Dear Fellowship Members & Friends,
Are we there yet?! With the end of Rev. Christina’s sabbatical (March 4th) right around the corner, we wanted to pause and reflect with you. The Executive Team (X-Team) and Board work all year long to guide the work of the Fellowship in ways that both align with our mission and vision and thoughtfully steward our resources.
As we begin to budget for the coming fiscal year, we want to share a few things that we see, including the real possibility of an ongoing operating deficit.
● Our staff, including our ministers, offer so many tangible and intangible benefits to all of us, including worship service and reflection, pastoral care, administrative and financial oversight, youth programming, and much, much more.
● Your generosity makes a difference in this year’s budget, but with our giving trends we can’t quite see the future of what your gifts can support next year.
● Our budget is very lean, and the only place that offers immediate opportunities to significantly reduce expenses is by reducing our staffing.
The Board and X-Team will need to make mission-driven choices about whether we can afford to continue at our current staffing levels – particularly whether we can continue to afford a second minister. We believe that there is a thrilling future ahead for us as a community and that our staff is a key part of making that possible. But we need to hear YOUR voices in order to know what matters most to you and how we can share the vision and responsibility together.