How your tithes and offerings are
presently used.
How do we move forward from here?
It
is this time of year that we begin planning for the next year, and we will be communicating
thoughts on this throughout November. A
place we need to begin is with everybody’s least favorite topic- our
stewardship of money. Below outlines
where we are presently, as well as some of the visions and plans the vestry has
for moving forward.
Our Ministry Budget
We commonly call this our operating budget. It has
three major sub-categories.
·
Outreach budget:
This reflects our planned commitments to support local, regional and
overseas ministries. This year’s
outreach budget is approximately $24,000.
Vision:
Our vision is to sacrificially grow this portion of our budget to 50% of
the operating budget. We are presently at
about 14%.
·
Staff compensation and staff expenses:
The total compensation for our three clergy, including their expenses,
is about $30,000. Additionally, we
compensate our nursery worker, office administrator and sexton (building
cleaning) together a total of $9,000. Ever
since we planted this church in 2009, staff compensation has been recognized by
our successive vestries as a critical growing edge for our congregation.
Vision:
Planning for a Future Rector. The objective is to position ourselves to be able
to call a new rector. For a young, high
energy priest with a family, a compensation package with appropriate benefits is
roughly $100,000.
Vision:
Music Director. We
presently do not have a paid music director/organist. This places a burden on both our keyboardist
and the Rector. The challenge here is more
in finding a music director/organist than it is coming up with the money.
·
Other operating expenses:
This includes everything from mortgage to youth ministry- everything
else it takes to run a church. We are
tracking well under-budget on many of these line-items, but we nonetheless have
a budget of approximately $96,000. About
half of that is the mortgage on our building.
You
can see the details of Ministry Budget in last year’s annual report. The account for this Budget presently has a
cash balance of approximately $38,000.
Separate
from the Ministry Budget above are several other funds:
·
Facilities Improvement Fund: We commonly call this
our Building Fund. Although we budget for the maintenance of our building and grounds
in our Ministry Budget (above), funds for capital improvements to our
facilities are tracked in a separate account.
This fund presently has a balance of approximately $27,000.
Vision Road cut-through from Merovan Drive to
Walnut Lane: This will significantly
improve the church’s accessibility, and it is presently being looked at in partnership
with the other property owners in Sweetwater Business Park. Father Rob represents us on the Property
Owner’s Association. We will need to
raise the funds for doing this in the near future.
Vision
Kneelers. This project is well underway. Thank you to all who have supported this with
donations.
Vision
New bathrooms: We have had a long-standing vision to
renovate the storage area at the west end of the building to provide bathrooms,
showers, one more classroom and a storage/workshop. This is one of our more long-term plans.
Vision Re-roofing:
Leaks abound. Our Junior Warden Mike
Sanders has done a good job getting the roof repaired as needed. Common wisdom says that at some point we need
to look at a new roof.
Vision Landscaping on the Walmart side of our building.
·
Reserve Fund: This
fund has a balance of approximately of $12,000 and when fully funded will allow
us to ride through emergencies and other unforeseen events.
Vision:
The vestry has a goal of building the Reserve Fund to half our operating
budget.
·
Memorial Fund: The memorial fund collects gifts
and memorials. It is used as directed by
the giver or as the Vestry deems appropriate. It presently has a balance of $1,400.
Father Rob, 11/6/16
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