Dollars for New Initiatives Other papers in this series have enumerated and described new GBGM mission initiatives, but little has been said about their funding. In the quadrennium between 1996 and 2000, Board directors approved some 15 new initiatives with monetary implications. Many of these initiatives involve recruiting, training, compensating, and caring for mission personnel whose service extends the witness and work of the church. Nine million dollars went to the Millennium Fund to help churches in Africa, Eastern Europe, and U.S. urban areas begin or rebuild ministries following periods of economic or political instability. Among these are the realities of cultural and racial diversity and the need to overcome disparities between rich and poor in the community of Christ and in society at large.
Money represents power - the capacity to determine action and direct the course of cultural events.
The use of mission money in a way pleasing to God, in keeping with the teaching of Jesus and in harmony with the Wesleyan tradition, is a major challenge. Sometimes flag and church were too closely aligned and sometimes mission served the aims of economic exploitation. These are facts with which the church lives in confession and humility - and with the prayer that it does not again combine mission, money, and power in ways contrary to the gospel of love. The concept of partnership in mission is a powerful means of overcoming mission pride based on the assumption that money itself rules. United Methodism enters the new millennium with an international missionary force serving regional and national churches capable of making their own decisions about mission priorities.