The SWC Executive Board is recommending approval of a balanced budget for FY 2018-2019 which begins July 1.

Money follows mission. The proposed budget reflects a strong emphasis on strengthening local churches through revitalization efforts, money to support our new church start in Taos and for an additional new church start, and what Conference Minister Bill Lyons calls "futuring the church." A printable copy of the Mission Spending Plan or narrative budget [PDF] is available to share with your church.

Our Mission Spending Plan categorizes expenses in 5 areas.

Equipping Covenant reflects the cost of doing business as a conference and is projected to increase by 2.75%. Elimination of a copying machine lease and contracting with the National Setting for bookkeeping services kept this increase low.
Supporting Leaders includes COCAM A expenses. Increases in last year's budget associated with implementation of the new Manual on Ministry and associated team travel travel, and our new anti-racism training were backed out of these expenses resulting in a 6.6% decrease.
Nurturing Local Churches covers search and call expenses. Nearly half of our churches completed search and call in the last two years. The remaining congregations are not likely to enter search and call in the coming fiscal year given the tenure of their current pastor and other factors, resulting in a 10.6% reduction in anticipated expenses.
Next Generation Church realized the largest increases in the proposed budget. Up 75% this increase reflects anticipated earned income draws from designated funds for new church starts and local church revitalization. Subsidies for youth ministry/camp from the reserve fund are also included here.
Uniting for Mission reflects costs for social justice actions, wider church/National setting involvement and strengthening our relationships with our ecumenical and interfaith partners. The 18% increase reflects re-attributing conference minister travel for these purposes to this category.

Separating expenses associated with support for local church leaders from nurturing local churches is difficult. Together those expenses account for more than 37% of the conference's budget. That total investment jumps to 57% when we add the dollars we will spend on revitalization of congregations with opportunities for a stronger future, for birthing new churches, and for reinventing our ministry for youth. A line item budget is also available for review.