Agenda Volume 3 - Methodist Conference

59. Memorials to the Conference
increases no more in any given year
than the level of inflation calculated
by the change in CPI;
b) to operate Standing Order 361 in
applying the assessment equally
to Circuits based on the number of
presbyters, deacons and lay staff
employed in each Circuit, so Circuits
can easily budget from year to year
their contribution to the connexional
funds;
c) to continue to support by grants
those Circuits which are creating
innovative appointments.
Reply
The Conference thanks the Lancashire
District Synod for engaging in this
important issue and responds to the three
points in the memorial in turn:
a) The memorial refers to the Methodist
Church Fund (MCF) budget, which is
the terminology currently used within
Standing Orders. In order to enable
the Conference to consider the use
of connexionally-held finances more
holistically, the Connexional Central
Services Budget now includes a
much wider range of funds than this.
The 2012 Conference is being asked
to amend the relevant Standing
Orders to reflect this requirement for
a budget including all of the relevant
funds.
The Conference notes that the total
MCF assessment figure proposed
for 2012/13 represents an increase
of 2.7% on the total for 2011/12,
which compares with a CPI level
that has gradually fallen from
around 4.0% to 3.5% over the 12
months from March 2011 to March
2012. This reflects the concerns
raised by a District Resolution to
the Conference of 2011 and those
raised here.
The Conference has agreed a formula
for calculating the total annual MCF
assessment for three years, the last
of which will be the 2013/14 year.
A new formula will be brought to the
Conference of 2013 which will need
to reflect the prevailing economic
environment within and outside
the Church, and the Conference is
unwilling to modify the formula before
that date. However, the Conference
asks the Methodist Council to take
this section of the memorial into
account when constructing the
proposed calculation formula for the
following three years.
b) The relevant portion of Standing
Order 361 states “The fund shall be
maintained by an assessment levied
by the Conference on each Circuit
in the home church through the
several Districts […]”. Standing Order
650(4) also states that payment of
this assessment shall be the first
charge on the general fund of the
Local Church. The current practice is
that although the assessment is a
charge on each Circuit, the process
by which the total is apportioned
is delegated downwards: ie the
Conference divides it between
778 Conference Agenda 2012