January deadlines for churches: Shared Ministry payments; Statistical Reports

January 3, 2024 | | GNJ News

Local church leaders should note two important GNJ Conference deadlines in January: Jan. 10 for submitting Shared Ministry Fund payments; and Jan. 31 for submitting Year-End Statistical Reports.

The Shared Ministry Fund is required giving that is apportioned equitably to all churches to support the numerous, administrative and programmatic ministries and mission endeavors of our Conference. The Year-End Statistical Reports are crucial to determining those apportionments and also to assessing the health, development, and leadership and resourcing needs of our congregations.

Year-End Statistical Reports: The online system for filing reports, ACSTats, opened December 22 and will close January 31. Churches will need to use a new default password, gnjchurch23, to initially enter the system, and then change it when prompted. By  order of the Book of Discipline, the deadline to submit reports is January 31.

The system is the same as 2023, but one new question, #2g, asks about the number of new members received from closed churches. Find log-on details, training materials and last year’s video training (which is still applicable for this year) at https://www.gnjumc.org/year-end-statistical-reports/.

Shared Ministry/Apportionments: You can find your church’s GNJ Shared Ministry and General Church apportionments at 2024 SM Fund Breakdown.pdf.  Any further questions should be directed to James Mulligan, Mission Systems Administrator, at jmulligan@gnjumc.org  or Rob Zuckerman, Conference CFO/Treasurer at rzuckerman@gnjumc.org.