General Conference Update: Understanding the Proposed Denominational Budget

The General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA) has released the latest video in its Data-Driven Discernment series, entitled “Understanding the Proposed 2025 -2028 UMC Budget.”

“Thinking about mission and ministry while trying to ensure stewardship for years to come is a delicate balance,” said the Rev. Moses Kumar, top executive of the denomination’s General Council on Finance and Administration.

The GCFA has proposed a 2025-2028 denominational budget of approximately $353.1 million. This marks a reduction of more than 40 percent from the denomination-wide budget that General Conference approved at its last regular meeting in 2016.

The proposal requires significant cuts to all funds that support denomination-wide ministries, including United Methodist general agencies and bishops. It also will be the lowest budget to come before General Conference since 1984. In The United Methodist Church, local churches provide a share of church giving — called apportionments — to annual conferences, church regional bodies that in turn pay apportionments to ministries supported through the denominational budget the General Conference adopts.

The U.S. provides the bulk of funding for these denomination-wide ministries. 

This video provides an easy-to-follow look into the denominational budget. 

Key highlights include:

• The proposed 2025-2028 budget is $353.1MM (compared to the $604MM 2016-2020 budget)
• Of this budget, $347MM comes from the U.S. and $6.1MM comes from Central Conferences. 
• This reflects a 43% reduction in the budget for the U.S. and a 10% reduction in the budget for Central Conferences compared to the 2016 budget.
• The video offers a detailed breakdown of each apportioned fund, plus
• Offers insights into the decision-making process behind budget allocations, considering factors such as trends in giving, disaffiliation, and economic indicators.

View “Understanding the 2025 – 2028 UMC Proposed Budget,” at https://gcfa.org/general-conference#umc-budget-video.

View other items in the Data-Driven Discernment series, including Strengthening the Episcopal Fund, Understanding the Budget Process, and the Journey of a Dollar by visiting www.gcfa.org/generalconference.