If you have questions about property, human resources, church board function, insurance for your church, legal matters or church status/health, please contact our Associate Superintendent and Director of Operations, Adam Stein.
If you have questions about Fair Share payments, MetLife disability and life insurance, reimbursement for expenses related to Genesis, or would like to inquire about hiring a team to assist with your church's finances or financial systems, please contact our Director of Finance, Jenny Rivera, or our Bookkeeper, Bonnie Philson.
- Director of Finance
- Bookkeeper
What is Fair Share?
Fair Share is the monthly apportionment paid by every local FMC through their conference. These funds represent the vast majority of the financial support given to both the conference and FMCUSA.
How is our Fair Share determined?
In Genesis, we've adopted a rate equaling 7.5% of your church's monthly income, after pass throughs have been deducted (more on that in the next section). The calculation is either made in the autumn of the previous calendar year for an annual rate, or the rate is calculated each month during the current calendar year and updated every payment cycle (this is called the current income model). In either case, the amount is communicated and then pulled automatically through ACH from the local church's checking account.
The only exception to the 7.5% rate is for churches whose income is so high (in most cases, more than $1 million annually) that their Fair Share payment is higher than what they might pay for an additional full-time employee. At that threshold, it is currently our policy to cap the apportionment amount.
What counts as a pass through (deduction)?
- any donations designated for capital projects
- any donations designated for church planting
- any donations designated as estate gift(s) or bequest(s)
- any spending toward attending conferences (including Genesis Annual Conference), training, missions trips and/or concerts
- any spending toward FM or non-FM global missions, local outreach or another non-profit (please indicate which category, or categories, this spending goes in)
- any payment received for rental of your space, either to another organization or another FMC
How do I submit our report?
Our financial services team, led by Jenny Rivera, will put you on a monthly emailing list for sending in reports. To get signed up or to ask about previous payments, contact Jenny.
The IRS makes provision for a tax exempt housing allowance to constitute a portion of a pastor's income from the local church. Each church must record an approved housing allowance in their board minutes, and it should be reflected accordingly in the church's annual budget.
IRS Publication 517 (2023) provides the following guidance: “Ministers are individuals who are duly ordained, commissioned, or licensed by a religious body constituting a church or church denomination. Ministers have the authority to conduct religious worship, perform sacerdotal functions, and administer ordinances or sacraments according to the prescribed tenets and practices of that church or denomination. If a church or denomination ordains some ministers and licenses or commissions others, anyone licensed or commissioned must be able to perform substantially all the religious functions of an ordained minister to be treated as a minister for social security purposes.”
CMCs in the employ of a church who function in either ministerial staff roles with freedom of action, ministerial leadership roles, or lead pastor roles would be eligible for housing allowance.
If you're unsure whether you or someone on your staff qualifies, contact the Genesis office.
Pastoral Compensation
with Supt. Pam Braman
Our compensation worksheet is something we have created as a tool within Genesis to help churches answer the question: “What should we be paying our pastor?” We base our starting numbers on a living wage for one person in this region. Specifics can be found at: https://livingwage.mit.edu.
In addition, research-based pastoral pay from another denomination can be found here: http://compstudy.lifeway.com/