Sometime around mid-August 2005, the 750 or so vestry and bishop's committee members of the 92 churches of the diocese will open their mailboxes to find the first-ever version of a booklet titled Requests for Funding for the Diocesan Reaching Out Budget.

Beginning in 2006, the entire diocesan budget of about $3.4 million will be separated into two parts: the Reaching Out Budget and the Operating Budget.
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Introduction
Frequently Asked Questions
Word from the Bishops
Reaching Out Booklet
Workshops
Allocation Form Sample
Budget by Departments

Frequently Asked Questions

What's new about this process?

  • In the past, the Diocesan Finance Department received requests from the heads of diocesan ministries, built a budget, and submitted it to the Executive Board who approved it and submitted it to Annual Diocesan Council. Council, meeting in February of each year, is the final authority for the diocesan budget.

What's the advantage of doing it this new way?

  • This new method allows churches of the diocese to have some direct input into selecting the ministries that the diocese will undertake. Additionally, it lets the heads of those ministries determine how effective the ministries are.

What's in the Operating Budget, and who prepares it?

  • It includes support for the bishops' offices, support for the ordained ministry, support for operations at The Bishop Jones Center (the diocesan headquarters in San Antonio), and diocesan staff salaries. This portion of the budget, which is about two-thirds of the entire diocesan budget, is prepared by the Finance Department and submitted to Executive Board for approval.

 Where did the requests for inclusion in the Reaching Out budget come from?

  • The heads of diocesan ministries submitted their requests to the Executive Board in June. Because the requests exceeded the anticipated available income by $371,697, the Executive Board further refined them in their meeting in early June.

 What about ministry evaluation?

  • One of the outcomes of this new process will be increased attention being paid to the effectiveness of each ministry. Ministries will be measured, through some intentional tracking, against the declared diocesan vision to be "a missionary people."

 What is the Mission Engagement Committee?

  • A group of about 18 members, some of whom are on the Executive Board, some of whom were on the Task Force that created this new process, who will oversee the creation and implementation of this new budget method.

 What part does the Executive Board play in all this?

  • The Diocesan Executive Board receives requests for funding from each ministry, refines them as necessary given the available funding, and distributes the information to all 92 church vestries and bishop's committees. The Executive Board will receive the church's designations no later than November 1, then create a balanced budget to submit to Council. We already know that the requests exceed anticipated available funding by $221,719 so the Executive Board will have some tough decisions to make.

 How do people get on the Executive Board?

  • Six elected priests and 12 elected lay persons plus both bishops, the secretary, and the chancellor. The priests and lay persons are elected at Diocesan Council for three-year terms (each year, two priests and four lay persons are elected). The bishop is president of the board.

 Why do you keep referring to "vestries" and "bishop's committees"? What's the difference?

  • Vestries serve at churches that have parish status -- that is, they are financially self-sufficient. Vestry members are elected by their congregations. Bishop's committees serve at churches that receive financial support from the diocese, called missions. Bishop's committee members are appointed by the bishop upon recommendation of the mission's vicar.

 So, what exactly will the vestries and bishop's committees do?

  • After studying the requests from the diocesan ministries, each church's vestry or bishop's committee will designate approximately one-third of its church's apportionment (one-third is the amount of the total diocesan budget that will fund Reaching Out) among the ministry areas.

 What happens if a ministry gets over-funded or under-funded?

  • The diocesan Executive Board will gather in November to consider the church's recommendations and to create a final budget for 2006, and it has said that no ministry can be funded in excess of its request. If a ministry is over-funded, the Executive Board may apply the overage to another ministry area that is under-funded.

 Are some ministries likely to not be funded at all?

  • That is possible, but during this first year of the new process, it is doubtful any ministry will totally disappear. In succeeding years, repeated under-funding by churches of a particular ministry will signal the Executive Board to take a strong look at the effectiveness of that ministry.

 So, are we just re-arranging the shoeboxes?

  • No, because we have more shoes than shoeboxes. The budget requests of the departments amount to $1,293,593 against only $1,071,874 anticipated available to spend. The decisions of the churches will help the Executive Board to determine which programs will get funded.

 Why do the requests so far exceed the available money?

  • In part because diocesan Council 2005 resolved to lower church apportionments from a range of 12 to 22 to a range of 10 to 18 percent. This resulted in less income to the diocese for 2006 compared 2005. Also, departments were encouraged to "think new thoughts" and submit requests for new initiatives. The total department requests for 2006 (after being refined by the Executive Board) are $122,409 higher than their 2005 budgeted amounts.

 Can a church vestry or bishop's committee just allow the Executive Board to make the determinations about which ministries to fund?

  • Yes. Or a church can designate a part of its apportionment, say 10 percent, to Camps and Conferences and ask the Executive Board to disseminate the remaining 90 percent.

 How did we arrive at the ECUSA request amount?

  • For the past two years, in budget years 2004 and 2005, the Diocesan Council has passed resolutions that allowed churches to determine whether to financially support the national Episcopal Church or to support mission work outside the diocese instead. This came about after the Episcopal Church General Convention 2003 gave its approval for the ordination of a bishop who is living in a same-sex relationship. The action of General Convention has deeply divided the Episcopal Church, and some congregations no longer want to support ECUSA.

  • For 2006, these options become part of the entire Reaching Out process.

  • In 2005, churches could designate 9.75 percent of their apportionments because this was the percentage of the total diocesan budget earmarked for ECUSA. The total of designations by our congregations was $117,800; and the total of designations to mission work outside the diocese was $182,200. The 2006 request amounts mirror the 2005 actual designations.

  • But note that the Executive Board will not fund ECUSA any higher than the total of the designations from the 92 churches, nor any higher than the "request" of $120,000.

 Will individual members of congregations have any say in a church's designation?

  • Members who want to have a voice may certainly give their input to their vestries and bishop's committees. How a church involves its individual members is up to each church.

 Will individual parish designations and the Executive Board's final decisions be published?

  • Yes, the information will be in The Church News, on the website, and published at council.

 What is Province VII and why do we pay "dues"?

  • The 150 dioceses of the Episcopal Church are grouped geographically into nine provinces, the purpose of which is to promote cooperation and ministry among member dioceses. Province VII consists of 12 dioceses in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Every three years, in the year before General Convention, the Provincial Synod meets in an official capacity, but its decisions are purely advisory and its resolutions are not binding on a diocese. The work of the province is supported financially by its constituent dioceses (in 2006, DWTX dues are $4,709).

  • (Note: each autonomous church of the Anglican Communion is also called a province. Thus the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. is a province of the Anglican Communion.)

 Who is the final authority for the diocesan budget?

  • The Annual Diocesan Council, whose members are the clergy of the diocese and elected lay representatives from each parish and mission. The 2006 budget will receive final approval by the Council that meets in San Antonio in February 2006.

What help is available to churches as they sort this all out?

  • Vestry workshops were held in the spring, and another round of workshops is scheduled for September and early October. Vestry and bishop's committee members are encouraged to attend. In addition, the Mission Engagement Committee will be happy to visit any church upon request.

 What happens in future years?

  • We are all in the early stages of this totally new process, and the one thing we know is that we do not know everything yet. The process will continue to be refined; no doubt year two will require adjustments as we learn from year one. Much patience will be required as we work through what can be an exciting new venture.

 Where can I read the same information that my vestry members will have?

  • Check online at www.council-dwtx.org. You will also find there detailed line-item requests for every department as well as department reports for 2005.