WINTER 2025
United Methodist DNA Evident in 2024 AUF Investment
U
nited Methodists are generous and deeply committed to global missional engagement. Local congregations made this clear in 2024 through their unwavering support for the Africa University Fund (AUF) apportionment. The fund ended the year with overall giving at 78.95 percent. Seventeen annual conferences gave 100 percent of their asking to the AUF, up from 15 in 2023. Beyond budget commitments, giving increased in 11 annual conferences and helped to balance shortfalls in those conferences where 2024 AUF investment slipped below 2023 levels. That led to AUF year-end receipts for 2024 that were down less than one percent from 2023. “Africa University urged its extended family, stakeholders and friends…to remember that we have done what we said we would do—educate future leaders for the continent of Africa and the world in a Chrisitan environment—and their response tells us that they are not done with Africa
University yet,” said James H. Salley, president and chief executive officer of AU (Tennessee) Inc. A new denominational budget for 2025-2028 went into effect in January. It includes a shared commitment to invest $1,272,632 in AUF in 2025. That’s around 40 percent lower than the previous budget. In this new four-year churchwide budget, funding for Africa University went from around $9.3M to $4.8M. For Bishop L. Jonathan Holston, chair of AU (Tennessee) Inc. Board of Directors and resident bishop of the newly formed Alabama Panhandle Episcopal Area, this is where United Methodists show the world who and whose they are. “Your commitments and support to the mission and ministry of education at your Africa University is about a joy so great that we want to share it,” said Holston. “The point is never the money but how we use our gifts and talents for the common good.” “When you give, it comes back to you,” said Salley. “Africa University is still under the cross and
Bishop L. Jonathan Holston
James H. Salley
flame of The United Methodist Church. I expect the church to continue to prove the naysayers wrong with support that enables the university to make disciples of Jesus Christ to transform the world.” Local churches’ investment in the AU Fund helps to sustain day-to-day operations at the United Methodist-related institution.
Become a Keystone Congregation for AU! Supporting AU satisfies a need for purpose and solidifies connection to one of the greatest missions of The United Methodist Church. This can happen when a church becomes a Keystone Congregation for AU. A keystone congregation promises to share in the college journey of an AU student with updates, mutual prayers and encouragement; and makes a multi-year commitment to provide annual scholarship support of at least $7,000 for that student. A four-year commitment is ideal. With that, a congregation becomes a permanent part of AU’s strategy for growth and sustainability. Typically, this level of commitment is something that congregations grow into; the journey starts with members learning about the impact of their witness. To do this, a church can host a congregation-wide AU Sunday celebration, an
exciting, informative event that connects members with AU students and staff. Charity UMC in Virginia Beach, Va., hosted its first AU Sunday celebration in mid-January. The update on AU and message shared by the guest preacher, Rev. Lloyd Rollins, challenged their mission chairperson and lay leaders to imagine a giving plan that goes beyond the church’s budget. Since a $7,000 annual commitment can be daunting to some congregations, Rollins breaks it down. Imagine, he says, if 100 members agreed to give $1.35 a week for 52 weeks; that comes to $5.40 a month, less than $65 per person for the year. Rev. Jay Cottman, Charity UMC senior pastor said, “Our church has a missional mindset and is examining sacrificial mission and ministry. Giving to AU could allow students to support their families; it could give a student one more gift of
God’s tangible grace.” Interested in developing a plan to extend your church’s missional reach by becoming a Keystone Congregation? We want to hear from you. Be in touch by email at audevoffice@africau.org or call us at (615) 340-7438.