Photo illustration by Dave Stucke, Dakotas UMC.

“Managing resources is biblical. It’s all about stewardship,” says Al Roll, who serves as part of the Dakotas Strategy Team and serves as staff for the Dakotas Conference. “We’ve been given gifts, resources, finances, and it’s important that they’re managed properly.”

In March, the Dakotas Strategy Team created four subgroups to focus on key areas important for the next steps of the team and explore the next steps for congregations and the Conference. The four teams include communications, resources, critical questions, and finances. 

The resources team created a list of books and resources to help begin and continue the conversations regarding human sexuality. The critical questions team explores what questions need to be asked and answered as we move forward. The communications team is helping to share what the team is working on, and the finance team has been diving deeper into how finances will be affected. 

The finance squad members are Rev. Kris Mutzenberger, Al Roll, and Jeff Pospisil. The team is taking a look at the stewardship of the ministries of the Dakotas Conference. 

Jeff Pospisil says, “The financial squad has been exploring ministries like the Foundation, Pensions, Camping and Retreat Ministries, Dakotas Conference mission ministries, where potential conflicts that could arise may impact these ministries’ operations and impact. These ministries have been a blessing in the past to the Conference, and they hold significant assets. We hope that they will continue to be a blessing into the future.” 

In addition, the squad has been thinking about future ways to structure funding that equips local churches and pastors. 

The primary financial resource that funds the leadership, ministries, and services provided through the Conference is apportionments. The squad recommended to the Conference Council on Finance and Administration (CCFA) to pursue the efforts for reducing apportionments from the current 16%. CCFA heard the recommendation and will present a decrease to 15% apportionment giving at Annual Conference.

Rev. Kris Mutzenberger recognizes that many congregations do not understand the services provided by the Dakota Conference. “Many congregations have taken for granted the services that are provided through apportionments. Any split of the denomination, even if only a small portion chooses to split, there is a financial impact. It would be negligent of us not to try to navigate this before it occurs. We have already begun to see a shift in our financial resources and seek to understand what the most critical resources for local churches and pastors are.”

Some advocacy groups are making plans to launch new breakaway denominations from The United Methodist Church. The potential split follows decades of denominational debate over homosexuality and defiance over church prohibitions, culminating in the contentious 2019 special General Conference. 

As Methodists, we believe in sanctifying grace, moving towards perfection. We are far from perfect, but with God’s help, we can continue our journeys forward with a focus on moving closer to Christ. A beautiful and unique aspect of Methodism is that we are connectional, as the Apostle Paul states, “when one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part gets the glory all the parts celebrate with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26), this includes our financial health and stewardship.