142nd Annual Diocesan Convention
Go to the Convention page.
Go to the Convention page.
The Canons of the Episcopal Church set forth the general responsibility and accountability for the stewardship of the Church’s money and property. The Manual of Business Methods in Church Affairs is a resource that is available to treasurers and church leaders.
For the last three years we've invited congregations to share their stories of mission and transformation along with their parochial reports, in a new format we called the Parochial Report "Page 5." It was a good experiment. We learned a lot, and we gathered some great stories.
Each congregation is required by The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Newark to file the annual Parochial Report for the year 2014 by March 2, 2015. This report contains information regarding church statistics (attendance, number of services, baptisms, and other statistical data) and financial information, as well as information regarding clergy serving the congregation.
Under the current granting policies of ACTS/VIM, Alleluia Fund, Marge Christie Congregational Growth & Vitality Fund, and the Ward J. Herbert Fund, a church can file a grant request and be awarded a grant that will be paid to it, as long as it has complied as applicable with certain requirements – including having completed and filed its congregational audit, parochial report, pledge to the diocese, compliance with Safe Church and annual Health Care reporting, and so on. Actual grant payments are not made to the church until it has complied with these requirements. Historically, the church has been given one year to comply; if it does not comply within one year, it forfeits the grant and the money is then available for future grants.
As part of the annual budget process, the preliminary 2015 budget will be presented at a Budget Forum on Wednesday, October 8 to be held at Christ Church, Bloomfield/Glen Ridge beginning at 7:30 p.m., following the Diocesan Council meeting.
Congregational pledges to the Diocese for the year 2015 are due December 1, 2014. Each church will be sent a form in the near future, asking for them to submit an estimate of their 2015 Normal Operating Income (NOI), their percentage pledge for 2015, and the resulting dollar pledge amount. Since the pledge cards are to be approved and signed by the Vestry, plans should be made to review the pledge in November.
The 2015 budget process will follow the same process adopted by Diocesan Council for use in preparing previous budgets. This process more easily allows individuals and organizations to request funding as part of the 2015 Budget. Funding requests for 2015 are due by September 22, 2014.