NEWSLETTER ABOUT CHURCH BUSINESS
Hey church friends,
Pastor John Jay here with another monthly newsletter, digital only because the November paper mailer is close behind. I want to share how we are planning for our big yearly congregational meeting affectionately known as Gratitude Night. This is the meeting where we vote on our proposed Ministry Budget for the following year, as well as leadership nominations to the Board of Deacons. We also receive an update from the FBCP Foundation Board at this time. In the “Before Times” this would have been a potluck in the gym on the Sunday evening preceding Thanksgiving. But since these are the “After Times,” we will be adjusting. Fortunately, we have gotten pretty good at adjusting! Let me share the process with you so we are all on the same page.
On November 8th our Deacon Officers will join me to host a Town Hall after Sunday morning worship to share all of the recommendations with the church. You will hear about our Ministry Budget proposal for next fiscal year (January-December 2021). You will also receive the candidates being recommended for Deacon service. We will share the Budget documents with you all ahead of the Town Hall by paper mail and electronically. Two weeks later on November 22nd, we will join together for a Gratitude Day worship service. We have moved this from an evening gathering to Sunday morning, essentially folding the meeting content into a worship context. This will allow us to take our time and to frame our central church business procedures within prayer, Scripture, singing and teaching. Voting will follow the normal process, with an additional option of voting by text for those who will be listening over the live stream audio. This will allow all active members to participate while still respecting the sliding scale of risk and comfort with the health guidelines we are practicing. We will explain all of this in more detail the day of, but for now you just need to know that you can participate on November 22nd either in person or remotely by text if you are listening from home.
We are finalizing the budgeting process as I write this, and I am so grateful for the faithfulness and generosity we have all continued to practice in these weird and scary months of 2020. We are in a healthy budget position going into 2021, which feels miraculous and also consistent with who we are as a church. Fear and anxiety normally constrain generosity, which means that we have chosen and practiced trust and hope in God throughout this wilderness season. Praise God, and thank you!
We anticipate next fiscal year (January-December 2021) to be another unpredictable year. Anticipating unpredictability means budgeting with flexibility and shifted logistical priorities, particularly around how we sustain ministries while still affected by the virus and attending disruptions. When you receive the proposed Ministry Budget, you will also receive a short narrative companion that describes the how and why of this process. In order to mail you these documents, we need to have a current physical address on file. If you want to make sure to receive this packet, you can confirm your contact details below and we will check it against our records. I look forward to sharing more in the coming weeks. Until then we are…
Less without you,
Pastor John Jay
