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The World Council of Churches' (WCC) Central Committee yesterday approved a new system for calculating membership contributions.

In introducing the proposal to the Central Committee, its Finance Committee vice moderator, Dean Anders Gadegaard, emphasized that the new system was developed after much discussion, in an effort to reach a method that is "fair, transparent and objectively determined for all members".

The new membership contribution calculation is based on the size of the church, and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country (or countries) where it is located.

Church size is determined by membership data submitted by the churches themselves when applying for allocation of seats at the WCC's forthcoming ninth assembly. A minimum contribution is linked to size, which is then lowered, based on a comparison between the GDP of the country concerned and that of the USA, the country with the world's highest GDP.

In specific cases where church members' income is significantly lower than the national average, the church can request an adjustment, to be authorized by the Finance Committee.

Churches which currently contribute more than the figure calculated in the new system are requested to maintain their level of contribution.

The new system will be introduced as from 1 January 2004, with the first year seen as a transition period.

The new system is part of a membership campaign that aims to raise WCC membership income to CHF 10 million by 2006, the time of the ninth assembly, with all member churches making a minimum contribution of 1,000 CHF.

In encouraging the churches to pay their membership contributions under the new calculation, WCC general secretary Rev Dr. Konrad Raiser says that the goal of 10 million CHF comes from a decision at the Harare assembly that sought to ensure that the core structure of the WCC as a fellowship of churches is funded without any outside financial pressures.

Previously, all member churches were simply asked to contribute to the WCC, with a minimum contribution set at 1,000 CHF. In 2002, 226 of the 342 member churches paid a membership contribution, up from 163 in 2001. The total income from membership contributions in 2002 was 6.5 million CHF.

WCC Central Committee documents are available on the Web at:

www2.wcc-coe.org/ccdocuments2003.nsf