Don’t you just love, love, love APPORTIONMENTS?
Pardon me if you are not familiar, or only marginally familiar, with the “Methodist lingo” of Apportionments. For me, the word “Apportionment” invokes joy in my soul: it helps me remember who I am. If I am sad, I say “Apportionment!” and voila! I am immediately happy. Perhaps because I am reminded of my Mom and Dad teaching us about the tool called money and telling us: for every shilling we had, we spent 80% on our budget, saved 10%, and set aside 10% as A-Portion-Meant-For-Others. In the same way, every United Methodist congregation would set aside an A-Portion-Meant-For-Others in their budgets.
My favorite Apportionment story was when I was twelve years old or so, and a group of United Methodists came to visit Kenya where my father was the Presiding Bishop. The group was on a global tour to visit, record and report on the work of Apportionments. And because the Methodist connexion is tight and intimate, I should have known the real possibility of some day pastoring the widow of the only African-American in the group, Bishop Edsel Ammons!
Looking back at that trip, I still marvel that Bishop-Dad had invited me to join the group on their trip to Garba Tulla, a town which lies in the middle of nowhere in Northern Kenya. Because it was at a terrible time of a drought and famine, every day the newspapers were filled with pictures of men, women, children and cattle lying on the dirt starving to death. The Methodists had drilled a borehole with Apportionment funds and were the only source of hope for miles. The Methodists had also opened a children’s orphanage and had employed a missionary who was a nurse from Oklahoma or Arizona, I don’t remember where, and paid her with Apportionment money. To this day, that trip is seared in my mind. It was the first and last time in my life to witness someone actual breath their last and die of hunger. For the longest time I would wake up gripped by sadness, fear and guilt.
I also remember the silent and sober journey from Garba Tulla. Since it was my very first time to ride in an airplane, it was disappointing not to glimpse Jesus or the heavenly gates in the clouds as i had expected. I stared out of the window and wondered how and if those “others” in our portion-meant-for-others should include the people of Garba Tulla whose religious practice was mostly either African tradition religions or Islam. That evening I did ask Dad “why are we helping people who are not Christians like us?” Dad did not miss a beat when he said quite simply “We are friends of Jesus. We do not help other people because of who they are, we help other people because of who we are.” Years later, Dad’s answer has become mine. There are things we do, not because of who ‘they’ are but because of who we are.
These are the days of remembering and being clear who we are. As the United Methodist denomination figures out the terms in a inevitable and difficult ‘divorce’, we are living in a messy and painful reality. Its so painful its easy to loose sight of ministry which God uses and instead focus on the the money we control. Since in our divorce ‘there a good people on both sides’, most of us are hoping that is done in an orderly manner in what has been touted as “a gracious exit”. Such an option expires on December 31, 2023,
Judicial Council ruled that any church that chooses to disaffiliate from the UMC in “a gracious exit” can take their property but must have paid their Apportionments in full and pay an additional year of Apportionment. Call me a romantic or naive, legislating my beloved Apportionments feels like the stripping down of ministry to nothing but cold, hard cash. However, be as it may, for some that might convince them that we are obliged to pay Apportionments no matter how angry we might be at the “good people on the other side”. After all, should we decide to disaffiliate as a congregation, we would want to have made sure we can! Its down to the practicality of it I suppose. Thank God ministry will happen in places like Garba Tulla whether the money is given willing or grudgingly.
For me, I continue to hold on to Garba Tulla and other place I have seen Apportionments at work. Pastor Ken, the bold and big-hearted pastor of FUMC Moheto is a graduate of Africa University which we have always supported with our Apportionments.
Throughutt out my life, with only a slight slip up last year, I have served only congregations who met 100% of their Apportionment commitment. I consider it my M.O. My commitment is such that when I was appointed to a congregation in Wisconsin and learned they had not paid their Apportionments in years, I declared I would not accept a salary until they met their apportionment! What can I say? I shamelessly love, love, love, Apportionments. Apportionments help us do ministry beyond ourselves and in spite ourselves. Together we accomplish what we would not accomplish alone.