NEWS STORY: African Methodist Episcopal Church had $3.75 million deficit in 1996

c. 1997 Religion News Service UNDATED _ Leaders of the 3.5 million-member African Methodist Episcopal Church are working to reduce a national-level $3.75 million deficit brought about by problems left”unattended”in recent years. Steps have already been taken that have cut the deficit _ reported to the church’s General Board last December _ in half, according […]

c. 1997 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ Leaders of the 3.5 million-member African Methodist Episcopal Church are working to reduce a national-level $3.75 million deficit brought about by problems left”unattended”in recent years.

Steps have already been taken that have cut the deficit _ reported to the church’s General Board last December _ in half, according to officials.


Church treasurer Richard Allen Lewis said Wednesday (April 30) those steps included donations from the church’s bishops and a number of individual members, cutting the deficit by $1.8 in the first four months of this year.

Lewis declined to give many details about the church’s financial situation before he plans to update the General Board in June.”My preference is to wait until I have reported the numbers to the governing board of our church,”he said.

But he stressed the financial crunch affects only the”central church,”as the national church offices are called, and not regional bodies of the denomination.”It has nothing to do with the church at large,”Lewis said.”It has nothing to do with the episcopal districts.” Bishop John H. Adams, chairman of the AME Church’s Statistics and Finance Commission, also said that despite the deficit, the general operations of the church are continuing without incident.”The life of the church and the condition of the church is not at all in danger or at risk,”said Adams.”It’s (the deficit) the accumulation of some problems over the years that we left unattended too long and now we are going to deal with them.” Adams said there were numerous reasons for the deficit, including expenses that exceeded line items in the budget.”There are always unforeseen emergencies,”Adams said.”We live in a very litigious age and our legal fees became way out of proportion to the money we had allocated for it but you had to pay it anyhow. Those are the kinds of things that brought on the very large problem.” Adams said the church’s central administration did not have reserves for such emergencies.”We do not have a big endowment nor a reserve fund of any significance,”he said.”The backup dollars are not many.” He said no jobs are at risk because of the deficit.”We are not downsizing or rightsizing at this moment,”Adams said.”We have the resources to continue the church at its full operation.” Adams also said the deficit was not the result of any improper use of money.”All of the expenditures have been legitimate,”he said.

Adams said church officials are determining the best approaches to further reduce the deficit. The General Board and the Council of Bishops will consider recommendations in June.

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