Friends,

On Monday at 11:30 the staff and I will be meeting at a restaurant where will have our little staff Christmas party and exchange white elephant gifts.

Those in attendance will be:

1. Yours truly: last year my white elephant gift was a jar of Marmite, which I quite enjoy.

2. Sue Bentley, our Parish Administrator and Bookkeeper

3. Kate Weber-Petrova, our ¾ time organist/choirmaster.

4. Stephanie Kaye, our ¼ time communications minister.

5. Rachel DeMarco, our ½ time facilities manager.

6. Genn DiFillippo, our full-time Day School Director (her position is funded by the Day School, but she’s an integral part of our church community).

7. Ara Stephens and Laura Moss, our ¼ time interim Christian Education Ministers.

8. Cecil Alan, our hourly sexton.

9. Kyle Munroe, our seminarian whom we do not pay a salary.

St. Luke’s is alive, and I love our staff, because everyone genuinely cares about the ministry we do. That is why I am here as well. I think this work and this ministry matters, and I see our ministry as being increasingly relevant in the world around us. Places where people gather to form Christian community are becoming increasingly rare. I love the fact that the peace at 10:00 am takes so long. We are not coming just to go through the motions, some of us simply must get to that person on the other side of the organ to give them a bit of love and encouragement. There is a good thing happening here, and it is because you care about the ministry as well.

Because you care, I want you to know what is happening with the Church finances. The budget we put together for next year was aspirational. The vestry and I thought it was important to show the congregation where we thought we should be, rather than what we thought we could realistically achieve. Our stewardship season is ending, the dust is settling, and it appears that we are on track for the budget to remain flat. The good news is that we have over twenty new families that have pledged. There is no doubt that the Church is growing, but the funds are not growing quickly enough to offset the large pledges that we lost in the last year.

For the past couple of years, we have made a deficit budget, and every year until this year, we have been able to shrink the deficit through growing the Church. This year, we have faced unprecedented financial insecurity through our parishioners’ jobs being threatened or taken away by DOGE, or through financial strain of the shutdown. Instead of shrinking the deficit, it looks like we will end the year with a much larger one than we had planned. We planned for a deficit of $38,000.00, and now it could be over $100,000.00. When everything was trending positive, it made sense to lean into our growth. Now, everything feels much more uncertain.

The vestry was going to pass a budget for next year this coming Sunday, but now I believe we are going to wait a couple of weeks to see what happens. Our hope is that pledges will be fulfilled, and that we end the year better than we expected. Regardless of how things work out, something will have to change. The question is to what degree that it will have to change.

Here are somethings I would like you to know:

· We do not get any money from the Diocese. The money goes the other way. The Diocese is necessary to our ministry and could not exist without us supporting them.

· We receive funds through money generated from the cell towers in our steeple and through an endowment, and none of these funds can be used for operational costs. These can go to capital improvements (not maintenance), outreach and the endowment can also fund one-off expenses, like consultants.

· Thanks to generous contributions from our members, we were able to purchase the solar panels and the new piano this year—projects that were both meaningful and expensive. These were passion projects of some of our members, and to my knowledge, the small group that made these projects possible have stuck true to their principals and have also given generously to our stewardship campaign this year.

· Our operational budget keeps the lights on and the staff paid. The vast majority of these funds come from the money that you give to St. Luke’s. Some comes from income generated from rentals, and the Day School helps us offset utilities cost.

· We cannot continue to run a deficit budget. Things are going to have to change. In the coming year, we will stop printing new bulletins every week, and will provide reusable ones, and encourage people to use the prayer book. We will likely simplify our communications and find other strategies to save resources and minimize staff time. Depending on how things go, we may have to make more drastic changes.

· If you cannot or do not want to fulfill your pledge for this year, we do not want to shame you. If there is a technical issue, we would like to help you resolve it. If you are facing financial uncertainty, then we would like to pray for you and remind you that the most important thing you can do for St. Luke’s is to be part of our community. If you are upset, the worst thing you can do is tell everyone except for the people you are upset with. Let me know. Regardless of what is going on, please just let us know, and know that we value you.

Here are some things you can do to help:

· Make sure you are current on your pledge. In October we sent out statements giving everyone an update on how much they have paid on their pledge. More than one person was not aware that their automatic withdrawals stopped at the beginning of the year and need to catch up.

· A lot of people had a weird year. If you find yourself in a good place financially, consider giving a bit extra. This an invitation to give a “13th month” pledge. If you put a check in the plate for $300 a month, consider putting in an extra check for $300 in the plate for December. This could make a huge difference on how we plan for the next year.

· The biggest thing you can do to help is to continue to make this a loving place. I have spoken to people whose lives have been changed by our grill nights. I know a current priest that was on her way to losing her faith, when she snuck into an 8:00 am service at an Episcopal Church. She tried to sneak out when she was caught by the regulars who insisted she go to McDonalds for breakfast with them. She is now the best priest I know. Buying someone in need of a community a McMuffin or reaching out to that lost soul and offering them belonging as long as they show up with a protein to throw on the grill and a side to share can do a tremendous amount of good. Ask that new face if they want to sit next to you. Yes, it could be awkward, but you just might save someone.

In a year, we will continue to strive to be the Church that Christ calls us to be. We may be doing things differently, but we will still be doing ministry as long as you are with us. I am not going to pretend that money does not matter. It does, but not as much as you.

God bless you and thank you for your generosity of spirit.

Blessings,

Nick