Newsletter Thoughts October 18th

Dear Friends,

I want to thank everyone who came to the budget workshop a few weeks ago. It was helpful for church leadership to be able to share realities, while also eliciting suggestions from those who were present. I wish more of you had been there because the financial health of ALC is important to all of us. I can also understand why some maybe want to avoid talking about money. Who of us wants to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon talking about money?

I don’t! Talking about money has never been something I’ve enjoyed doing. Once, before I was a pastor, I was leading a committee for a woman’s retreat. Of course, there was a cost for the retreat and people needed to pay to register. But I hated collecting money! So, whenever someone said they wanted to go to the retreat, I responded with something like, “great! You can pay whenever it’s convenient for you.”

The problem with this approach was that payments to the retreat site and for other supplies had to be made. One of my friends, who was also on the committee, called me and said, “you’re fired from talking about the registration! If anyone wants to register send them to me.”

I’ve learned over the years that there are times when I must talk about money. As an interim pastor this seems to be even more important, since my job is to help ALC get ready for what’s next in your ministry.

I want to continue emphasizing that ALC is not the only congregation that is struggling these days. I am more and more convinced that the way we do ministry in the future is changing. We are in a position to experiment with how ministry can be done. This was also a topic that Bishop Brenda Bos shared in her 3rd quarter report.

Meanwhile, please feel free to ask questions and make suggestions (even comments upon the suggestions that were already made). The community is much stronger when we all work together and I’m looking forward to hearing from some of you.

Peace in Christ,

Pastor Nancy