Over the holidays you probably found yourself in a number of conversations with family and friends, catching up with one another, hearing how things were going, sharing the good and also the hard things. I had a lot of that kind of chats in recent weeks, and if you had been listening in, you’d have heard a consistent refrain that sounded something like:
I love serving this church.
This came up over and over—partly because it’s true. But also because it was a big deal for us to move to Ames from central Iowa where the metro had been our center of gravity of nearly thirty years, so a lot of friends and relatives have wondered, “How is it going?” “Do you like Ames?” So, multiple times in recent weeks, I’ve found myself nodding, smiling, and saying,
Oh, yes, I’m having a really good time.
If you don’t know that about me, you should! I’ve just finished eighteen months and 7 ¾ days of serving as your lead pastor, and, seriously, it is a joy and a privilege to occupy this position. I love the music. Our diversity of ages and backgrounds is sweet. We have a great staff! The commitment I’ve seen you demonstrate, in multiple ways and wide-ranging examples, is inspiring. Worship and service. Leadership and hospitality. Deep conversations and fun ones, too. (And did I mention the music?)
Then this week, in the wake of talking y’all up, and hearing myself say this truth repeatedly, I received an email that contained Reason # 106 for me to love this church. It was a notice that CW’s Remittance Statement was available, and when I opened it, it warmed my heart.
Now I get it that “Remittance Statement” and “warm heart” and “love the church” rarely fit together in the same sentence! And I know, some of you are asking, “What’s a Remittance Statement?”
In United Methodist-speak, the Remittance Statement is what we get every month that shows monies we’ve paid in to the Iowa conference of United Methodist Church. It reflects our payment of apportionments—our share of the costs of the UMC as a whole. There are complicated formulae that allocate these costs, based on the amounts we spend on our own ministries and other details. Each UM church is sent their numbers each year, which include expenses for the General Church (the worldwide UMC connectional bodies, and the costs of staff, ministries and missions funded within our Iowa UMC.
There’s an expectation that each church will pay the full amount of these apportionments. It’s not a debt, exactly; we wouldn’t get sued for collection if we couldn’t or didn’t pay them. But it’s an obligation that goes with being part of a connectional church.
So why did I smile when I opened our Remittance Statement?
Because once again, Collegiate United Methodist Church & Wesley Foundation paid its full apportionments for the just-finished year.
Not every church does. Sometimes it’s financial woes. Sometimes it’s ideological disagreement. Prior to the disaffiliation process that happened earlier in the 2020s, many of the now-separated churches withheld their apportionments because they disagreed with the direction of the UMC. (Which was confusing, because mostly they were winning the votes that made that direction their direction!)
I looked back, and Collegiate/Wesley has paid their full apportionments for the past ten years—which is as far as the easily-accessible records go. (You probably paid all your apportionments way longer than that!) CW’s finances weren’t easy during those years! Yet you kept paying your apportionments. I’m proud to be a part of that church. It’s a matter of integrity, to do the right thing, even when you aren’t totally on board (and I know you weren’t for some of those years!).
I browsed the conference records and, truly, it’s a pretty small number of churches that have consistently paid their full apportionments. The ones that do are often the ones who have had pastors who used to serve on conference staff. By and large, that hasn’t been Collegiate/Wesley’s story. But you’ve understood that you’re a leader in this conference, and one of the ways you’ve led has been by keeping your financial priorities straight.
So, reach around and pat yourselves on the back. And maybe join me in looking around that realizing what I’m certain is true: that Reason # 107 is lurking just out of sight, and will pop out any day now.
Happy New Year, friends. Happy New (apportionment!) Year, CW!
