Forms and Resources

Below you will find links to helpful documents, articles, ministries and flyers.

District Forms and Information

Informative News Items

Seminars, Training, and Other Opportunities

Resource Articles

 

Parsonage Standards Policy Change:

All parsonage bedroom furnishings are the responsibility of the pastor beginning January 1, 2007 as adopted at the 2006 Annual Conference session.

All parsonage dining room furnishings are the responsibility of the pastor beginning January 1, 2007 as adopted at the 2007 Annual Conference session.

 

Dimensions of Pastoral Authority:
What It Means to Become a Congregation’s Pastor

Written by: Christina Braudaway-Bauman
Reprinted from: Congregations – Fall 2006After intense years of study and sacrifice, he turned in his last seminary papers. The master of divinity diploma is framed, ready for hanging. Behind him also are the yearly meetings with the denominational committee whose interrogations earnestly and prayerfully sought to discern his fitness for ordained ministry. After all the affirmative votes were counted, a worship service was held in which he made promises so large they could only truthfully be answered, "I will, with the help of God." Hands heavy with hope were laid upon his head and a stole was placed around his shoulders. Now called to serve his first congregation, his mail begins to arrive with the title "Rev" on the address label. The word "pastor" is printed beside his name on the church's signboard outside on the street corner and in the Sunday morning bulletin. He climbs the worn steps to the pulpit on his first Sunday and breathes a sigh of relief, believing he has, finally, fully arrived...Read More (requires Adobe Reader)

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Guidelines for Ministerial Relationships

The United Methodist clergyperson of today considers himself/herself a professional of equal stature with the other professionals of our society. This professional image is produced by the degree of education attainment and the competency with which the clergyperson fulfills his/her responsibilities both within the Church and the community. In view of this, these GUIDELINES FOR MIMSTERIAL RELATIONSHIPS are set forth ... more (Requires Adobe Reader)

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Membership Records

Date: June 12, 2006 To: District Superintendents
From: Cynthia Haralson, Director of Records and Statistics,
General Council on Finance and Administration
Staff Representative to PAUMCS
Re: Membership Changes and Reporting Requirements We are following up to a number of questions and phone calls around Membership Records.
This is an attempt to assist with additional reference information that you may want to pass on. The link for each source is included for easy access. We hope this will be helpful when implementing the Membership Changes and Reporting Requirements referenced in The Book of Discipline 2004. New Membership Definitions:Following are the new definitions of membership excerpted from the 2005-2008 United Methodist Membership Records Manual:

— Baptized member: A baptized member is a person who has received the sacrament of baptism in a United Methodist Church or has received Christian baptism in another denomination and later transferred to a United Methodist Church.
— Professing member: A professing member is a baptized person who has taken vows declaring the Christian faith.

Regarding Faith Journey records:As long as the required information is generated and stored by the system, it is fine to use non-Cokesbury systems. Many current church management software programs can be modified with the new terminology and the needed information fields to keep these records digitally, making record keeping quick and efficient. Response to a couple of general questions encountered: Is a membership audit required? A membership audit is required by the Discipline to be done annually. The pastor is responsible for ensuring that all membership records are accurate and up to date (The Book of Discipline, ¶340.3.b.6). Where should we start? These changes should begin January 1, 2005. This will ensure that everyone who is a baptized or professing member of the church as of that date is duly accounted for. Use the Preparatory Roll as the basis for Baptized Members. Gradually, you will be able to update older records, but there is no necessity to do this immediately. Other Resources:— 2005-2008 United Methodist Membership Records Manual is available here or at your local Cokesbury store for a cost of $10. This manual, in addition to sample pages of the forms, has explanations on the Biblical Basis for record keeping and the historical value of church membership records in the Methodist tradition. Page 6 outlines the lines of responsibility for this record keeping, and the requirements from The Book of Discipline 2004 are listed on page 7. A CD with printable forms for much of the required record keeping is also included. Other resources Include:

If you have other questions or suggestions, contact Beanie Rankin, brankin@gcfa.org, Scott Brewer, sbrewer@gcfa.org, or InfoServ, infoserv@umcom.org. You may also contact Cynthia Haralson directly at charalson@gcfa.org.

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Tax exempt status and the dangers of political activism

R-2006-36, Feb. 24, 2006

WASHINGTON — Internal Revenue Service officials today released a report on the agency's examination of political activity by tax-exempt organizations during the 2004 election campaign. In connection with the report, the IRS is also unveiling new procedures today for the 2006 election season, which provide additional guidance to charities regarding political activities. The IRS began this review following an increase in complaints about political activities during the 2004 election cycle. To ensure fairness and impartiality, the issues examined stretched across the political spectrum. Further, IRS career civil servants handled the cases without regard to political affiliation. Nearly three-quarters of 82 examinations completed to date have concluded that the tax-exempt organizations, including churches, engaged in some level of prohibited political activity. Most of these exams concerned one-time, isolated occurrences of prohibited campaign activity, which the IRS addressed through written advisories to the organizations. In three cases – involving tax-exempt organizations that were not churches – the prohibited activity was egregious enough to warrant the IRS proposing the revocation of the organizations' tax-exempt status. The recent examinations resulted from specific referrals and covered only a small segment of the tax-exempt community, which includes more than 1 million tax-exempt 501 (c)(3) organizations in the U.S. "The law does not allow charities to participate in political campaigns," said IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson. "While the vast majority of charities, including churches, did not engage in politicking, our examinations substantiated a disturbing amount of political intervention in the 2004 electoral cycle. As the 2006 electoral season approaches, we are going to provide more and better guidance and move quickly to address prohibited activities."
Some of the specific instances of political intervention alleged and examined include the following:

The report outlines new procedures for the 2006 election period that will ensure that all referrals the IRS receives from the public, as well as activity the IRS itself uncovers, are reviewed expeditiously, and treated consistently and fairly. These procedures reaffirm the agency's commitment that all examination and investigation decisions are made in a nonpartisan manner. As a part of its approach to combating this activity, the IRS has also begun its educational and enforcement efforts to help ensure that charities have enough advance notice of the statutory rules against engaging in political activities. The IRS is releasing a new fact sheet that provides information to help 501(c)(3) organizations stay in compliance with the federal tax law. The fact sheet provides detailed examples of the types of activities the IRS investigated during the 2004 election cycle. The examples and related commentary are intended to help tax-exempt organizations, including churches, better understand what activity constitutes prohibited political intervention. Today's report covered the 2004 election cycle, beginning on July 30, 2004 and running through Nov. 30, 2004. In this initiative, the IRS contacted 110 tax-exempt organizations – many of them churches – and found some violation of the prohibition on political activity in 59 of the 82 cases closed-to-date. The cases covered the full spectrum of political viewpoints. These findings, released today, form the basis of an enhanced IRS program to ensure that tax-exempt charities, including churches, know the legal prohibitions against engaging in political campaigns and the consequences of violating them. They also underlie new procedures that allow the IRS to move more swiftly to stop inappropriate political campaign intervention when it is discovered. The press release, summary, and full report can be found here.

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