Monday, January 29, 2018

Bishop Karen Oliveto views on the Importance of Statistical Reporting

This is harvested from Bishop Karen Oliveto FaceBook Page of January 25, 2018

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Yes, it is that time of year when pastors are scrambling to get statistical reports done.

Several people have asked why getting the EZRA statistics in on time is important. I put that question to the cabinet as well as to the YAC and RMC treasurers. Here are our answers:

The statistics entered in Ezra provide insight into the health and welfare of the denomination, conference and local churches. It provides data that tells the metric story of UMC ministry. The Ezra data is one way for the cabinet to look through a focused source when evaluating effectiveness, the statistical story of a local church, and outcomes of mission and vision. It is not the only tool for evaluation, but it is a tool that provides the opportunity to study trends, achievements, priorities, outcomes, participation, age level involvement, finances, vitality, concerns and need for intervention. It is one of the ways the UMC understands and tells its story. It serves as a common language for some to communicated connectional ministry.

More specifically:

At the local level:

1) By collecting information for these yearly reports, it can help a pastor focus on opportunities and concerns that can get overlooked by the day-to-day demands of ministry.
2) By sharing them with one’s church leaders, it can help everyone get a better understanding of the health of the church, make course corrections when trends indicate concerns, and celebrate vitality and faithful shared ministry.

At the conference level:

1) The Cabinet uses the EZRA statistics, especially in December when a review of every church is held, as well as during appointment season, to match churches and pastors. While not the only tool used, it helps describe a church’s health as well as future trends, including membership, financial health, commitment to the connection through apportionments, etc. Statistics are not the whole story but are an important part of the story that may reveal opportunities or concerns not immediately apparent from visits or one-on-ones with pastors or leaders.
2) On a wider scale, Cabinet looks for trends in data (growth, decline of a group of churches organized by size, demographics, region) to determine what is needed as far as resourcing to the local church from the conference.
3) In YAC, part of statistics are used for formula determining mission shares every year. Accurate and complete statistics are only way each church is fairly assessed an amount for mission shares. In RMC, wider trends can help forecast expected income which can help with adjusting conference budget accordingly.
4) Not often, but dramatic variance in some statistics can be used as indicator or additional evidence of financial malfeasance/improper use of church funds
5) Presently, data is being used in conversations related to our mission shaped future including considerations for district alignment in future conference.
6) Whether a pastor gets their stats in on time is also an indicator of what kind of church a pastor has the capacity to serve. Administration (or “order”, as our ordination vows describe) is a part of our duties as clergy. However, some churches require more administrative skill than others.

At the General Church Level

1) GCFA uses EZRA data to determine the General Church apportionment amount to allocate to each conference.
2) Statistics are used to understand membership, worship and giving trends, not only at the local church level, but within a jurisdiction and across the denomination. This helps shape general church programming and support.

Timeliness is important because:

1) The tardiness of SOME YAC churches last year set back important work of conference budgeting and assigning of mission share values for future years also slowing down budget work in ALL churches because mission shares amounts could not be released on time.

2) When we don’t get our reports in on time, it costs MORE MONEY, because staff must use their time to follow up with those who haven’t filed. This means time is diverted from other areas of work.


3) It impacts appointments. Because there is no means of reporting important statistics like worship attendance, income and expenses, Cabinet must rely on end of year reports for most up-to-date picture in crucial appointment season. If ALL statistics were in on time (mid-February), Cabinet would have those figures available early in the appointment season for its work

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