over the globe.

Local United Methodist churches here in Michigan have until December 31, 2023, to submit their Ministry Shares for this year. According to Fritz, as of the end of November, the Michigan Conference has received about 57% of what is to be paid by churches. And this is what was expected, given the patterns of giving in recent years.

Fritz notes, “With two months left in the year, you want to be at a different percentage than 57 percent, but that’s about in line with where we’ve been for the last few years at this stage. Things are going as well as we expected they would go.”

When discussing the impact of disaffiliation on Ministry Shares and the conference’s budget, which was reduced by 20.1% for 2024, Fritz says that it will take a bit of time for the financial repercussions to be fully known, as Rev. Brad Bartlemay, Special Assistant to the Bishop, mentioned during the November 30 Special Session (watch the Special Session coverage on the conference Facebook page).

There are two primary financial questions that local churches will want to know the answers to related to the money the conference will receive from the disaffiliation process: (1) where will the money go, and (2) what’s the long-term financial impact of these churches’ departure? The Michigan Conference will prepare to release a more detailed report to churches in early 2024 regarding the projected financial impact on the conference’s budget.

In conclusion, Fritz is grateful for the financial support of local churches in Michigan and encourages them to give toward our future ministry together. “We rely on these funds to do ministry as a conference,” says Fritz, “and are hopeful that every local church that is able will fulfill their commitment by paying the Ministry Shares that have been allocated to them.”

For more information about Ministry Shares, view this helpful handbook created for congregations.