From the 13th till the 15th of november the year end meetings of the Franco-Belgian Union were held in Paris, France. The 4 delegates of our conference, Jackie Mubedi, Christian Bultinck, Christian Sabot and Jeroen Tuinstra, spent 3 days to close the year 2016 financially and administratively. Also the budgets of 2017 of the three conferences were scrutinized and approved. The first day the meetings took place in the offices of the North France Conference and the last two days in the offices of the French Protestant Federation (FPF).
During the administrative meeting the different departments of the union gave their presentations. The meetings looked back at the activities of the youth, IEBC, the ministerial association, health, etc. They also decided to clear a full-time salary for Hope Channel France. This had been discussed several times before a the union board meetings. Through this medium, which will perdominantly take place on the internet, the union hopes to provide means to the French speaking population to do evangelism on the internet.
One of the most important aspects of year end meetings ar the closing of the financial year and to approve the budget for the coming year. Even though 2016 hasn’t come to an end yet, a carefull projection of income and expenses of the last few months is made. From that we can conclude a small decline of 2% of the donated tithe in our conference. Though this provides the conference with several challanges, it was still possible to close the budget. In the last few years a heavy demand has been placed on our accumulated funds, perdominantly through the appointment of new pastors. Specific reserves were made to accomodate an eventual decline in tithes. It was also decided to increase the pastor’s salaries with 1%, even though inflation figures in Belgium are 2%. It should also be noted that there was not salary increase for pastors in 2016.
There is not a clear explanation for the decrease of tithe. In general the church feels the results of general economic crises after 3 years. We have to see, according to Christian Sabot, the treasurer, whether this is a trend or a small fluctuation.
In the chart one can see how the Conference spends its tithes and offerings. Of each euro that has been donated via tithes or offerings, 22 cents is passed on to higher eschalons like the union, the division and our university in Collonges-sous-Saleve, France. 60 cents is spent on employment costs, such as salaries, insurances, travel costs en various other costs related to employment. 5 cents are spent on departemental expenditures, such as training days, congresses, IEBC and camps. 5 cents is spent on administration costs, the conference office, committee meetings, translations and IT. The last 8 cent is spent on our contribution to the pension fund, this is an old agreement where the Division pays pensions from a special fund. Current and new pastors are all covered by a pension insurance.
Expenses and the purchases of new buildings are not allowed to be financed from tithes. The purchase and refurbishment of church buildings has to be financed from the rent, contributions to the building fund, the sale of property or inheritances.
The treasurer and the Conference board are very grateful for the loyalty of their members and the contributions of the tithe. Even in economically challanging times, members donate a lot. The church in Belgium and Luxembourg would not exist without the contributions and generosity of its members.