25% of Ministerial Education Funds stay in local UM Annual Conferences?
Twenty-five percent of funds raised by the Ministerial Education Fund remain in the Annual Conference for recruitment, training and support of ordained deacons and elders. Funds may also be used to support local pastors, diaconal ministers and those in certified ministries. The funds first priority is scholarship assistance for seminary students who are completing basic theological education to prepare for ordination. Policies for fund distribution are developed and approved by the Annual Conference and administered through its Board of Ordained Ministry.
ABOUT THE MINISTERIAL EDUCATION FUND (MEF)
The Ministerial Education Fund was established by action of the 1968 General Conference. It is nurtured and funded by United Methodists to provide vitally needed scholarships through annual conferences, essential funds for the support of our 13 United Methodist seminaries in the United States, programs that encourage men and women to respond to the call to ordained ministry, continuing-education opportunities for pastors across the connection and course-of-study education for local pastors. Every clergyperson who has served in The United Methodist Church over the past 50 years has been shaped in part by the ministries and institutions supported by the Ministerial Education Fund.
