Take time to read all the directions.
Complete the worksheet before you enter the data online. Click on "Blank Report Forms" on the menu and print for use in compiling information. Do not send the paper form to the conference office.
For multi-point charges: Enter data for each church of the charge separately. Do not combine information.
For federated churches, yoked parishes and community churches: Report only that part of the membership and money belonging to The United Methodist Church. Many churches do not keep a separate record of spending for each denomination represented. In this case, a percentage allocation should be applied based on the percentage of membership that is United Methodist. For example, if 85 percent of the membership is United Methodist, then only report 85 percent of income and expenses.
The pastor is responsible for seeing that the report is timely and accurate. Compare current and prior year figures for any glaring discrepancies. For reports not received by the due date, only prior year membership and benevolences sent to the conference treasurer will be recorded. When calculating Mission Share and Mission Agency Support, 10 percent will be added to the prior year Total Operating Income (line 52) per conference rule.
2017 data entered in the Vital Signs Dashboard will be prefilled into appropriate boxes of the tables. Examine this information carefully as it may need to be corrected if your church did not consistently report Vital Signs data throughout the year.
To SAVE data so that you may work on it again later, click on the "save" button at the top or bottom of the page. Clicking "save" will not submit the data.
To SUBMIT data once you have completed entering all of your congregation's information (and the pastor has reviewed the information for accuracy), click on "submit," select "submit church stats" and click on the "submit statistics" button to send your completed report to the conference. Clicking this button certifies that the pastor has reviewed the information for accuracy. Once submitted, you must contact your district office for any data editing. Do not send a paper copy of the reports to the conference office.
Resources