A Letter from Pastor Gene - Stewardship
I don’t write as many letters as I used to. Undergirding that is the fact that here at SUM, we have several people who write quite well and have taken the opportunity to bring the rest of us their thoughts on events, new members, departing members, and so on. Personally, I love that I’ve been lovingly sidelined a bit because I believe that an engaged laity is essential to a healthy church. That said, there are times when nothing short of a letter from the senior pastor will get the job done, and we find ourselves there now.
It's not often that you get communication from me about our church’s finances, but I’ve been working closely with the Finance Committee, Greg Friedline, our Stewardship Chair, and, of course, Deacon Deb, and there is some information I need to share with you; we’re in roughly $60,000 of trouble. That number represents the gap between giving (pledged and unpledged) for this year and our budget. There are several reasons for this but one big one is the same inflationary pressures that we’re all feeling at home. Many of the things we need to pay for the church to function have increased in price, too. A good example is the cost of our snowplow budget, which, over the last few years, has increased from around $6,700 to roughly $17,000. Unfortunately, we need to pay that bill whether it snows or not. Like many of you, we’ve pulled in the fences of our spending, and that discretionary spending is very low, accounting for just 9% of our total budget. Another big factor we are dealing with has been relatively flat giving over the last decade or so. Jen Acheson, our Finance Chair can provide you with the specific numbers, but we haven’t seen much of a bump in giving over that time, although fewer pledged givers are giving more on the whole; thank you. Our last item that causes concern is an overall decrease in pledged giving. Pledges are important so that our Finance committee can plan accurately for the upcoming year, but as older members who understood pledging and were comfortable pledging have died or moved away, we’ve lost a good chunk of those reported givers.
So, what does this mean? Well, as I said, we’re in a bit of trouble. Our cash reserves, along with the extra donations some people have made in response to Jen's request, will carry us through this year, but that still leaves us in a bind for next year. In any case, I think it’s better to make good decisions before we’re forced to make bad ones. Most of our budget supports the running of the campus and our amazing staff. Now, you may love the windows and the gardens around campus, but my guess is that you attend SUM because of the amazing people I get to work with each day. If our current trajectory doesn’t change, something will have to give. Now, of course, that’s not a threat, but I think you deserve me to be honest with you. Since none of us want to entertain that thought, what can we do now?
Well, consider this. While we’re a part of the New York Annual Conference, we receive no funding from them. All the money needed to run and grow SUM comes from internal giving which means you and me. Many of you are giving what you can, and that is extremely appreciated. We have a feeling, though, that perhaps some of you could be giving more if you knew that was important. I firmly believe that we have the best people here at SUM, and our current problem comes more from a lack of knowledge/information than anything else. If you know how much you’re needed (yes, time, prayers, presence, and witness are important too), my heart tells me you will kick in, show up, and help out a place you care about just as much as I do. This extra giving, and especially pledging, will sustain our music ministry and our Christian Education department, keep oil in the tanks, and yes, even support Deacon Deb and myself.
I hope and pray you understand why I felt the need to write to you, but I also realize you may have questions, concerns, or comments. That’s why I want to remind you that I am always available to you (as is Deacon Deb) via phone, email, or in person. Let’s keep talking about this, praying about this, and planning out our giving for the coming year before our Stewardship campaign even kicks off this month. Thanks for everything you do to make SUM so wonderful.
OTJ,
PG