Bishop’s Appeal: Education for the Central Conferences
This year, Northern Illinois United Methodists will be donating to one Bishop’s Appeal for two worthy recipients. The appeal for Education for the Central Conferences wi…
Posted: January 30 2026 at 09:18 AM
In 2025, you gave $5,056,797 - 80 percent of our budgeted goal - to support missions and ministries.
This is the highest percentage we have achieved since 2016.
Strengthening our Shared Witness and Ministries
Because of your commitment to giving,
- churches received grants for new ministries with neighbors
- churches had access to more affordable property and liability insurance
- churches learned strategies for reaching new people
- lay and clergy learned skills for effective administration and ministry
- and much more
Achievements in Faithful Giving in 2025
- 24 churches paid over 100% in 2024 and 2025.
- 164 churches gave 100% in 2025 compared to 176 in 2024.
- 53 churches gave more in percentage in 2025 than in 2024 compared to 49 churches in 2024.
- 61 churches paid less in 2025 than in 2024, and 137 churches paid less in 2024 than in 2023 (including closed/merged churches).
- 26 churches gave 0 in 2025 compared to 33 churches that gave 0 in 2024 (including closed/merged churches.)
International United Methodist Ministry
As United Methodists, we are in partnership with other United Methodists around the world. We start churches; work alongside people learning sustainable agricultural practices, medical skills, and other abilities to build up their own communities; help people recover from disasters, and more. Because we share our funds alongside those of United Methodists around the world and have an existing administrative infrastructure, we can provide and support mission and ministry much more financially efficiently that independent ministry organizations.
Together, we paid 81 percent—that is, $1,082,126—of our General Church apportionments for 2025. (In 2024, we gave only 41 percent—that is, $778,533.)
Benefits and Insurance
To compensate our clergy with necessary medical insurance and pension benefits and provide our churches with reliable and affordable property insurance, we came close to meeting our commitments in full.
- Health and Pension Receipts: You submitted 92 percent of billed premiums. This is up from 80 percent in 2024.
- Clergy Responsibility of Health Insurance Premium Receipts: Clergy remitted 92 percent of their insurance obligation, up from 85 percent in 2024.
- Property Insurance Receipts: You submitted 82 percent of your property insurance premiums. This is a decrease from 90 percent in 2024.
Commitment to Transparency and Support
Your conference administration and finance staff intend to be honest and clear about our shared financial commitments so that we can be a reliable partner with every congregation. We want to communicate clearly so that ministry can grow stronger.
To support our local churches in navigating their financial responsibilities, we have offered nearly 20 webinars throughout the 2025 year. These sessions provided direct assistance, answered critical questions, and ensured that every leader felt equipped to manage their church's stewardship and obligations with confidence.
REMINDER: New Apportionment Formula
- To assist local churches in simplifying their budget, the Conference has adopted a simplified apportionment formula for 2026 based on income tiers. Churches with income under $250,000 are assessed 8%, those between $250,000 and $750,00 are assessed 10%, and those over $750,000 are assessed 12%. Income is defined by specific lines on the statistical report (line 55 minus lines 53 and 54b).
- Apportionments are based on the last completed statistical report as of Jan. 31 of apportionment year.
Download this data as a pdf to share with your congregation.