July 2010

Greetings and Salutations,

            Summer is here and with it weather…sunburn, vacations, state fair, baseball and dwindling attendance at church.

            It is no secret that during the summer there is a marked decrease in church attendance.  Anyone who has the church as part of their life knows this and comes to expect it.  We look forward to the fall when the pews begin to fill up a little more and the collection plate looks a little fuller.

            The collection plate is what I want to talk about for this article.  For those of you paying attention, we have on page one of this newsletter the May income/expense report.  I need to draw your attention to some items in order for it to make sense.

            On first glance, it looks like the church is doing marvelously well.  Our income for May far outweighed our expenses.  However, these appearances are deceiving.  If you will notice, the bottom income line is labeled “Designated Benevolence.”  This is money that is taken in for special offerings, such as One Great Hour of Sharing.  Therefore, we cannot touch it for our own expenses.  This takes our income total from $23,824.35 down to $23,564.35.  This does not look like a large drop, but the other shoe has yet to fall.

            Just above “Designated Benevolence” is a line marked, “Donation.”  This is money that was willed to the church by Keith E. and Miriam J. Dickson upon her death.  While it is true that this gift could be used for the general expenses of the church, the Trustees are currently looking at more appropriate ways to use this gift than with electric and phone bills.  Therefore, this money also (for the time being) cannot be touched.  This brings our previous income from $23,564.35 down to $8,762.00.

            Above the “Donation” line is a line marked “Women’s Groups.”  This income, in the amount of $1050.00 was used for the purchase and upkeep of the new copier in the church office.  Therefore, this money also, cannot be touched.  This brings our total usable income to $7,712.00.  If we subtract our expenses from this amount we find that we are running -$752.75 for the month of May.

            The Trustees realize that this is an alarming trend in our year with yet another 4 months before God’s Portion Day.  They are looking for ways to adjust spending in order to be good stewards of the church’s finances, but the responsibility does not rest solely with them.

            Times are difficult and uncertain.  Money is tight for nearly everyone at this moment.  Steady giving is hard to do for many of the congregation who don’t know what the weather is going to do for their yearly income.  Therefore, I propose an experiment.

            This month, when you come to church, try to increase your current tithe by 10%.  If you give a dollar, give $1.10.  If you give $50 typically, give 5 extra.  If you’re able to give $25, how difficult is it to find another $2.50? 

            I hope everyone enjoys their summer.  I hope that vacations go well and that everyone has a chance to rest and relax.  But don’t forget that you are the church.  We have expenses that we share and the income we receive comes from you.  I encourage you to remember that skipping a Sunday does not mean that we got to skip that weeks bills.

Sincerely,