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By Anne Swardson and Will Harp
The House of Deputies passed a far-reaching reform of its budget process that puts all the work in the hands of Executive Council, the governing body of the Church between General Conventions, and essentially gets rid of the other committee that’s involved now.
The measure, which had to be passed in three portions because of its canonical and procedural implications, would replace what the resolution’s proponents described as a clunky and broken process. It must also be approved by the House of Bishops.
“They say ‘If something’s not broke don’t fix it.’ But the current process is broken,” said Deputy Nancy Koonce of Idaho, who has been closely involved in budget making at various levels. She urged support for the resolution.
The reform is important because how the church wields its roughly $50 million annual budget reflects its priorities in such areas as evangelism, racial reconciliation, creation care and mission. “We recognize budgets to be a means by which we ‘do the work God has given us to do,’” the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance (PB&F) said in its introduction to the proposed 2023-2024 budget, which General Convention received the budget on Sunday afternoon.
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