Western NC ConferenceWebinar Series

Statistics Reporting – Morphing into a Useful Tool

Statistical Reporting – The Logistics

Logistics of Completion

• Statistical reports are completed in the GCFA program “Ezra”. Deadlines will be similar to prior year and discussed shortly.

• Program will be open late December with information posted to the administrative website as to the usernames and passwords (reset every year) to be utilized for the 2015 reporting year. We will also include an announcement in the e-news closest to the opening date.

• Once submitted, reviews will be completed by District Administrative Assistant and then by the Treasurer.

• When reviews are completed, statistics are submitted to GCFA (no later than June 30) and then formatted for inclusion in the conference Journal.

Deadlines

• As with all things United Methodist, we go to the Book of Discipline! Para 606.7: “The local church report to the annual conference shall be submitted on the prescribed forms no later than thirty days following the close of the calendar year. If the annual conference sets an earlier deadline for receiving the reports, the earlier deadline shall apply.”

• For 2015 reporting, Conference deadlines have been set for Thursday, January 21, 2016. As these statistics will be provided within the information for appointment-making by the Cabinet at their first meeting starting February 15, this allows for review by District and Conference staff, along with preparation by our Systems group and the Cabinet members.

Changes in the program for 2015

• No new lines are planned to be added within the program!!!!• GCFA informed us last week there will be a way to report

satellites or campuses of churches separately. Currently, we report all items of churches with campuses together. They are still working the bugs out of this enhancement so more will be shared at a later date for those churches affected by this change.

What do we really do with them?

• As required, our conference statistics are reported to GCFA for inclusion in denominational statistics and published in our own Journal.• Used as historical data of our churches, including the “history”

tab for each church on our website• Used in dashboards as a preliminary indicator of church vitality

with comparison to peer groups (conference and denomination)• For the future, working to build a database of trends of local

churches seen as vital and those who have been closed utilizing statistics accumulated over the last 20+ years (since 1974).

Our Statistical Program - Ezra

The Program and Who Controls What…

• Basic working of the program is the responsibility of GCFA as the agency who has written the program. However, the Conference has ‘administrator’ capacity for the program so that we can respond to many of the technical questions typically posted (login information, validations and error messages within the line entries, etc.). Questions for what to include in certain lines are best posed to Treasury Services and District staff, after consulting the instructions included in the program.• We have discovered that Ezra doesn’t always work well with

Internet Explorer so, if you open it in Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, it seems to behave better.

Mechanics and Movement within Ezra

• Once logged in, you’ll see your church’s main screen. This will provide a variety of messages from me regarding getting started, and, as we go along, when conference uploads will be done and other important messages. Newest will always be at the top!

• Above the welcome screen, there is a black bar with navigation items: Stats Home, Enter Stats, Reports, Submit Stats, and Account. This navigation bar is available from any screen to which you navigate by clicking Stats Home.

• To the right, a quick menu for navigation to other areas, but also where you can send a question for technical or other assistance to us at the Conference office. Bryce Holden handles the technical items, and forwards the others, mostly content, to me.

Overview of the Program: Entering Stats

• The main area you will visit is Enter Stats. From here, you can access:• Table 1 which reports information related to membership and

participation in various groups, class, mission projects, and other organizations.

• Table 2 which reports church assets as of December 31, 2015 and expenses for the calendar year 2015.

• Table 3 which reports church revenue

Overview of the Program: Reports

• Reports will take you to the reports memo where you will be able to print your church form as completed, a blank input form, the local church’s warning report, and other useful documents provided by the Conference and by GCFA. Charts in this same drop down will take you to historical charts of certain statistical items over time.

• Most useful documents reside in Western No Carolina Conference Worksheets which is below the box labled Conference Reports

• WNCC Church Line Descriptions: provides a narrative description of each of the lines including examples of what should be included in that line

• WNCC Line Index: provides a quick worksheet to coordinate certain items to the lines on which they should be reported. Was formerly included in our statistical packages on a green sheet that was a great reference! (in the days of Denny White)

• WNCC Church FAQs: provides responses to certain frequently asked questions as begun by GCFA, updated with WNCC specific responses

Mechanics and Movement within Ezra

• Submit Stats directs you to where you submit stats to the conference office.• Account allows you to change your contact information or

password for this program.

Table 1: Worship and Participation

Table 1: Introduction

• Table 1 collects data related to membership and participation in worship, various groups and missional opportunities.• Membership with Lines 1 through 9

• Line 9 = sum of Lines 9.a through 9.g• Line 9 = sum of Lines 9.h and 9.i

• Worship attendance in Line 10• Participation in events, Sunday school, small groups, and

other missional opportunities in Lines 11 through 30

Table 1: Conference line additions 2014

• Line 10a: Average monthly attendance at all weekly worship services• Line 11.b1: Number of persons baptized this year (ages 13 through

17)• Line 11.b2: Number of persons baptized this year (ages 18 and over)• Line 13.a: Average monthly number of active participants (along

with Line 13.a1 through Line 13.a5 to distinguish ages)• Line 28.a: Average number of monthly missional opportunities• Line 30.a through Line 30.g: Delineates the various ministries which

are included in Line 30 between the types of ministries which could or are being provided – schools, hunger, poverty, homeless/housing, clothing closets, holiday events, and others

Table 1: AUTO-sum lines

• Lines 9 and 19 auto-sums at the bottom of the lines added:• Line 9 = Lines 1 through 8• Line 19 = Lines 15 through 18

• These auto-sum lines have the totals at the top (do not enter any numbers in the line shown on the left):• Line 11.b = Lines 11.b1 and 11.b2• Line 13.a = Lines 13.a1 through 13.a5• Line 30 = Lines 30.a through 30.g

Table 2: Church Assets and Expenses

Table 2: Introduction

• Table 2 provides information on certain church assets and liabilities and church expenses as of or for the year ended December 31, 2015• Certain church assets and liabilities are shown in Lines 30 – 34.

• Use insurance values if based on replacement cost or property tax values (market).

• Church expenses are shown in Lines 35 through 60, with certain lines being uploaded with data accumulated at the Conference office.

Table 2: Auto-fill lines (uploaded by WNCC)• Amounts paid to Annual Conference Treasurer through remittance forms:

• Line 35.a and 35.b: Amounts apportioned to and paid to the Annual Conference Treasurer (includes conference and district apportionments)

• Line 37 through Line 42: Amounts for various missional funds submitted to the Annual Conference Treasurer

• Line 45.a through 45.f: Special Sunday offerings remitted to the Annual Conference Treasurer

• These are anticipated by GCFA and certain lines will be verified with their records as well.

• Amounts paid to Annual Conference Treasurer through direct invoicing:• Line 46 and 47: Amounts remitted to the Annual Conference Treasurer

pension and health benefits, respectively.

Table 2: Other lines

• One questioned by GCFA for us last year was Line 49 – compensation for associate pastors. This line is only for associate pastors appointed by the Bishop, but some churches had included ones they had hired on their own. If the church hires without appointment by the Bishop, these persons should be included in Line 55.

• Housing (line 50) will stump some. If a housing in lieu of parsonage is paid (from Line 4d of clergy comp form), that is included here, but also any amounts paid as household allowances (from line 2g of clergy comp form). Do not duplicate this amount from line 2g on the statistical salary line (Line 48).

Table 2: Conference line additions 2014

• Line 32.a: Separation of cash and investments from all other church-owned assets.• Line 50.a: Separation of amounts for housing if no

parsonage is provided. Would equate to amounts shown on the clergy compensation form on Line 4d.• Line 57.a: Amounts included in operating expenses

specifically for building operation and maintenance including utilities, repairs, pest contracts, lawn care, etc.

Table 2: AUTO-sum lines

• These auto-sum lines have the totals at the top (do not enter any numbers in the line shown on the left):• Line 31 = Lines 31.a and 31.b

• Line 60 does not automatically calculate the sum of all the expense lines. The Conference has added Line 60.a to auto-sum those expense lines to simulate Line 60 which is mass-calculated at the Conference office.

Table 3: Church Revenue

Table 3: Church Revenues

• Table 3 which reports church revenue, divided into three categories:• Received for Annual Budget/Spending• Received for Capital Campaigns and Special Projects, and• Received from Districts, Annual Conferences, Jurisdictional

Conferences, General Church, or other Institutional Sources Outside the Local Church

Table 3: AUTO-sum lines

• These auto-sum lines have the totals at the top (do not enter any numbers in the line shown on the left):• Line 62 = Lines 62.a through 62.g• Line 63 = Lines 63.a through 63.d• Line 64 = Lines 64.a through 64.c

Completion and Accuracy

Are you ready to submit?

• Everything has been entered into the three tables. All lines have a number (even if it is zero) on it, and especially if there was a number there in the prior year.• You have responded to all the warnings (yellow boxes at the

top of each Table page) with full and descriptive information.• Let’s review one last time before we hit the submit button!

Review procedures at the local church

• For Tables 2 and 3, these amounts should match any financial statements prepared for year end. Confirm this with the treasurer and have the entries verified and balanced to these financial statements.

• Please, do not enter numbers in thousands (except maybe asset values on Line 31). Please provide actual numbers for all entries.

• Review entries for extra digits in the entries – 1,320 versus 132.• Verify entries are included in all lines where there were balances in

the prior year.• Double-check large changes in amounts on Table 2 as anything

other than missional giving and capital improvements will affect your apportionments next year!!!

Review by the District Statisticians

• Second level of review……• Review tables for entries in prior year, but none in current year,

or vice versa. This is especially important for membership by gender or by ethnicity, as well as worship attendance.• Review for relationships. If we have 400 in membership, 125 in

worship attendance, how can we have 850 persons engaged in mission (members participating, not persons served) on Line 28?• Review explanations of warnings for completion, and for good

information regarding the change. • Review for other large changes between years that may not

have warnings.

Review at the Conference level

• Third level of review…..• Review for relationships behind the district review. Look for

changes in items between years greater than certain number or certain percentage.• Verification of large, unusual numbers or amounts included

in a church. Revenues or expenses of $1 million for a church with 35 people in worship attendance? • Review of membership and pastor salary amounts.

Review by GCFA

• Key vitality areas reviewed: average weekly worship attendance, professions of faith, small groups, members in mission, dollars given to mission. Relationships to each other and other entries is key!• Verification of special Sunday offerings and other givings

submitted to GCFA, even through Conference• Comparison of prior year and current year for various line

items. This has resulted in questions regarding associate pastor salary, average attendance in worship, membership by ethnicity, and others.

Completion: Common issues noted

• Some churches note that the minister shown at the top of the report when printed isn’t the current pastor. This has been an issue from the data provided from GCFA and will not affect the reporting of the membership, attendance, and financial information of the church based on the GCFA number.• Please include explanations for all warning messages which

appear. These are extremely useful for the review of the items by the District, Conference, and GCFA personnel. Therefore, please make them descriptive!

HALLELUJAH!!!

All that is done……..only one last item………

SUBMIT! GOOD JOB!You have completed your 2015

statistics!

In closing, questions and suggestions should be directed to Jennifer Burton at jburton@wnccumc.org

Thank you for your time and attention in viewing our series of instructional videos related to the Statistical

Reporting for calendar year 2015!