Declining Ministry Shares are challenging the Michigan Conference’s ability to sustain our shared mission, impacting ministries that serve communities in Michigan and beyond.
JAMES DEATON
Content Editor
Editor’s note: This article begins a three-part series that examines the critical role Ministry Shares play in our ministry together as United Methodists in Michigan and around the world. Part one focuses on where we are today. Part two will examine how we found ourselves in this current situation. Finally, part three will explore where we are headed.
Rev. Leslee Fritz recalls a time early in her ministry when she witnessed the value of United Methodist connectionalism in a critical time of need.
In her second year of ministry, Fritz’s congregation, Albion: First UMC, experienced a crisis. A member of the congregation was arrested, and they needed guidance and wisdom on how to deal with the fallout.
“We needed communications assistance to deal with the media,” Fritz explained. “We needed legal assistance to deal with the issues at hand. The Michigan Conference’s IT Specialist came down to ensure our technology and databases were safe.”
She continued, “My district superintendent was there every step of the way. We got everything we needed quickly and without question. And I was incredibly grateful. And that church never questioned again the need to prioritize Ministry Shares because they experienced firsthand what that money goes to and why it matters.”
Fritz currently pastors Lansing: Grace UMC and was recently hired as the Special Assistant to the Bishop for Mission and Budget for the Michigan Conference. In this new position, she is assigned to shepherd the budget process in collaboration with conference leadership.
Whether in times of crisis, transition, or growth, local church leaders like Fritz understand the ministry investment congregations make when paying their Ministry Shares and prioritizing the financial support of the Michigan Conference and the broader United Methodist Church.
Learn how much your church paid in Ministry Shares in 2024. Click here to find out.
Ministry Shares are dollars paid by local United Methodist churches that the Michigan Conference relies on for its budget each year. Click to learn how Ministry Shares are calculated for each local church. This sustains the conference and its staff as they provide vital services to our local churches and their members. Approximately 72% of those dollars stay in Michigan, with the remaining 28% going to support the general church, the worldwide United Methodist connection. Each annual conference is responsible for paying its share of this churchwide budget.
Download the 2024 Annual Report for examples of how Ministry Shares are spent.
Declining membership and the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with other factors, have created financial challenges for many congregations. Click to learn ways you can fulfill your commitment. As a result, Ministry Shares have also declined, negatively impacting the Michigan Conference and the foundation of our shared ministry.
At the end of 2024, the remittance rate from local churches was only 72.1% of the total needed to cover the $9.2 million budget required to balance expected expenses. This reduction in income had a negative draw on our cash reserves, a pattern that cannot be sustained.
According to Angie Anger, Chief Financial Officer, the Michigan Conference withdrew $1,842,170 from reserves to cover the shortfall between revenues from Ministry Shares and expenditures. Total expenses for 2024 amounted to $8,525,420, nearly $750,000 less than the initial budget.
Anger said these savings are just one example of the conference staff’s efforts to be mindful of spending and reduce expenses as best they can. Other recent cost-saving measures she noted include outsourcing some of their accounting processes, consolidating Lansing-based staff into one building, closing most brick-and-mortar district offices (only two remain), reducing the amount of staff travel, and allowing some staff to work from home.
The Michigan Conference is bracing for an additional budget reduction for 2026. The proposed budget, as posted on this web page in preparation for those voting at the 2025 Michigan Annual Conference, shows a 5.4% decrease from 2025: $8,032,538. This proposed budget does not include salary increases for conference staff.
Last year, 331 out of 557 United Methodist churches (about 57%) met 100% of their goal for Ministry Shares, with others giving at lower percentages. Anger notes that 57 churches, or about 10%, made no payments in 2024.
“We are so grateful for the churches that did pay last year,” expressed Anger. “They’ve demonstrated their faithfulness and commitment to supporting The United Methodist Church’s mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. The Michigan Conference thanks each of them.”
She continued, “In addition, we had 22 churches increase their giving from 2023 to 2024 by 50% or more, and 11 of those paid 100% in 2024 for the first time in the last five years. That’s wonderful news and tremendous progress!” The third article in this series will highlight some of these turnaround churches that have renewed their commitment to connectional giving.
If the decline in Ministry Shares continues, the support and services offered by the Michigan Conference will be impacted in the near future, as happened with staff reductions in 2023. Click to learn more.
Rev. Leslee Fritz noted this dramatic cut in programming support and the repercussions it caused: “This put the burden for everything from maintaining well-trained clergy to doing effective outreach to starting new churches largely into the hands of boards and committees made up of clergy serving churches and lay people with jobs. And so, it becomes a lower priority because you’re dealing with busy people who have a lot of additional responsibilities.”
She added, “So, in a time of transition like we are in right now, that puts a significant burden on the local church to carry the challenge of doing ministry alone. We also see increased clergy burnout rates and other complications that speak to how complex local church ministry is. We’re slowly eroding the support that exists in a connectional system to help local church leadership, both clergy and lay, do that work effectively. And I worry about the cycle we’re in.”
Angie Anger sees how the decline in Ministry Shares has negatively impacted our ability to meet our support of the general church and our mission worldwide. She explains how the Michigan Conference has one of the lower pay-in rates in the denomination because we pay our general church apportionments at the rate we collect, around 72%. This low pay-in rate also ranks the Michigan Conference toward the bottom of the list of nine annual conferences in the North Central Jurisdiction regarding giving to the general church.
In the United Methodist system, local churches contribute to the work of the annual conference in which they’re located, and annual conferences contribute to the work of the general church. The Michigan Conference is not the only conference experiencing a decreasing pay-in rate and, consequently, sending less to the work of the denomination as a whole. A recent UM News article reported that 2024 apportionment collections from United Methodist churches in the United States were 71% of what the general church requested, compared to nearly 77% in 2023.
Our general church apportionments, paid for thanks to local church Ministry Shares, fund a variety of global outreach ministries, including the World Service Fund, which underwrites Christian missions worldwide, and the Africa University Fund, which supports the only United Methodist-related, degree-granting university in Africa, serving students from 21 countries. When our investment decreases, these ministries suffer, and our witness is diminished.
Click to learn how your Ministry Shares financially uphold ministries around the world.
Local churches invest in our ministry together as United Methodists through faithful financial giving. This series will continue by looking back at some factors that have impacted churches as they seek to navigate ministry challenges in these times.
Visit this web page to learn more about Ministry Shares, what your local church contributes, and how to support conference and global church missions and ministries.
Last Updated on March 28, 2025