This is the first time the denomination has presented a Mission and Ministry Budget in place of the more traditional department-oriented budget. The new budget format better reflects the work of all mission and ministry initiatives, some of which were not included in the former budget format (such as Covenant World Relief, Paul Carlson Partnership), explained Treasurer Dean Lundgren.
Below are the budget allocations for 2008 – the respective percentages of total budget are in parentheses:
• World Mission – $8.8 million (43.7%)
• Compassion, Mercy and Justice – $3.33 million (16.6%)
• Church Growth and Evangelism – $4.1million (20.3%)
• Christian Formation – $1.25 million (6.2%)
• Ordered Ministry – $1.5 million (7.6%)
• North Park University – $1.14 million (5.7%)
Because the work of the Department of Communication and administration functions serve all of the other ministry areas, those two areas of expense are allocated to the various ministry initiatives commensurate with the contributions made in each ministry area, as well as those areas’ percentage of total expenses. Those two areas will, however, continue to manage to individual departmental budgets as do the other ministry areas.
Lundgren outlined “six significant organizational changes” that have impacted the budget:
• Creation of the new Department of Compassion, Mercy and Justice.
• Reorganization of the Department of World Mission
• Assimilation of the Department of Communication budget into the Coordinated Budget and the closing of the physical Covenant Bookstore location in Chicago
• Movement of the Covenant Resource Center into the Department of Christian Formation
• Administrative reorganization
• Moving certain real estate functions from the Department of Church Growth and Evangelism to National Covenant Properties
The new Mission and Ministry Budget now reflects project expenses that have not been part of previous Coordinated Budgets, allocating them to departments that oversee them:
• Added to the World Mission budget are short-term and project ministries ($2 million), and Friends of World Mission ($350,000)
• Added to Church Growth and Evangelism is Kingdom Builders ($300,000)
• Added to Ordered Ministry are Sustaining Pastoral Education ($466,000), and the Covenant External Orientation Program ($266,000)
• Added to Compassion, Mercy and Justice are Covenant World Relief ($1.5 million) and Paul Carlson Partnership (1.05 million)
Because of the changes, year-by-year comparisons with previous budgets “are not as meaningful,” Lundgren noted.
