"I Want to Live These Days with You" is a year of daily devotionals based on the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Having enjoyed the Advent devotional based on Dr. Bonhoeffer's writings, I have chosen to continue to reflect upon the life and faith of Dr. Bonhoeffer in the coming year. This morning's devotional (Tuesday) was based on the third chapter of Ecclesiastes, which, you may remember from the sermon on Sunday, is a lectionary reading for the first day of the New Year.
Dr. Bonhoeffer observes, "For those who find and give thanks to God in their earthly fortune, God will give them times in which to remember that all things on earth are only temporary, and that it is good to set one's heart on eternity... All things have their time, and the main thing is to stay in step with God and not always be hurrying a few steps ahead or falling behind. To want everything at once is to be overanxious." His words are timely.
While the final numbers are not in, as we close our books on 2011, it seems our session will be faced with some challenging questions. While our income is about 10% more than we budgeted, our expenses were about 20% more than we budgeted. This difference of 10%, in a $220,000 budget, amounts to about a $20,000 deficit. The good news is, at least by IRS standards, we will yet end the year in the black because we received over $20,000 in memorial gifts. Nevertheless, as we look to next year, I am not sure it is good fiscal practice to depend too heavily on such gifts to meet our operating expenses.
As some of you remember, this brings us full circle. When I arrived, we were living on a deficit budget. While it took 4 or 5 years, we made changes to our program budget, while maintaining our mission giving, and cut our utility expenses substantially with better management of our facilities. The difference now is that we no longer have areas in the budget where we can "find" money. Over half our budget is comprised of personnel expenses. The other half is comprised largely of expenses we cannot cut, such as insurance, or that we would not want to cut, such as mission.
To put all of this into perspective, we could cut our entire "program" budget - worship, education and other ministries - and we would only save about $15,000. As churches go, we run a tight ship. Our staff does a tremendous job with limited resources. We were about $10,000 over on the expense side of our budget. Over $8,000 of that overage went to unexpected, but necessary, repairs and mission giving.
As we look to the future, among the questions our session will be asking are these: Has the time come to reduce our staff or call a part-time pastor? This will most likely mean cutting beloved programs and ministries, as well, but it is the single largest portion of our budget. Shall we live off of our reserves for a few years in hope that things will turn around? There are consequences here, as well. Things might not turn around. Moreover, we already rely on the interest from our reserve funds to support our current budget. Spending down our reserve funds will have future consequences. Should we expect more financial support from the members of our congregation?
This is a question I'm not sure our session will be able to answer. The question of our congregation's stewardship is, at best, complex. While I don't know what individual members give, I do know that, though we have improved considerably over the past ten years, we still do not compare favorably to many other congregations with similar challenges and resources. There are a number of reasons for this. Many of those who might have the means to do more are generously supporting a variety of worthy organizations in our community. Others simply don't have the means. Not to mention, some of the most generous among us are those with the least to offer.
I am sure, there are other issues, as well, but what it comes down to is this. Our session must discern a way forward in the New Year with faith, hope, and trust that God will continue to provide us the resources to do the ministry God has called us to do. So we would ask your prayers, for their work and our life together. Perhaps, this is such a time, as that of which Dr. Bonhoeffer speaks, a time "to remember that all things on earth are only temporary, and that it is good to set one's heart on eternity..." If so, regardless of these challenges which face us, we may, yet, rejoice in the blessing of "living these days with God."
See you in church!
Pastor Myers
