Stewardship Matters

Eleven years ago, my family came to St John’s at the invitation of Liz Braun.  She had invited my daughter Michelle to sing in the choir, and after the rest of us came to hear her sing, we were swept away by the friendliness and acceptance we felt here.  Over the years, my family has continued to receive many benefits from St John’s—a church family with many friends that we socialize with, Christian education to help us grow in our personal journeys with Christ, and certainly a place where we can share our God-given gifts with others.  Our sharing of these gifts has come back to us more than 10-fold, and we continue to contribute as much as our schedules allow.  I’m sure that many of you also have received similar blessings from St John’s.

I believe the church, especially the finance committee, has demonstrated good stewardship in the management of our funds.  Over the past two years, the finance committee has trimmed our yearly budget considerably, so that there is not too much wiggle room.  About the only place to further cut money is our outreach and other programs.  While we could conceivably cut programs such as music, outreach and formation, the “costs” of those cuts will be too great.  Not only that, but our music program, for instance, has contributed significantly to our growth in numbers of new members over the past years.  The vast majority of our expenses are fixed—these include clergy and administrative salaries and benefits, necessary insurances, office expenses and building maintenance fees.  We have actually been slightly under budget with most of these expenses.

Unfortunately, even with a pretty trim budget, we are expecting a built-in deficit of $70,000.  That money has to come from somewhere to cover these deficits.  Turning to our portfolio, or what I would rather call our savings account is one place we can get our expenses paid.  Unfortunately, the portfolio will be rapidly depleted over the next several years if we make no effort to replenish it.  Unfortunately, as I have mentioned in previous columns in The Messenger, we are also in dire need of renovations that will hopefully prevent future catastrophe.  For instance, our beautiful stained glass windows need $200,000 in repairs before they implode and hurt someone.  The slate roof needs replacing—I’m not sure how much that actually would cost, but believe me it won’t be cheap.  We could rapidly deplete our savings on those two items alone, not to mention necessary renovations just to make this building of ours accessible to our elderly and handicapped population.

Well, what about stewardship?  Stewardship teaches that all that we have and all that we are is a gift from God.  1 Chronicles in the Old Testament, Chapter 29:12-14 says: “Riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all.  In your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.  And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name…for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.” We are, therefore, stewards of God’s gifts during our lifetime.  The gifts that we have been given---time, talent and treasure, are to be used for the purpose of discerning and carrying out God’s will for us.  Our church is here to guide us in the discernment of that mission, to give us an opportunity for spiritual growth in God, and to bring us into a closer relationship with God.  Part of that relationship with God is gratitude, since everything we are and everything we have is a gift from God.  That should be the primary motivation for giving.  Gratitude is the door to inner peace and wholeness.  It fosters a sense of abundance and therefore frees us to be generous.

Unfortunately, we only have about 120 pledging units here at St John’s.  It would certainly be great if we had more.  Total pledges received last year were $213,485.  With 115 pledging units, that came to an average pledge of $1856 per year or $35 per week.  With the top 20 pledging units giving nearly half that money, that means that the remaining pledging units gave approximately $1150 per year or roughly $22 per week.  With a budgeted portfolio draw of nearly $100,000 this year (expect that to be less than what we actually draw), frankly, I don’t see how we can continue to function without an influx of substantial income.

I therefore am making a plea to you to please increase your pledges this year. I know that for many of us money is tight, and we are often pulled into many different directions when it comes to giving our money to different causes.  My hope is that St John’s would be one of your major priorities.  I’m asked every year by many different agencies to give money.  I have been limiting what I give to different organizations so that I can give more to St John’s.  I do try to give 10% of my overall income away.  I still give to several organizations, but the vast amount of my giving goes to St John’s.

We are blessed with our gifts, talents, and yes treasure for a reason – to serve and gloify God.  This includes the Church itself.  Why not ask your friends to come join us here at St John’s.  We have a lot to offer.  I’m glad that one of you asked my family to come here 11 years ago.

Tony de Bari