RNS:
Bishops in the United Methodist Church have voted themselves a pay cut after “recognizing the financial challenges facing the church.”
The UMC’s 50 active U.S. bishops voted to give up their planned pay raises for next year and instead reduce their salaries to the 2008 level, dropping their annual pay from $125,650 to $121,000 according to United Methodist News Service.
“The current global crisis has uncovered our hesitancy to act, but it has also gifted us with a sense of urgency and an opportunity to lead courageously,” the bishops said in a May 8 statement at the conclusion of their annual spring meeting.…
The Methodist bishops said their church faces “an unprecedented moment in our history,” with church membership, worship attendance, baptisms and funding for certain ministries all declining.
Meanwhile, the bishops said, the church suffers from “institutional inertia” and “the structure we live with is not sufficient, nimble, or responsive to the fast-changing 21st century world we inhabit.”
The UMC News Service also covers the story, and the related story Redeploy church resources, financial officers say.