North Texas Conference Leadership

Congratulations and special thanks to the 260 churches in the North Texas Conference that paid 100% of their apportionments this past year. I am also grateful to the 31 churches that not only paid 100% of their apportionments, but also made second-mile gifts to assist others in doing so.

I realize that 2010 was not a good economic year for many in the church. I heard and witnessed stories of churches struggling to meet their budgets because of unemployment and the downturn in the economy. It is especially humbling to know that many of you, in spite of adverse conditions, made the necessary sacrifices to pay your apportionments.

In The United Methodist Church, apportionments are not add-ons after everything else gets paid in the local church. They are not a franchise tax or administrative fee for being a United Methodist church. They are not supplemental mission giving after local missions are cared for. Apportionments are the lifeline and lifeblood of our connection. We are yoked together in the work of Jesus Christ through our apportionment system. I am United Methodist clergy and bishop of the church because of the apportionments supported by the church.

In the North Texas Conference, we have determined that the most effective use of our conference apportionments is to align them with the four strategic initiatives of the church, i.e. leadership development, new church starts and transformation, ministry with the poor, and global health.

My hope is that we will all join together and support the connection to make it as strong as possible to do the work beyond the local church. One of my favorite biblical images of people joining and working together comes from Nehemiah 4:6. The people of God laid aside their differences to focus on the work of rebuilding the walls around the city of Jerusalem. “We kept at it, repairing and rebuilding the wall. The whole wall was soon joined together and halfway to its intended height because the people had a heart for the work.”  My prayer is that, despite all the adverse conditions that affect the church financially, we do not lose heart for the greater work beyond the local church.

Thank you again for your extravagant generosity through your 100% payment of apportionments.