By Randy Bowman, Conference Treasurer
Our apportionment contributions make a difference in our congregations, our communities, our country, and our world. They connect us with each other and with God, allowing us to do much more ministry together than we could ever do on our own. We certainly live in a time of turbulence and uncertainty, but the one certainty is that God walks with us. And that provides hope for all of our churches, allowing them to support our great connectional ministries and avoid a theology of scarcity. I am greatly heartened by the support of such churches as Spirit Song UMF and Trinity UMC of Las Vegas, both of which have already contributed 50% of their 2018 apportionments. And Trinity UMC of Bisbee and Tongan UMC, which have already contributed 100% of their 2018 apportionments. Thanks be to God for apportionment support in a time of uncertainty!
The stories of lives changed through apportionments are what is important. But for those who want numbers, our year-to-date apportionment contributions through March are shown in the following graph:
For the first 3 months of 2018, our churches contributed 20.1% of their apportionments. As you can see from the detailed report, this was 0.2% below last year but 0.7% above our average apportionment contributions through March for the last ten years. At this early date, we project an overall year-end apportionment contribution percentage of 84%-90%.
Remember that apportionments are a way to look beyond just ourselves. Please do all that you can to help our churches and our ministries continue to change lives by contributing apportionments as fully as possible in the last 9 months of 2018.
Thank you all for your commitment; it truly provides the financial stability for our connectional programs to work.
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Click here to find the detailed apportionment status reports by month.
