A bishop within the United Methodist Church is raising urgent concerns about the denomination’s escalating financial problems, warning leaders that its “financial house is on fire.”
During last week’s final meeting of the year for the UMC General Council on Finance and Administration (GCFA), board members reviewed the state of denominational funding. GCFA Board President Bishop David Graves delivered a stark message, emphasizing that the mainline denomination is facing serious fiscal strain.
“The church's financial house is on fire,” Graves said, according to United Methodist News. “My intent is not to create fear but to address the reality with honesty and urgency.”
He stressed that in an emergency, priorities must be clear. “When a house is on fire, the first thing you do is focus on what matters most. For us, that is people, mission and ministry. … That means every church and conference doing its part through apportionment giving — not because of obligation alone, but because ministry depends on it.”
A key concern is the rates of apportionments, or shares of UMC giving that sustain denomination ministries apart from individual member congregations.
GCFA reported that total revenue from requested apportionments was about $14.8 million less than the previous year. The projected apportionment collection rate of 83.6% mirrors levels seen during the worst years of the Great Recession in 2009–2010, according to UM News.
Earlier this year, in February 2024, GCFA approved a proposed 2025–2028 denominational budget of roughly $346.7 million—the smallest UMC budget since 1984. This represents a drastic decrease from the approximately $604 million budget approved at the 2016 General Conference.
UM News attributed the financial downturn to both economic challenges and the departure of several thousand congregations over recent years, driven by internal conflict over LGBT issues.
The UMC has long wrestled with whether to revise its Book of Discipline to permit same-sex marriage ceremonies and to ordain clergy in same-sex relationships.
Although past attempts to amend these rules were unsuccessful, many progressive UMC leaders refused to abide by or enforce existing restrictions, prompting widespread frustration and leading many conservative congregations to leave the denomination entirely.
At the 2024 General Conference—held after more than 7,500 primarily conservative churches had already departed—delegates voted to remove the rules from the Book of Discipline.
