As Vice President of the Rocky Mountain Synod, I want to give you a brief update on the current state of
the RMS Budget.
Transition Expenses:
The transition budget that passed at the synod assembly
allowed for $145,000 in expenses. Creating the budget was challenging because
there were so many unknowns. Some of the expenses are related to events
(election, appreciation, installation), others related to staff who might be
leaving (severance, vacation, contracts for training/overlap period, etc.) and
still others related to staff who might be coming (moving, office equipment,
furniture as needed, etc.). As of mid July we have spent approximately $8,900.
Most of the anticipated expenses have not yet happened, however we now have a
much clearer picture of what to expect. I am glad to inform you that we are right
on track. Barring any unforeseen events, we expect to come in under the budget
when the transition is complete.
Congregational
Giving:
The chart below shows congregational giving to the Rocky
Mountain Synod from 2004 to present. The
data is summarized into three groups: the average giving from 2004-2008 (before
the economic crisis), 2009-2011 (during and after the crisis) and this year to
date.
It is not surprising that the average after the economic
crisis is lower than it was before. What is disconcerting is that 2012 shows no
sign of recovery. In fact congregational giving last June represented the
lowest income of any month since 2004. Cheryl the financial secretary
says that it is the lowest one month income she has ever seen since she started
in this job about 17 years ago.
It is easy and tempting to speculate about why this is. Are
times really that tight in congregations? Does this have something to do with
the transition? …. But such speculation rarely bares any fruit. Instead, I
would like to simply ask.
Please take a moment and post at the bottom
of this blog what is happening with your congregation. What is happening
with your income. What is happening with
your giving to the RMS and why? What do you expect for the rest of the year?
What ideas do you have? What resources do you need? Let’s talk about this together as a synod. After all, this is the
money we use to do ministry together. It
is also the money we use to support each other.
I suspect if we talk about this openly we will be able to connect needs
to knowledge in new ways that will benefit everyone. Please take a moment and join the
conversation. This affects all of us.
Linda Bobbitt
Linda,
ReplyDeleteSt. Matthew's is struggling. They don't have enough to pay me...so I'm probably going to go from 2/3 to 1/2 time....they are a blue collar parish, and have not had a good stewardship program in four years...it will happen this year. We have been the lucky recipient of two grants, one from Zion and one from Evergreen...otherwise who knows...
Linda,
ReplyDeleteLutheran Church of Hope is working hard. Our giving is up both to the General Fund and to our Building Fund. Thanks be to God! Do we have our challenges? Yes. Do we still give thanks and pray for guidance and support? Yes. But something is starting to work. We've taken a different approach to stewardship - telling stories of how Hope has brought Hope to people's lives. We call it now an annual commitment drive - as we pondered the membership rite, we've made a commitment to be in community together, part of that is our financial commitment to the community. This has freed 'stewardship' to be a larger year-long whole-life conversation rather than just 3 or 4 weeks out of the year.
Do we have our challenges? Yes. But we are boldly going where stewardship research has told us to go. If you haven't read 'Not Your Parents' Offering Plate' - its a great read and a lot to chew on.
Zion in Loveland is below budget on giving, but we're also equally below budget in expenses in hopes we don't have to change our budget midyear. We grew our budget higher than the numbers showed us we should for 2012, but we decided to step out in faith because of many great things we felt God was doing. So when we look at the growth in this year's budget, we are actually behind at the same percentage that we have been historically for this time of the year. We are just praying that we'll see the same percentage "catch up" for the remainder of the year. Regardless, we plan to give what we pledged for mission support to the synod and ELCA.
ReplyDeletePeace in Christ ELM Elizabeth, CO has had great growth in giving for the last two years (49.9% increase in 2011 and 35% so far in 2012). However, members were also motiovated to give to support the purchase of our building, thus increasing giving from 4.7% per FIE to 6.6%. Our issue, however, is the number who still restrict their giving because of church politics. Like it or not, it is a reality for many and I have not found a solution that works as yet. I'll just keep telling the story of our church and pray for the best.
ReplyDelete