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The United
Methodist Church has just issued a report on federal
funding of faith-based initiatives. This report,
"Community Ministries and Government Funding,"
is a cooperative project of the General Board of
Church and Society (GBCS), the General Council on
Finance and Administration (GCFA), and the General
Board of Global Ministries (GBGM). This report was
developed to address the questions United Methodist
churches and institutions are asking regarding the
Bush Administration's Faith-Based and Community
Initiative funding program.
Faith-based
initiatives are not new to the United Methodist
Church. At its 1980 General Conference, a statement
was adopted regarding the use of government funds.
Based on the Social Principles of the denomination,
this "Church and State" statement sets
forth criteria to be met by church recipients of
government funding as described in the body of the
report.
The report
addresses public policy and legal questions as well
as "how-to" strategies to assure that
utilization of government funds are not compromising
the faith and values of the church. A legal opinion
appended to the report outlines risks, burdens and
ways to limit red tape and avoid other hazards when
using government funds. The report also contains
stories of six United Methodist congregations and
mission institutions that have used government funds
with various results.
The supply
of printed copies of this document is limited; however,
it may be photocopied with appropriate attribution
to its source. The publication may also be downloaded
and printed from the Internet sites of the three
sponsoring agencies:
General
Board of Church and Society: www.umc-gbcs.org
General Board of Global Ministries: gbgm-umc.org
General Council on Finance and Administration:
www.gcfa.org
Community
Ministries and Government Funding
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