The Joy of Financial Stability

I have good news to report: this church is operating in the black!

Every month, we publish a brief report showing our financial status at the close of the previous month. If you look closely at the report on page 12 of this issue of the Parish Pages, you will see that we finished the month of May with a positive balance of $8,654.01. That is fantastic news. The last time we posted a positive balance at the end of a month was back in March of 2008. When I arrived as your Pastor in May of last year, we were over eleven thousand dollars in the red; now, slightly more than a year later, we are eight thousand dollars in the black. This is fantastic news – thanks be to God!

This achievement has come about because of your generosity, and also because of some difficult and disciplined work on the part of the leadership of this church. Last year, your Session established as its #1 priority the creation of a balanced budget for 2009. While this church had a strong habit of passing balanced budgets in years past, we did not have a balanced budget in either 2007 or 2008; in fact, the budget for 2008 was a budget showing that the expected spending for the year would exceed the expected income by nearly $97,000. That created a very challenging and very stressful situation for your leadership. Determined not to do that again, your Session and Finance Committee worked extremely hard last fall to create a balanced budget for 2009. With a significant (and very successful) appeal to the congregation, and with some budget cuts in a few places, we were able to create a balanced budget for the current year. The Finance Committee has been monitoring the budget very closely so far in 2009. There were some hefty bills to pay early in the year – our expenses are not the same from month to month – and we can now joyfully report that, at the present time, we are in solid financial shape. Praise be to God!

So – thank you. Thank you for your generous contributions to the church that have made this possible. Thank you for your ongoing support of the mission of this congregation. Thank you for helping to fund the ministry we do here in the name of Jesus Christ. You did this. You made this happen. Rejoice in this celebratory moment. We are truly blessed!

I can’t tell you what a difference it makes in this Pastor’s life to know that this congregation is on solid, stable financial footing – especially given the challenging economic situation our world is in right now. That reality means that I don’t have to worry whether we will have the funds to do the things we have budgeted. Last year, I did; last year, to give just one example, the Mission Committee was not able to fully fund all the programs and initiatives that they had planned on supporting. This year, thanks be to God, they will be able to do that. We have the cash to make good on our promises. Praise be to God!

I am hopeful that we are going to end the year in the black. I am hopeful that there will be no need to hold a “catch-up” luncheon this December – as has been done in the previous several years – because there won’t be anything that we need to “catch up” on. I am hopeful that your generous contributions to the ministry of the church will continue through the summer months and into the fall. I believe we can do this, thanks to God’s generous grace and your steadfast commitment to the ongoing mission of the church.

With prayers of joy and gratitude,

Rev. Bill Pinches
Pastor