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REPORT FROM THE CHURCH COUNCIL
Brothers &
Sisters in Christ-
At the semi-annual congregational meeting held on January 27th, important information was disseminated and
critical discussions took place, which are important to anyone who
participates in the wonderful ministries of StJLC
such as, Bible Studies, Sunday School, Pre-School, Confirmation Class, Youth
Program, Caregivers, Social Ministries, Food Pantry, Music Program and
others.
Over the past three years, the Council has tried to communicate the need for
more financial support so that we can continue to offer a wide variety of
faith based programs for all of us, our children, friends, and even strangers
seeking a relationship with Christ. We
simply can no longer afford to offer these programs at the current level of
giving without exhausting reserves that had been accumulated over many, many
years.
Some key points of interest:
- Offerings last year averaged $38,000 per
month. The cost to offer ministry, including salaries, electricity, heat/air
conditioning and the like this year will average $43,000 a month.
- That leaves about $5,000 on average that we
need to take from savings each month in order to pay salaries, and other
bills.
- The District has implored us to balance our
budget and not to use our savings to pay operating expenses, but for
long-term needs (which you will read more about below). Without a change
in our offering patterns, it is widely recognized by the Church Council,
Pastor and Staff, the members that attended the meeting, and even the
District, that we will exhaust our available resources in less than
three years time. At that point, the Church could not continue
current operations.
After much debate, the congregation approved an interim budget that would
spend more than we took in for 2007, and recognizes a $57,000 deficit for
2008. Along with the budget, the congregation passed a resolution that an
austerity budget would need to be implemented if offerings were not meeting
expenses by June 30, 2008. An austerity budget would impact the
services and programs we love so much, because it would likely result in the
layoff of staff members who work so hard to provide them. Remember, these are
people that not only work here - they are our friends, family members and
worshipping brothers and sisters in Christ. They make all of our ministries
possible.
As part of the budget process, we looked at each line item in the budget and
cut back where we could. For example, we will be making more use of volunteers,
switching to lower cost insurance carriers and challenging vendors to improve
their quality and pricing. In the end, that simply isn't enough to solve our
budget problem.
So what are we doing about it? At the meeting, the congregation joined the
Council, Pastor and Staff in deciding to move forward with a program called
Consecrated Stewards. It is the first formal stewardship program in recent
memory at StJLC. It will take each of us on a
spiritual journey designed to enlighten our self awareness around faith based
giving. At its conclusion, the program will lead us to a place that hopefully
allows each of us to step up our financial support for the Lord's work. To be
clear, our problems stem from a lack of giving first fruits to the Lord, as
we are pleased to report expenses have been held in check or are down
slightly in each of the past years.
One item that was highlighted during the Congregational meeting was the
physical condition of our Church. Our operating budget continues to fall far
short of what it needs to be to take care of God's house. The congregation
rejected a resolution to fund a professional study of the facility at a cost
of $20,000. Although that is a large amount of money, the expectations for
the cost of repairing the structural deficiencies that the report was likely
to uncover, would be much, much more. We have not properly re-invested in our
facilities for many years and the problems, as well as expenses, will
continue to mount. At some point, this will have to take the form of a
Capital Campaign, separate and apart from Consecrated Stewards to ensure we
can offer our programs in acceptable facilities. To bring this point to
a close, many are largely unaware that almost every time there is a major
rainstorm the sub-story is flooded with water. Staff, Pre-school teachers and
volunteers are all taken away from their real responsibilities to clean up
the mess.
Our request is simple: Pray over what the Lord provides, celebrate the good
work He is doing here at StJLC, and support the
ministries. Stewardship is about financial responsibility, but it's also
about time and talents that the Lord has blessed each of us with. Now is the
time to get involved -in ministry, on Council, and by taking a leadership
role in our Consecrated Stewards campaign. Your Church needs your help!
In His peace,
Saint James Lutheran Church Council
Download this letter in a Word document
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