After selling the High Street Church building and completing a 3 year capital campaign we are on the verge of breaking ground. Our trustees and church leaders have been hard at work meeting with potential builders who have submitted building site plans, layout proposals and cost estimates.
At the last church leadership meeting our trustees and elders jointly reviewed these plans and estimates as well as our churches' financial outlook. When the finances are broken down here is how we sit (as of month end February 2018):
We currently hold 1.4 mil in liquid assets. $778,277.00 of that are currently earmarked for our future building. The remaining $621,723.00 are a mix of funds the church has restricted over the years (Ross mission fund, scholarships, etc). The initial building cost estimates range from 1.1 mil to 1.5 mil. If you've followed my math this far you can see that we are (at a minimum) short somewhere between $322-721k dollars.
The Good News is that we have that money but it is currently restricted for other purposes including being used to balance our annual operating budget. Understanding this financial picture I believe a combination of three things can get us to breaking ground sooner rather than later.
1. The trustees are looking into what it takes to redirect self-restricted funds (the $621,723) the church has self-designated for a number of purposes. This could potentially mean bringing congregational motions at a future all-church meeting to re-designate these funds for building.
2. This is where you come in! We, the supporter-members, of this church must increase our giving to balance our annual operating budget. The really good news is it is not an astronomical amount.
As our chair of the trustees, Clark Reed, recently shared, "Doing so makes more invested principal and interest available for a building. During the first quarter, we are averaging a monthly deficit of $946. We currently have 34 families/individuals supporting the church financially and 15 regularly attending families/individuals who do not give financially to the church. If each family and/or individual gave an average of just $20-50 a month more or started giving $20-50/month we could be talking about breaking ground very soon. Some of us can give more that others cannot - but each gift helps no matter the amount. "
As I look over the past 5 years since relocating to Green we have been increasing attending members and have added financially supporting members (which is amazing). These new members have supported our mission with $15,500 in annual giving. Even more amazing, we've added these members and their giving while we have been meeting without a building and with little-to-no advertising. I can confidently project that with a building in the years to come we will be able to add as many or more members and associated giving. What does that mean? It means your sacrificial increase in giving now of $20-50/month paves the way for not only a building but an expansion of our mission, addition of future supporting members, and a larger pool of people financially supporting our community-minded mission. Every dollar you give now will potentially be matched by future supporting members. You'll be paving the way for an expansion of our mission.
3. If you can bless our church with a one-time 'building fund' gift of any amount you can move our financial needle to 'BUILD.' We are 90% of the way there. Your generous one-time tax-deductible donation can help finish our fundraising need.
These three things will get us where we want to be - a growing mission-minded/community-centered church with a community-centered building.
Its going to take all of us! We are right there - almost ready to break ground!
Pastor Joel