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Called for by the Diocesan Convention last October when the convention opened the corpus of the Extended Ministries Fund to cover expenses of the 2009 budget that exceeded anticipated income from congregations and normal investment revenues, the special convention could have taken on the character of a large budget hearing, awash with numbers, spreadsheets and wrenching financial decisions.
Instead, the gathering of about 300 people more closely resembled an investment strategy session, with the diocesan treasurer reviewing options for long-term financial stability and the Canon to the Ordinary inviting the delegates to imagine non-financial areas of investment in the foundation, formation, and proclamation of diocesan ministry.
In introductory remarks echoing his message to the diocese in the May issue of The Record, Bishop Wendell Gibbs opened the special convention by calling on the delegates to find new ways of identifying and responding to God’s call to mission and ministry.
“We are in a time of radical change—a time when we not only need to think outside the box, but live outside the box. In fact, I think we are called to walk away from the box entirely,” Gibbs said.
Throughout the morning, the bishop urged delegates to not be distracted by numbers in a budget, but rather to “discern what it is God is calling us to do, to find our passion, to find our mission, and move towards doing it.”
In her first summary before a convention—in fact, at her first Diocesan Convention, she admitted—Treasurer Pam Horiszny offered a survey of financial challenges and pitfalls. She noted several areas where the spending and investment policies and practices of the diocese stand at cross-purposes. For instance, she stated that the reliance on dividends from the investment of the Extended Ministries Fund to sustain the annual budget and the practice of drawing chunks from the corpus upon which the annual dividends depend isn’t helpful.
“You’re just hurting yourself on both ends by using two different spending policies for the same funds,” she said.
Horiszny noted that the Diocese of Michigan has about $7.1 million in the Extended Ministries Fund (EMF). Approximately $1 million of that is invested in the Michigan Interfaith Trust Fund while $6.1 million is invested in the Growth and Income Fund (G&I Fund). One million dollars of the G&I funds are presently committed: $171,000 for the 2008 revenue shortfall; $522,000 projected for the 2009 deficit; and $325,000 that was approved by Diocesan Convention for an EMF study of vision and ministry—a level of financial liabililty that Diocesan Council will consider reducing this month.
“The assets that are currently in [the G&I Fund] are trapped in the long-term investment vehicle, and we are using it as if it were a short-term investment vehicle,” Horiszny said. “If we went in to get the dollars out in the short term, we would lock in all of the losses that we have incurred since you met last October; we would never have the chance to get any of that money back.”
A prudent investment strategy, she advised, would be to “realign” EMF funds that might be needed in one to three years into CDs, treasury bonds, or even cash and thereby leave long-term investments alone to achieve long-term goals.
Horiszny expressed a more fundamental concern that continuing the pattern of using the EMF for operational expenses will “lock in the losses” of the investment markets over the past 12 months. She advocated “allowing markets to replenish [their prior] investment levels.”
Her financial advice was challenged by a couple of questions from the floor that underscored the basic (and unresolved) theological debate in the diocese over the Extended Ministries Fund: Does the EMF exist to grow (or shrink) as an investment portfolio, spinning off a modest but predictable revenue stream for the operating budget, or is the EMF best used to directly support new or imperiled ministries, particularly during strained financial times?
Canon to the Ordinary Lisa Gray followed the treasurer’s report, and asked delegates to set aside the actual numbers of the annual income and expenditures and to reflect on “how a budget reflects and expresses collective values, priorities, hopes and dreams.”
Gray reiterated the overarching process set forth by the bishop that Diocesan Council is the body that continues to evaluate how to fulfill the diocesan priorities, whether to adjust the 2009 diocesan budget, and what form the proposed 2010 budget will ultimately take.
“What we as a household can do is make sure that their work is informed by our collective input,” Gray said. Diocesan Council meets on May 9 at All Saints’, East Lansing.
Gray outlined three general areas of diocesan ministry—foundation, formation, and proclamation. She then outlined a process by which delegates would gather in 40 table discussions and wrestle general areas of potential and/or real ministries into a list of priorities.
The 40 groups met for ninety minutes to brainstorm 15 areas of ministry identified by convention planners; delegates were free to add other categories of concern. When the delegates returned after a lunch break, they were presented with a master list of diocesan priorities compiled from their work, which is presented at right.
“We are not alone in facing our challenges or our opportunities,” said Bishop Gibbs in closing remarks. “To remain totally self-focused within our own diocese as we look to the future limits the possibilities for new ways of being the church. The time has come for us to be in conversation with our Episcopal neighbors to our west and to our north about ways to collaborate in areas of mission, ministry and administration. These conversations are already a reality in several dioceses in the Eighth Province, and other parts of the church are coming to realize the importance of collaborative ministry as a part of stewardship and sustainable mission.”
SEE the master list of priorities created at the Special Convention HERE.
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Detroit, MI