About Us | Wellington Square United Church

Message from the Board June 28th

Representing the Board of Elders, I want to let you know of changes coming for the way we will be presenting our budget for 2009/2010.

In the past while preparing the budget, we’ve tried to forecast the costs associated with the running of the church. Such as staff salaries, utilities, property costs, Children’s Ministry, Worship services, Adult Faith Development, Pastoral Care etc.
On top of that comes our ever-expanding Outreach Ministry work that for the most part is money that flows in and out of our church when we are told of needs.

Two challenges that continue to come to the surface are, the unexpected and unbudgeted capital repairs to this building and that new ways to serve the poor and the marginalized will always be brought to our attention. We have a wonderful community of servants who continue to ask for our eyes to be opened to the plight of the forgotten and our own blessings of abundance.
As Outreach and Caring Action continue to guide us as to how best to use our time talents and resources to love those that God loves, we feel the squeeze for time to share and then convince our congregation to give generously. This time squeeze can lead to frustration by those who feel passionately about their particular project and it can become an unhealthy competition for the stage and for our resources.
As it was put to us at the Outreach and Caring Action team leaders meeting this week, there are “real needs” in all of the areas defined as our Wellington Square Outreach projects. Mexico, Malawi, Kerr Street, Motel Ministry, Wesley Centre, Sierre Leone, Partnership West food banks.

The Board of Elders think carefully about how we stand up and answer these needs as a family of faith. We can do so much more when we act as though all of these needs are vitally important to our God. Our response as a church can be a unified plan to give because we have been given and are so abundantly blessed.

We now ask that a change in our mindset of HOW we give begin to take place. Starting in the fall, we will be directing a percentage of our weekly offering to the identified Outreach ministries as well as purposefully setting funds aside to build a Capital Reserve. This is not something we have done and we have paid for that many times over with repairs that must be made. Just as in our own homes, if we didn’t save for the leaky roof, it comes out of money we need for our regular expenses or retirement savings.
Many of you may be looking at our deficit and think, where is this money going to come from?
This church has been outstanding in how it gives for Outreach needs. But the change will be HOW we give. Instead of each team vying for your ear and heart to sell their project and validate its need. We can all agree at the AGM as a congregation to Outreach and Caring Actions plan for what we support and start working together to educate about those needs and celebrate our successes in partnering with God to achieve new relationships and changes in peoples lives. We can begin by looking at our statement of givings for last year and put the number together for General offerings with all that we give to the different Outreach projects. Ask God for guidance on how we can increase that number this next year and divide it by how you regularly give. It is amazing how a small increase by all of us, makes a huge difference. Literally the cost of a couple of coffees to start with. For me it will be divided by 52 weeks as I give in my envelope each week. Our givings to Outreach will be spread out through the year, instead of during times of specific asks. There will not be as many asks, but much more information about what we are doing and how God is using our resources. This still means that we all need to ask God to show us how we can think differently about our resources as a blessing and not the reason for our biggest stress.
There will be much more information coming your way from every way we can think of to explain this change to you. We can stand together as a community of believers and do what Jesus asked us to do. Lifting up our brothers and sisters in need, and that is easier to do that when we are not holding on so tightly to our own stuff.

It is exciting, but change is still a loss for some and we will need to pray for each other and ask for grace and wisdom as we discern the spirit behind this new direction.
Phillipians 2 1:5
If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, have the same love, being one In spirit and purpose, Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Grace and Peace to you,
Tori Jones
Chair of the Board of Elders

Wellington Square United Church

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