From Draughting Theology-There was a movement afoot in the Episcopal Church. For the first time in my recollection, people were genuinely excited about the E word: Evangelism. We had a Presiding Bishop who was comfortable talking about Jesus. A groundswell of support saw a $2.8 million budget amendment to fund evangelism, especially in the growing and heretofore under-served Latino population. There were revivals planned. A new Canon for Evangelism and Racial Reconciliation was hired. One of the best church planting minds in the church came on board to serve as the Staff Officer for Church Planting Infrastructure. It was looking like we might finally be living into the prayer we pray every Second Sunday after Epiphany, and taking our responsibility, having been “illumined by Word and Sacrament” to “shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory, that he may be known, worshipped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth.”
Things were looking good, until the Executive Council met from October 18-21, 2017, and all the hope and good will came crashing to the ground. The working budget for the next triennium (2019-2021) shows a 41% cut in evangelism spending. This cut includes a full 1/3 cut in spending for new congregations from $3 million to $2 million and a cut in total Latino/Hispanic ministry spending of more than 45% from $1,219,400 to $558,000. Meanwhile, as has been noted by several very learned practitioners, including church planter, Susan Snook, mission re-developer, Everett Lees, and Forward Movement Executive Director and discipleship guru, Scott Gunn, investment in the administrative side of things, has increased by close to $4 million in the Presiding Bishop’s office (a roughly 47% increase) and $5.25 million in Governance (nearly 38%). All that, and there is still $40 million set aside to pay for operations, finance, and legal fees!
More here-
https://draughtingtheology.wordpress.com/2018/01/08/the-episcopal-churchs-budget-is-a-dim-bulb/
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