It is never easy to deliver news that you know people don’t want to hear. Annual conference is a time of worship, celebration, blessing others, and important business. As part of that important business, the Rev. Jeff Rainwater and I shared about the current state of the conference finances on June 9 during the 2017 Yellowstone Annual Conference in Billings, Montana. In short, we shared that after many years of relatively stable income, the income for 2017 was off 2016 levels by about 25 percent in the first five months.
Jeff and I went on to share how the conference Cabinet, in cooperation with the Yellowstone Conference Committee on Finance and Administration, had undertaken steps to reach out to churches that were most behind in their mission-share giving. Those conversations were honest and spirit-led. Cabinet members heard about the struggles the local churches were facing and also the opportunities they saw to move into a healthier place. These conversations were of incredible value as it will help me and others focus our work over the next several months.
When we presented this information to the 2017 Yellowstone Annual Conference I was prepared for all sorts of reactions. Would people be angry? Would we point fingers? Would we seek a scapegoat to pin all our fears on? All would be understandable human reactions to hearing unexpected bad news. Yet none of those happened. Instead, I was overwhelmed by the spirit-led and hopeful response of the conference.
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