Jody's Journal

January 4, 2007

Dear Family and Friends of the Kirk,

I write this on the first day back in the office after the New Year. We are gathering ourselves together after a good and hectic season of Advent leading to Christmas. Before looking ahead, I want to look back for a moment to say thank you. Thank you to the many, many people who gave the quiet gift of themselves to make the season special: Musicians, office workers, volunteers, ushers, worship leaders, those who set up the Christmas decorations and who take them down, and so many more who in a busy season give of themselves to help us celebrate at church. Thank you.

As the year came to a close I thought about the generosity of Kirk members in their stewardship. December is a time of year-end giving. If you are like our family, while we give monthly to the Kirk, many of our annual gifts to charitable ministries are made in December. At the Kirk (and every other congregation I’ve served) we always enter December with hope (some nervousness) and expectation that the money that was pledged will arrive. It is not unusual for a church to receive 15-18 percent of the pledged money in December. Most years the money is received which allows us to complete our commitments to mission and ministry as a family of faith. Thank you to all who are so gracious and committed in your giving. We are blessed and able to be a blessing thanks to you. When we are able to be a blessing, the community and the world knows that we, who represent Christ, care about the needs of our world. You help us present a powerful witness.

Looking ahead, we are still waiting to receive some pledges. In 2006 we had a significant increase in giving. Early projections seem to indicate that the 2007 budget does not reflect such an increase. I shared this with one of my minister friends and he said that the honeymoon budget may be over. That may be a good way to put it now that I’m entering my third year with you. While I wish the honeymoon weren’t over, I want to say thanks for a good one. Your giving during that period allowed us to expand our staff, our mission, and our ministry in significant ways. You gave us the funds to expand our outreach through mission trips and increased mission giving. We were able to support a growing music ministry. We were able to send folks to Stephen Ministry training and support youth and children. Because the increase in giving may not be as large in 2007, some of our plans and dreams for this year may be delayed or deferred as we seek to be faithful stewards. We will see. The Session will be building a budget based on 2007 pledges and reconciling them with budget requests from committees. The final budget will be shared with you in February with gratitude.

The year ahead could be a very important one for us. We will engage in a process of Long Range Strategic Planning that will help us discern the future God has in store for us. The Long Range Planning taskforce has been working behind the scenes and the time is coming to ask you to be a part of that process. I am reminded of a saying I learned long ago, “we don’t know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future.” I’m hoping that this process will help us move faithfully into the future God has in store for the Kirk. Please pray for us to discern God’s call for us a congregation. Pray that we might be open to hearing the call and faithful in following where Christ leads us.

In faith, hope and love,

Jody