They weren’t kidding.

The 2010-2012 budget for TEC is a budget that reflects a commitment by the church to live within its means.  AS PB&F Chair Pam Adams-McCaslin reminded us, “We cannot spend what we will not give.”  PB&F presented a balanced budget that reflected the mission of the church, based on our budget priorities for the new triennium.  While not every resolution with budget implications was funded, there were a few new areas of ministry that PB&F honored.  Specifically they added funding for Hispanic ministries, which offered a bold new visioning of their ministry in TEC; there is increased funding for Jubilee Ministries who’s programs will focus on domestic poverty issues; and there was a new piece of the budget offering help to new seminarians with debt relief.  While this last piece might seem a bit self-serving, helping out our new brothers and sisters entering into the call to priesthood is both economically responsible as the debt from seminary can be quite extensive, and it will allow new priests to be able to accept a wider range of calls to parishes who may not have the financial bases of larger churches, but who would like new vision in how their churches might grow.  In short, our seminarians can serve in the churches that need them most with some financial help from TEC.  These three new budget items as well as the few others increased show a new commitment to funding programs that are an outward sign of the mission of our church!

PB&F made some pretty decisive changes in the way we will do business in the next Triennium.  They made cuts across the board to programs in the purview of the budget, including eliminating 30 church staff positions and consolidating some programs, while eliminating others that our currently being or can be served in other areas of our TEC body.  They have also cut the budget for the CCABs (Committees, Commissions, Agencies, and Boards), which continue to do the work of the church during the triennium.  PB&F is calling for fewer meeting of CCABs, budgeting for only two face-to-face meetings over the next three years.  The first meeting of 2010 will provide training for all members of the CCABs on how to use online technology and conference calls to run meetings as a low-cost alternative for the work to be done between those budgeted meetings.  It’s a necessary move if we are going to be good stewards of our time and resources.  With the infrastructure in place, we have no good reason to delay using our technology in this way. 

PB&F is also asking for some major re-visioning of how we run General Convention, an entity which has much environmental and financial impact on our church and world.  The first area of major impact is the calling for GC 2012 to be as paperless as possible.  The implications for environmental stewardship are vast! PB&F is advocating a paperless Bluebook for that convention, where the Bluebook would be an online resource, instead of a paper book.  While not specifically discussed, I am confident that there will be bound copies of the Bluebook for those who do not have computer or Internet access.  This year, our Bluebooks included a CD copy of the resolutions, which I used almost exclusively while preparing for convention.  This move to wireless seems a step in the right direction for conserving paper.  Worship and the business of the floor are also going to be as paperless as possible in Indiana.  PB&F has asked that GC 2012 provides wireless Internet for the floor of both houses during convention to allow for the saving of some paper resources during the meeting.  While the details are not worked out yet, I am excited for the possibilities of new ways of doing our work.  The environmental impact of making 800+ copies of hundreds of pages of resolutions, worship bulletins, and various other pieces of paper is staggering at the least. 

PB&F also heard the wishes of the church to continue to show our commitment to the Millennium Development Goals.  They put back into the budget a .7% line item to go to the MDGs.  As the chairs told us, this is sign to the world of the Episcopal Church’s priorities.

PB&F has also tried to respond to the hard economic times that our churches and Dioceses are facing across TEC by proposing reduced asking percentages this triennium.  The 2010 Diocesan asking will remain at 21%, 2011 is 20% and 2012 is 19%.  Additionally, PB&F has proposed changing the formula for assessment of asking so that dioceses are able to keep more money in their own budget by increasing the amount not included in the formula from $100,000 to $125,000. PB&F is hoping that by leaving more money in a Diocese’s budget, more of our Diocese will in turn pay their full (or close to their full) asking to TEC.  It’s a bold move, as many Dioceses do not come close to the 21% now.  However, it is honoring the struggles we all have during this economic turn.  On another note, I am proud that our Diocese pays our 21% every year.  It’s empowering to know that we are helping to live out the mission of the church through our financial contribution even when times are tight!

 While the budget is never going to be perfect, or make everyone happy, this current budget shows a commitment by TEC to live as a financially responsible entity, supporting the mission we are called out to live in our world.  It reflects a prayer-filled process of pruning the tree so that we can grow to bear more fruit.  The Rt. Rev. Andrew Smith, vice-chair of PB&F, said, “We believe that this budget is responsive to the Gospel, the voice of the convention, and the economic realities of our time.” As a deputy who has spent a bit of time in both the House and PB&F hearings, I couldn’t agree more. 

 As a young adult trying to find my own way through our new economic situation, I am proud to be a member of a church who is modeling budgetary prudence and finding creative ways to live within its means.  A church that not only gives when it lives in abundance, but which gives when it is challenged with scaricity.

The last few days, I have been spending my time in PB&F hearings. On Thursday, I went to the hearing on Spending. The spending hearing is a chance for deputies and visitors to testify to the ministries we feel are important to the church before the committee creates the final budget they will be sending to the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops for final consent. They asked speakers to not only speak to the ministries, funded or unfunded, that we want supported at the TEC level, but to speak to how that ministry fits the budget priorities that were set for our next triennium for our budget. Fellow deputy, Ashley Miller, and I had the slightly nerve-wracking experience of making our cases for funding Resolution B-003, Camping Ministries , in front of the both the committee and all the guests of the hearing. Nothing like standing at a podium looking out at the room and trying to articulately make your case! We were both able to speak to the power of Camping Ministries in our lives. Ashley talked of how she was able to connect with a Latino young woman at Camp Cross through her ministry on staff, a transformative experience for them both. I was able to share with PB&F the early discernment process for vocation and spirituality that Camping Ministries has by sharing my own narrative of experiences counseling and working as a staff member at Camp Cross influencing not only my decision to be a teacher. There were many passionate testimonies throughout the evening by Episcopalians, young and old, on the incredible outreach ministries that TEC helps to fund. After listening to the many outreach ministries of TEC, I have little problem answering the question what does TEC do with the money sent from our Diocese every year? The better question might be what doesn’t TEC do?

Friday night, I went to another PB&F hearing, Funding with my friend Bill from the Episcopal Camp and Conference Centers (ECCC). We figured that since we were asking PB&F to support Camping Ministries, we should probably be part of the conversation for how to make that funding happen. TEC is at the same place as all of America; money is tight and investments are down. However, the mission of the church and its work in our communities can’t take a backseat. How do we continue to fund our Episcopalian mission when our budgeting system isn’t working in its current conception? How do we faithfully live into our mission? TEC is facing the same question as all of us at the parish level: how do we fund programming during a time of recession, and a tightening of member giving? The PB&F Spending hearing invited us into conversation with members of the committee on the state of our budget. We sat in small groups at round tables with members of PB&F and asked our questions, offered our insights and brainstormed on possible solutions and re-imagining of what the budget process might look like. In short, we listened and worked together. Those at my table represented their Dioceses, the Historical Episcopal Black colleges, and Camping Ministries; however, we put aside those needs in our conversation and instead focused on the possibilities of the future of funding in TEC, and looked for new solutions to an ongoing problem. We talked about how the budget of our church should be a reflection of the mission of our church, and that this ministry is a partnership between the Diocese and TEC. Together, we work to live out the mission of our church. One member of our group reminded us that we need to prayerfully look at programs in relation to our budget priorities, and consider the funding of programs with a lot of sensitivity. At the end of the evening, each group shared their discussions with the whole. There will be no easy answer to the funding of TEC, but we all left with a lot of hope. PB&F has spent the week really seeking the voice of TEC. The funding hearing was a new experience for us all, emphasizing their desire to work in partnership with GC to find new answers to our funding crisis. I am hopeful that they will find some new solutions over the next triennium.

As Wednesday draws near, I find myself getting excited to see the new budget. From a selfish point of view, I can’t wait to see if the ministry dear to my heart, Camping, gets fully funded. I think all of the Deputies of GC have a pet program that they are praying makes it onto the budget. Aside from that, I am excited to see how the conversations of last week bear fruit. PB&F sent messages to the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops that they were trying some creative new things in the budget, including cuts in Diocesan Askings to help struggling Diocese and cuts in the GC budget. Clearly, these are bold moves in light of the projected shortfall for the next triennium. Tomorrow’s joint session of both Houses to address the budget will begin a new way of funding in our church. I can’t wait to see the results!