The World Evangelism Fund (WEF) is our global financial heartline and lifeline in an expanding international church, the essential foundation for all Nazarene mission giving. In local churches around the world, pastors, church boards, and NMI leaders network prayerfully and strategically to fulfill WEF giving goals.
 

Missional pastors model, “As our church gives WEF in full, we have the privilege to invest in global mission strategy and goals. Then beyond WEF, our church has the opportunity to designate additional giving to multiple mission needs.” Pastors are searching for ways to invest more in global mission, not less. They know WEF works.

 
Each church motivated to provide financial and human resources beyond WEF should complete WEF giving as a prerequisite. Without WEF providing baseline infrastructure, no other ministry provided by designated or special mission giving will remain viable (including NCM, Work & Witness, JESUS film, Alabaster, partnerships, etc.).
 
No other church supports global mission more effectively than the Church of the Nazarene. No other financial plan invests more productively in life transformation than WEF giving. The most helpful way to invest in holiness mission movements is WEF. 
 
Only with WEF can we evangelize and disciple millions of people each year, equip thousands of leaders each year, and organize hundreds of churches each year. We cannot accomplish these purposes without WEF. Global WEF giving will multiply through collective sacrifice, international generosity, and accountable distribution.
 
During fiscal year 2007, pastors, church boards, World Mission/NMI, and Stewardship partnered to help churches raise US $48,528,319. During fiscal year 2007 WEF giving in the U.S.A. increased 1.2%. During the past five years, WEF giving has trended:
 
Average WEF giving in the U.S.A. has increased 1.86% annually.
Average WEF giving globally has increased 2.10% annually.
 
Because You Give, WEF Supports
 

• World Mission (WM) transformation in 151 world areas
• Global missionaries deployed from 34 world areas
• 774 missionaries and their kids (equipping, salary, housing, medical, travel to field)
• Mission Corps, tentmakers, Youth in Mission, 676 Work & Witness teams in 2007
• Infrastructure for regional, field, and district ministries, including national leadership development
• 10,500 churches (+11%), more than 1 million members in WM (+12%)
• 428 districts with 8,850 credentialed ministers
• 40 Bible colleges, seminaries; 11 universities, 9,600 resident students
• Education extension centers in every nation, 12,000 extension students
• 64 medical clinics and hospitals; thousands of compassionate ministry centers
• 320 retired missionaries receiving pension income
• Worship in 212 languages; Bibles/literature translated into 67 languages
• JESUS Film, World Mission DVD, Alabaster buildings

 
Beyond WEF
 

• Churches gave US $22,556,444 for Approved Mission Specials during fiscal year 2007.
• Missionary Health Care provided US $480,687 in medical assistance for Nazarene missionaries.
• NMI partnered with World Mission Broadcast, giving US $583,688 to reach the unreached in 75 countries, 30 languages, 85 programs, and 1,397 broadcasts.
• NMI generated US $282,705 through LINKS, a vital connection between churches and missionaries around the world.
• Nazarenes gave US $3,123,834 for Alabaster to fund 236 construction projects on mission fields, averaging 4.5 projects per week (churches, parsonages, colleges).
• International Student Scholarship Fund provided 150 scholarships for ministerial students to attend campus-based Nazarene theological institutions globally.
• NMI partnered with NCM to give US $4,923,774 to send 38,750 Crisis Care Kits for disaster response, to support 10,205 children through Child Development (an increase of 2,676 children), and to provide much more compassion globally.
• NMI assisted Work & Witness in raising US $4,944,800 to deploy 646 teams. During fiscal year 2007, an average of 13 teams per week and a total of 10,620 participants donated the equivalent of more than 335 years of labor.

   
   

 Click chart for larger version.

In order to make Christlike disciples in the nations, the total allocation reported for WEF includes ministries of all nations and age groups: World Mission, USA/Canada, NYI, SDMI, education, and administration.

 
The traditional WEF allocation over many years has been approximately 80% for ministry and 20% for administration. The total amount received annually for WEF, Mission Specials, and Ten Percent Giving is reported in the annual General Board Report, NCN News, and Holiness Today.
 
A major portion of administrative and support costs are for infrastructure essential to global ministries. Costs of delivering ministries such as global technology, global communication, and global travel increase annually.
 
Global ministry responsibilities require optimal levels of funding from the administration allocation. These responsibilities include corporate insurance, corporate legal services, General Board committees, General Assembly and Conventions, and contingency funds.
 
Budgeting Process
 
The Board of General Superintendents reviews and approves annual WEF received, WEF forecasts, WEF allocations, and the operating budget for Headquarters departments. The general treasurer then presents this budget to the Finance Committee for review and recommendation to the General Board for approval.
 
Each Headquarters department prepares an annual operating budget and submits it to Global Treasury Services for review and reporting. The Finance Committee of the General Board requires that all Headquarters departments present their annual operating budgets to their respective General Board Committee each year.
 
Global Treasury Services provides monthly operating statements to each department, comparing actual income and expenses against line item budgets, including any resulting variances. This assists departmental leadership to efficiently monitor their budgets.
 
Cost Effectiveness
 
The move to the Global Ministry Center (GMC) presents opportunities for sharing resources, reducing duplication, and realizing economy of scale to downsize operational costs. We are continually exploring ways to improve efficiencies of GMC operations. An independent consulting firm was engaged recently to conduct an internal review of purchasing and spending polices. They recommended enterprise systems, centralized purchasing, and standardization of expense and spending policies.
 
Financial Reporting
 
The Finance Committee recommended—and the General Board approved—that an annual denominational financial report be developed. This report states annual income and allocations to global ministries and administration support and is readily accessible to all constituents.
 
Additionally, annual giving reports will continue to be included in Holiness Today. The office of Nazarene Missions International will send you a copy on request.
 
The complete audited financial statements will continue to be available on file for review in the General Treasurer’s Office, in addition to those published in each quadrennial journal. This improvement in communicating financial information will help to answer recurring requests for this information.
 
Board Oversight
 
The Board of General Superintendents meets annually with an auditing firm partner and the general treasurer to review financial statements. Full audited financials are presented to the General Board through the Finance Committee for approval. Each General Board member is provided a complete set of audited financial statements at the annual meeting.

This article was taken from the May 2008 HeartLine.
Written by Daniel Ketchum

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