{"id":7584,"date":"2006-06-16T15:17:40","date_gmt":"2006-06-16T20:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=7584"},"modified":"2011-07-06T08:33:04","modified_gmt":"2011-07-06T13:33:04","slug":"4968","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2006\/06\/16\/4968\/","title":{"rendered":"Delegates Approve $13.5 Million Budget for 2007"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>GRAND RAPIDS, MI (June 16, 2006) &#8211; The 121st Annual Meeting of the  Evangelical Covenant Church unanimously approved a $13.5 million budget  for fiscal year 2007 of which $9.13 million will be sought from local  churches.  <!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Giving to the Evangelical Covenant Church continued to grow modestly in  2005, and giving to special projects \u201cwas up very substantially,\u201d  Treasurer Dean Lundgren told the delegates. The denomination was able to  balance its budget for the tenth year, Lundgren said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe appreciate the tremendous financial support that local Covenant  churches give to fund our common mission, both through the Covenant  Coordinated Budget and through separate project giving,\u201d Lundgren said.<\/p>\n<p>Lundgren said the budget is a theological statement that reflects the  denomination\u2019s priorities. \u201cThrough a Covenant Coordinated Budget, we  join together to support the common mission and we provide the  leadership and oversight to existing and mission initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The departmental breakdown of the new budget is as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>World Mission &#8211; $5,162,000.<\/li>\n<li>Church Growth and Evangelism &#8211; $3,251,000<\/li>\n<li>Christian Formation &#8211; $895,000<\/li>\n<li>Ordered Ministry &#8211; $597,000<\/li>\n<li>Communication &#8211; $550,000<\/li>\n<li>North Park University (including North Park Theological Seminary) &#8211; $1,140,000<\/li>\n<li>General Administration &#8211; $1,905,000<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Budget allocations seek to be consistent with what Lundgren called the  \u201cseven windows of ministry opportunity\u201d as identified by the Council of  Administrators and endorsed by the Executive Board:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Reach the unchurched, particularly the emerging generation<\/li>\n<li>Press forward in ethnic ministry and diversity<\/li>\n<li>Extend greater measures of compassion and justice to the poor<\/li>\n<li>Attend to the health of existing congregations<\/li>\n<li>Encourage the formation of spiritually mature disciples who live out obedience to Christ in the world<\/li>\n<li>Call forth and equip women and men for all levels of church leadership<\/li>\n<li>Pursue expanded strategic global opportunities and partnerships<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Giving has grown from $8.3 million to $8.6 million over the last three  years, Lundgren said. \u201cWe continue to be one of the strongest  denominations in per capita financial stewardship,\u201d he added. Based on  past giving trends, the budget reflects projected individual giving of  $56.73 per attendee per year.<\/p>\n<p>Lundgren cautioned, however, that last year\u2019s increase of 1.6 percent  continues a trend of diminishing levels of increases &#8211; giving the  previous year had been up 2.5 percent. Budget cuts of $270,000 were  needed to balance the budget in 2005, Lundgren said, adding, \u201cthis is  not a sound long-term approach for the Covenant to move forward in  common mission.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The current trend \u201ccould jeopardize our ministries, but also our extra  budgetary projects because the core provides the infrastructure for our  projects,\u201d Lundgren noted. He explained that an annual increase in  giving of four percent is needed if mission and ministry are to grow.<\/p>\n<p>Although Coordinated Budget giving has been modest, giving to special  projects &#8211; especially due to hurricane and tsunami relief &#8211; rose  dramatically. Giving increased by $1.4 million to a total of $2.6  million \u2013 a 95 percent increase &#8211; from 2003 to 2004. Covenant generosity  continued last year, with giving increasing to $3.8 million \u2013 an  increase of 42 percent.<\/p>\n<p>In response to Lundgren\u2019s report, several delegates questioned whether  the Covenant can afford the new Department of Compassion, Mercy and  Justice delegates approved Thursday, and one delegate asked why no  specific estimated annual cost for the new department was included in  the materials.<\/p>\n<p>The new department will cost a little more than $100,000 for the last  six months of 2007, after the Annual Meeting approves an executive  minister, Lundgren said. Costs will be higher in the years following, he  said.<\/p>\n<p>Lundgren said funding for the department will come in part from savings  developed through the elimination of the vice president for  administration position that was part of a restructuring package also  approved by delegates on Thursday. Those duties have been spread among  different departments, including the office of executive vice president.<\/p>\n<p>Donn Engebretson also announced that the denomination has received a  substantial gift from anonymous donors that is expected to generate  income of approximately $50,000 a year in perpetuity. The money will not  be used for administrative expenses, Engebretson explained, \u201cbut for  new mission initiatives in local churches. It will change the life of  the Covenant Church.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2011 The Evangelical Covenant Church.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire?moderation_action=report_form&#038;object_type=post&#038;object_id=7584&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>GRAND RAPIDS, MI (June 16, 2006) &#8211; The 121st Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church unanimously approved a $13.5 million budget for fiscal year 2007 of which $9.13 million will be sought from local churches. Report This Post<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Delegates Approve $13.5 Million Budget for 2007 - Covenant Newswire Archives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2006\/06\/16\/4968\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Delegates Approve $13.5 Million Budget for 2007 - Covenant Newswire Archives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"GRAND RAPIDS, MI (June 16, 2006) &#8211; The 121st Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church unanimously approved a $13.5 million budget for fiscal year 2007 of which $9.13 million will be sought from local churches. 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