At a time when many in The United Methodist Church are grappling with deep budget cuts, the denomination’s bishops also are tightening their belts.
With the approval of the 2025 Episcopal Fund spending plan, the General Council on Finance and Administration board completed its work on 2025’s spending plan.
Your support of the Episcopal Fund apportionment helps pay the salaries and benefits of United Methodist Bishops and allows them to travel across their episcopal areas providing mentorship and leadership.
The sustainability of the Episcopal Fund that supports the work of bishops has long been a particular concern. At GCFA’s recommendation, General Conference reduced the overall number of bishops and reduced the planned addition of bishops in Africa from five to only two more. At the end of bishop elections in April this year, The United Methodist Church will have 52 total active bishops.
The full Council of Bishops plans to reduce its in-person meetings to one a year, with its second annual meeting being held online.
The bishops themselves suggested they forgo a pay raise in the coming year. The GCFA board also made no change to the bishops’ housing allowance.
Going forward, pay increases for bishops could be tough to manage. The Episcopal Fund budget proposed by GCFA and approved by General Conference inadvertently did not include potential salary increases for the denomination’s active bishops. An increase in revenue in the Episcopal Fund, however, could make raises possible.
General Conference also established that the number of annual grants to support episcopal office staff will not exceed the number of bishops. That’s where this year’s grants come in to help reduce the episcopal offices to one per bishop.
To help bishops’ office staff in this time of consolidation, the GCFA board also approved a one-time grant of $20,000 to each of the 15 U.S. episcopal areas that have expanded to include what previously had been separate areas. The total cost of the grants will be $300,000 for those 15 areas. The funds will not go to the bishops themselves but their episcopal areas to be used as needed for the transition.
This year’s Episcopal Fund is budgeted with the expectation of an 85% apportionment collection rate. Even with that collection rate and overall reduction in bishop expenses, GCFA staff still project next year’s Episcopal Fund spending plan will require using about $2.1 million of the fund’s reserves, leaving a reserve balance of about $13.36 million.
Each additional 1% above 85% collections represents $200,000 in revenue.
The denomination’s 10 general agencies, including GCFA, agreed to having their budget allocations reduced even further at General Conference to help shore up the Episcopal Fund.
This year’s agency spending plans assume apportionment collection rates between 70% and 85%. Almost all agencies plan to dip into their reserves to cover next year’s expenses.
excerpt from a story by Heather Hahn, assistant news editor for UM News.
One of seven apportioned giving opportunities of The United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Fund pays for bishops’ salaries, office and travel expenses, and pension and health-benefit coverage. Please encourage your leaders and congregations to support the Episcopal Fund apportionment at 100 percent.
