As the summer draws to a close, churches are preparing fall activities. Sunday school starts and church committees start meeting again, stewardship and finance committees enter their busiest season, and church charge conferences begin.

And as local churches wind down 2025, their finance committees are reviewing spreadsheets and forecasting what the financial balance will be at year’s end. Northern Illinois Conference appreciates churches’ efforts to pay their apportionments (and other obligations). As of July 2025, we have collected more than we had at this time last year. At the end of last year, NIC received 79 percent of the apportionment. We hope to receive 85 percent in 2025.

To help you plan for your church conference, on Aug. 7 NIC emailed out apportionment, health, and pension figures for 2026. If you did not receive yours, please contact David W. Quinn. 

If your local church has not yet planned for a stewardship campaign, visit the Stewardship and Generosity page on our website. (Sneak peek: We will have an NIC-produced stewardship resource ready in spring 2026 for use in fall 2026.) 

The NIC Finance and Administration area is offering webinars, most of them recorded for review, to help church finance committees. See the sidebar for upcoming webinars.   

Recordings of previous webinars can be found in the Finance and Administration Showcase on Vimeo. Recordings include: Church Property Taxes, Prosper, Brick River, Human Resources and Finances and more. 

Please remember as you prepare the 2026 church budget that the apportionment formula, clergy retirement plan contributions, and health insurance premiums have changed. Look for the Staff-Parish Relations Committee and Finance Committee webinar listing  below and plan to attend or view it later for assistance in these areas.

The Conference Committee on Finance and Administration appreciates how churches are faithfully stepping up to make sure the budget they passed over a year ago for shared ministry is being fully funded.