Key points:
- As part of its new Jubilee Initiative, the Louisiana Conference is helping local churches to pay off debt, fund ministries, expand staffing and more.
- The multiyear initiative is being funded through strategic reserves and the interest earned from investments.
- Conference officials hope other United Methodist conferences might take notice and follow suit.
Asbury United Methodist Church in Bossier City, Louisiana, boasts a beautiful facility that members have enjoyed since 2005.
Not so pretty or rewarding is the million dollars or so of debt the church still carries about 20 years after the building was constructed.
“It is a beautiful sanctuary,” said the Rev. Kelly Berne, pastor at Asbury. “But with that came a huge debt, and unfortunately, the church has carried that debt with them.”
A phone call she received from the Louisiana Conference offered her hope for lifting that burden.
The Jubilee Initiative, a $15 million multiyear endeavor announced Sept. 23 by the conference, will use $5 million to pay off the debt of 25 or so churches in Louisiana, including Asbury. Another $10 million is earmarked as a Missional Momentum Fund, which, through an application process, will award churches funding for ministry projects, facility improvements, staffing or other needs.
“We were going through the process of determining what funding models we might have to adapt in light of disaffiliation,” explained the Rev. Van Stinson, executive director of mission and ministry at the conference.
“Even though we had lost 40% of our churches, we were able to reduce our apportionments by 40% as well after disaffiliation,” Stinson said. “We weathered the storm of disaffiliation financially better than we anticipated.”
In fact, the conference had compiled “significant assets” through thrifty money management and other developments, he said. The question became whether it made sense to be frugal in a time when some churches have been shutting their doors for lack of money.
With support from the United Methodist Foundation of Louisiana, the decision was made to act now.
“We identified that now was the best time to invest transformative dollars for what we’re living into as a transformative future,” Stinson said. “We thought it was the ideal time for us to invest in mission and ministry during this season because we believe that’s what we’re called to do, since we have been blessed with the resources.”
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The initiative is being funded through strategic reserves and the interest earned from investments, the Rev. Weldon Bares said in a video. He is pastor of First United Methodist Church in Lake Charles and chair of The Louisiana Conference Council on Finance and Administration. “It is not coming from apportionments, pension funds or any funds set aside for retiree health,” he said.
Those wishing to apply for a part of the Missional Momentum Fund are asked to submit a letter of intent to the conference by Oct. 23. Eligible applicants include Louisiana United Methodist churches, affiliated campus ministries and camps.
Suggested projects in addition to debt relief include:
- Facility improvements to address deferred maintenance, major repairs, renovations or accessibility needs — helping a church adapt its facilities to better serve its congregation and neighbors.
- Strategic staffing to establish or expand a key position for up to two years, giving the congregation time to grow the ministry and create a sustainable plan for the role.
- Major ministry initiatives for large-scale programs aligning with the Louisiana Conference’s strategic initiatives: evangelizing new generations while embracing and pursuing diversity; creating a culture of call for both laity and clergy; prioritizing congregational vitality and leadership development; and faithfully and creatively telling the story of The Louisiana Conference of The United Methodist Church.
In Leviticus 25:10 in the Hebrew Scriptures, jubilee is explained as a periodic reset of the community. Every 50 years in Israel, slaves and indentured servants were to be set free, debts canceled, property returned to people who had sold under duress and farmland left alone so it could regenerate.
“The biblical idea of jubilee is a transformative reset,” Stinson said. “It is about restoration. It is about removing burdens. It is about recognizing that sometimes something needs to change so that life and ministry can move forward again.”
Louisiana Conference Bishop Delores J. Williamston said Jubilee is about creating room for ministry. “It is about helping our churches focus even more deeply on the work God has called us to do — reaching people, serving communities, developing leaders and sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.”
In Bossier City, the financial support will allow the congregation to focus on ministering in the community rather than the debt hanging over the church.
“(The congregation’s) favorite thing to do is to be in ministry with the community, and they live out the mission of bringing hope, building faith and reaching out with love,” said Berne, who was appointed to the church of nearly 1,000 members in July 2025.
Asbury is a sponsor of the Katie Build Tennis Tournament each spring, which since 2015 has raised $340,000 to build homes for veterans. The church also has partnerships with The Hub: Urban Ministries and Volunteers of America.
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“Mission is just always on the forefront,” Berne said.
The church stepped up in April when eight children were shot and killed in Shreveport by a man who was the father of seven of them. Shreveport is across the Red River from Bossier City, about a two-mile drive.
“Immediately, our church jumped in with other churches in our area … to reach out to the school that was largely affected and to provide lunch and notes of encouragement to the students and the teachers,” Berne said. “Asbury is always ready and willing to say, ‘Yes.’”
When Zaxbys right before Christmas wanted to donate 200 meals to the community, Asbury members also jumped into action to help, she said.
“It’s such a joy to be able to walk alongside a church that lives out their mission of bringing hope to the community, of building faith and of reaching out with love,” Berne said.
It’s hoped that churches like Asbury will apply to expand their ministries to reach younger and more diverse people in the community and strengthen congregational vitality and leadership development.
“We’re hoping that this will become a model for what organizational innovation and institutional innovation looks like for other annual conferences as well,” Stinson said. “We’ve got a lot of energy and hope for this to have a transformative impact.
“If others are drawn into this, we’re happy to share our models and our resources with anyone who would like to join us.”
Patterson is a UM News reporter in Nashville, Tennessee. Contact him at 615-742-5470 or [email protected]. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.
