Rethinking TEC's budget
The Most Rev. Michael Curry has been Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal
Church for less than two years. Yet, while attending the Diocese of Hawai’i’s
annual convention in October, I was impressed by Bishop Curry’s pervasive
influence on the proceedings. His influence was especially noteworthy because
Bishop Curry was not present and will not officially visit this Diocese until
2019.
Evidence of his influence included:
- A speaker early in the proceedings repeatedly emphasized that one of his favorite quotations was from Bishop Curry (Forgive like Jesus; love like Jesus; serve like Jesus)
- A video report from the Diocesan youth attendees at the Episcopal Youth Event prominently featured Bishop Curry and his dynamic preaching
- Several individuals referenced Bishop Curry’s call for Episcopalians to become Jesus people.
More broadly, Bishop Curry’s influence is evident across our
denominational structures, organization, and programs. Illustratively, his
influence is apparent in the new budget format that Executive Council member
Tess Judge, who chairs the Finance for Mission Committee, recently announced: “In the current and prior triennia, the budgets were built to reflect the
Five Marks of Mission. The 2019-2021 budget is based on The Jesus Movement with
Evangelism, Racial Reconciliation & Justice, and Environmental Stewardship
as priorities.” She also observed that the new format better aligns the budget
with the staff’s current departmental organization, another indication of
Bishop Curry’s influence. (Margaret Wessel Walker, “Invitation to
comment on preliminary draft budget,” November 13, 2017)
As a priest who emphasizes Jesus’ many teachings about money and as a
former business school ethics professor, I recognize the truth in the old
adage, Money talks. How we – whether a business, an individual, a
family, a parish, or a denomination – spend our money reveals our values and
our priorities.
Closer examination of The Episcopal Church’s (TEC’s) budget suggests
that we have some distance to travel before we actually realize Bishop Curry’s
vision of a Jesus Movement.
First, the budget proposes a deficit of $4,491,411. If all of the people who sit in Episcopal church pews were actually
committed to the Jesus Movement, giving would be substantially greater, thereby
increasing income for dioceses and the national church. TEC needs to revitalize
and energize its connections with its chief constituents, that is, its dioceses
and congregations.
TEC’s anticipated income from dioceses over the
2019-2021 triennium is $87.2 million, or about $17 per Episcopalian per annum.
Of course, not all 1.72 million nominal Episcopalians contribute to their local
congregation, much less are active. However, those numbers do highlight that we
Episcopalians are a long way from truly becoming Jesus People. In general, we
have not aligned our individual values and priorities with those consonant with
Bishop Curry’s vision of the Jesus Movement. Endowment and other non-offering income
keeps TEC, like many of its dioceses and congregations, financially afloat, e.g.,
in 2016, plate and pledge income only slightly exceeded 58% of total income.
(Cf. EPISCOPAL CHURCH DOMESTIC FAST FACTS: 2016).
Second, the draft budget underscores TEC’s (and
Christianity’s) marginalization. Christendom, if it ever existed, is dead. The
US economy in 2016 had a Gross Domestic Product of $18.57 trillion. Compared to
total US economic output, TEC’s annual budget of less than $45 million is a
relative pittance. The US currently has 540 billionaires, the poorest of whom
could singlehandedly fund TEC’s budget for 22 years without any additional
income or assets.
TEC will maximize its potential effectiveness by
prayerfully and intentionally focusing its scant resources and efforts on a
small set of priorities such as Bishop Curry’s three marks of the Jesus Movement:
Evangelism, Racial Reconciliation & Justice, and Creation Care. Taken
together, the draft budget recommends only $14.4 million for those three categories,
about 10% of the triennium budget, arguably too little to maximize TEC’s
impact. No longer can we try to be all things to all people, to undertake every
ministry and mission that is part of ushering in the fullness of God’s kingdom.
Reshaping TEC will inevitably require hard choices between competing
ministry/mission options.
For example, I personally appreciate the ministry
of several Bishops Suffragan for Federal Ministries. In my long service as a
Navy chaplain representing TEC, their ministries provided vital support,
guidance, and assistance. I remain firmly committed to TEC supporting our
chaplains and their indispensable ministries. However, the proposed budget for
Federal Ministries is almost three times that allocated to Creation Care, one
of the three characteristics of Jesus People ($2.1 million versus $740
thousand). Concurrently, the numbers of TEC federal chaplains and of the Episcopalians
to whom they minister are declining. Critically, the budget for Creation Care
does not fund a staff position, a key element of effectiveness in bureaucratic
organizations like TEC. Perhaps it is time to rethink how TEC supports federal
chaplains. Alternative, lower cost arrangements may be possible for endorsing,
guiding, supporting, and assisting federal chaplains. TEC needs to determine
acceptable tradeoffs not only between lower levels of support for federal
chaplains and increased funding for the marks of the Jesus Movement but also
with respect to all of its existing programs.
Altering how TEC does ministry and mission is
essential if we are truly to align our resources and efforts with the Jesus Movement.
Realignment, as the foregoing example shows, will be costly in both dollars and
reductions to valuable programs. Furthermore, attempting realignment will certainly
trigger strong, vociferous objections. But being faithful stewards of our
limited resources will require slaughtering some sacred cows as we make tough
choices, choosing the more valuable of two good programs when we lack the
resources to fund both.
Third, TEC spends far too much on governance and
connectivity. The budget includes five addtional categories in addition to the
three that correspond to the marks of the Jesus Movement. Those five are: Ministry
of the Presiding Bishop to Church and World, Mission Within the Episcopal
Church, Mission Beyond the Episcopal Church, Mission Governance, and Mission
Finance, Legal & Operations. The last two categories represent almost 49%
of the draft budget.
Mission Governance costs of $19 million are
primarily attributable to meetings, including General Convention, Executive
Council, and other internal bodies. Electronic communication and social media
will enable us to replace many structures that worked well in the early
nineteenth century. TEC and some dioceses have already taken initial steps in
this direction. Additionally, a large majority of Episcopalians are
disinterested in TEC’s governance and its national structure, either ignorant of
what TEC does or believing that TEC provides little or no support to their
local congregation. Connectivity, both within TEC and with other Churches, is
increasingly the exclusive domain of an elite few rather than an essential
component of the average Episcopalian’s spiritual journey.
Mission Finance, Legal & Operations costs of $40
million are primarily overhead, i.e., fundraising, financial management and
accounting, legal, facilities, human resources, etc. At 30% of total projected
expenses, this means that TEC spends something in the range of 70% of its total
income on ministry and mission. If TEC were a secular charity, I would hesitate
to contribute because of these high administrative costs. Even if the $40
million encompasses a few programs more accurately identified as ministry or
mission, administrative costs seem disproportionately high and are symptomatic
of an arteriosclerotic organization that would benefit from creative
disruption.
The three characteristics of the Jesus Movement
that Bishop Curry emphasizes – Evangelism, Racial Reconciliation & Justice,
and Environmental Stewardship – may not be inherently superior to other
emphases. However, TEC elected Bishop Curry as our Presiding Bishop. His
influence is rapidly becoming pervasive throughout The Episcopal Church. So,
let’s capitalize on that momentum, quit living in the past, sharpen our focus,
cut overhead, and accelerate developing and funding ministries and missions for
the twenty-first century, confident that the Holy Spirt will bless our efforts.
Comments