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By UMNS
Last year, 12 annual (regional) conferences of the United Methodist Church gave 100 percent of their apportionments, the amount asked of all conferences to support churchwide ministry and administration.
That figure represents one conference more than 2003, according to the denominations General Council on Finance and Administration, with offices in Evanston, Ill. In addition, the Iglesia Metodista de Puerto Rico, which is autonomous from the United Methodist Church, sent 100 percent of its voluntary financial contributions for all seven apportioned funds.
Four conferences each were in the North Central and Northeastern Jurisdictions. In North Central, the conferences were Wisconsin (sixteen consecutive years), Detroit (four years), Illinois Great Rivers (two years), and Northern Illinois. In the Northeastern Jurisdiction, those paying 100 percent were Peninsula-Delaware (nineteen years), Central Pennsylvania (ten years), Baltimore-Washington (eight years) and New York.
The other four conferences that provided this level of support in 2004 were Red Bird Missionary (20-plus years), Oklahoma Indian Missionary (seven years), Desert Southwest (six years) and Central Texas.
“The faithfulness of our connection in the face of multiple economic challenges these past four years, which several of your conferences experienced firsthand, was evident in their giving,” Sandra Lackore, treasurer and GCFA executive, told church officials in announcing the figures.
New York Annual conference holds the distinction of giving 103.86 percent of its 2004 apportionment. This achievement is all the more notable because its giving ranged from 72.26 percent to 81.81 percent during the previous four years. Peninsula-Delaware gave 100.2 percent in 2004.
Seven additional conferences gave 100 percent of their World Service apportionment: Minnesota, New England, Rio Grande, Texas, Troy, West Michigan and Wyoming (which is in New York and Pennsylvania).
Some of these were among the six conferences that sent in more than 95 percent of their 2004 apportionments for all seven funds. They were Louisiana, Minnesota, New England, North Carolina, Southwest Texas and Texas.
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