Tough Economic Times. That’s what everyone’s calling them. Some say the Tough Economic Times are coming to an end — home sales are up as people find bargains on foreclosed homes. But behind every foreclosed home is a family that used to live there. We have not seen a drop in our food pantry participation, nor the backpack event, and we provided more scholarships to swim lessons and Daycamp than ever before. And we will keep doing it. The budget is tough here at Lebanon too. We’ve had to make some changes, some of which have become opportunities to try new ideas.
The Church Council considered reductions in salaries & decided not to take that step. But there will be no increases in 2010. Pastor Ogden has waived his family’s health insurance & is now covered through Monica’s policy at the court. The coverage is about the same. These kinds of changes are easy.
So…. here come “the challenging opportunities” First, we have re-arranged our music schedules. Bell choir will rehearse twice a month, senior choir once a month, youth choir twice a month—all between 9 & 10 am. Adult forum will meet every Sunday. Bell and vocal choir members can come when they are not rehearsing.
When I asked the Council how much money I had for Senior Choir for the remainder of the year for a director, they told me “$624.00”. We had even less for Sunday School unless we wanted to go seriously in the red.
That we cannot do. Lebanon’s savings are invested in a fund that lost a lot this past year & it needs all its principal to speed recovery.
Second, we have long wanted to try a Daycamp model for Christian Education -- but can’t on a Sunday morning, especially with the successful youth choir at the same time. So….Sunday school will now be Sunday evening with a dinner for all from 5:30 to 6pm. It will begin with a bell, a prayer & an offering. At 6:00 there will be an acted-out bible story for all, & Day camp-like sessions from 6:30-7:30pm. If adults come & want to visit, they are welcome to do so. If a young person has homework to do, come and eat. We have space & internet for homework. There may be many things going on but we want the family to be together.
Lastly, it costs over $100 to mail this newsletter now. We are gearing up for an electronic version with paper copies for those without internet. It will take some time; this is the last newsletter for this year until we get the e-mailed one delivered...we just can’t keep spending the postage & still do the ministry we love.
You will also see seasonal bulletins, ones we re-use every week. It saves paper, cost & secretarial time.
We had planned to cut out our newspaper ads, but we received a special contribution just for that, Thank You! We also have created a separate fund for food pantry contributions so that we will never lose principal on the contributions from those individuals & area churches outside our congregation.
None of these changes will be too painful; in fact, they are challenges, opportunities to discover our true priorities - the proclamation of Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today & tomorrow, even in Tough Economic Times.
Pastor Ogden
