At the June 30 close of the EPC’s fiscal year, Per Member Asking (PMA) contributions to the EPC totaled $2,391,871. The amount is $84,629 (3.4 percent) below the projected operating budget of $2,476,500 for supporting the EPC’s Collaborative Ministries, Connectional Support, and Custodial Operations.

Despite the deficit to the budget, PMA support in fiscal year 2020 (FY20) ended $5,042 higher than the previous fiscal year’s total of $2,386,829. The EPC’s fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30.

“It’s hard to describe how grateful I am for God’s amazing goodness and our churches’ faithfulness as we close the fiscal year,” said Stated Clerk Jeff Jeremiah. “When April contributions were 26 percent less than we anticipated, we hoped then that we would get to this point, look back, and call it a one-month blip. Praise the Lord that turned out to be the case. We praise Him for the great recovery we’ve enjoyed in the past two months—not just for EPC budget, but because it means that people remained faithful in their giving to the local church, who in turn did not have to sacrifice PMA support in their own budgets.”

Of the $2,391,871 received, $478,392 (20 percent) was contributed to EPC World Outreach.

In addition to PMA contributions, the Office of the General Assembly received $5,949,369 in designated gifts in FY20. This total was $731,977 (14 percent) higher than the $5,217,392 in designated gifts received in FY19. Designated gifts include support for World Outreach global workers and projects, and contributions to EPC Special Projects such as Emergency Relief, church planting and revitalization initiatives, and the EPC’s holiday offerings.

Of the total, $5,198,551 was designated for World Outreach workers and projects, and $750,818 was designated for EPC projects. These amounts only reflect gifts received and distributed by the Office of the General Assembly, and do not reflect donations given directly to WO global workers or other projects.

“In spite of all the challenges we’ve faced this year, total giving to our global workers is up between January and June in 2020 over the same period in 2019,” Jeremiah said. “In fact, giving to these precious workers on the front line for the gospel increased by 17.6 percent over the first six months of 2019. I am so thankful for how God has blessed people financially to support these workers.”