STAMFORD, Conn. -- The United Methodist Board of Global Ministries continues to struggle financially as its unrestricted net assets dropped from $128 million in April 2000 to nearly $35 million this August.
"The preservation of our financial assets was lost to a vicious stock market," board treasurer Stephen Feerrar told the United Methodist News Service (UMNS).
The denomination gives less than $4 per member to its international mission agency, Feerrar said. He expects that figure to be reduced by 2003.
More than $100 million worth of assets have been used to fund mission operations and programs since 1998.
"While we were applying our assets to mission, the stock market was taking back the gains it had given us," Feerrar said.
The mission agency has cut staff and programs since the late 1990s, according to the UMNS, and has underspent its budget in 2002. Details of the budget were not disclosed. Budget restrictions will continue in 2003, Feerrar said.
"I expect and pray that we have been through the worst of it," he said.
