Dear Covenant Family,

I am pleased to share with you the results from our 2021 Pledge Campaign – you did a wonderful job and I am so thankful for your financial support in this coming year! This has been the strongest pledge campaign in many years with $763 thousand in pledged ministry income for 2021 and $300 thousand in pledged building income. This is the first year that we will have FULLY funded our mortgage expense with building pledges in a decade. You have changed our trajectory as a church and we feel confident about our financial future and our sustained ministry together. I am overwhelmed with gratitude at your generosity!

Nevertheless, we have been impacted by the decline in “unpledged” income that we were accustomed to receiving during our pre-pandemic attendance levels. We project that the recovery of this income will be slow over the next year. Therefore, the elders and trustees have taken a conservative approach to budgeting by approving a 9% reduction in our consolidated expenses. This would give us a balanced budget in 2021 against our projected income. By presenting a balanced budget to you for this coming year, we believe this sets Covenant up for financial success while also advancing our mission.

We are pleased to share this budget with you in this email a full month ahead of it’s typical release date in mid-January in the Annual Report. I’d also like to invite you to join me at any of four conference calls where you can ask me questions or give me feedback about these numbers or anything related to the church. I’d love to connect with you and that information is below as well.

The reduction in next year’s budget represents a 9% decrease on a consolidated basis. In round numbers the 2021 consolidated budget will include $834 thousand in ministry expenses, $300 thousand in building fund (mortgage) expenses, and $102 thousand in preschool expenses for a total 2021 consolidated budget of $1.2 million. The mortgage is a fixed expense. The preschool generates revenue that largely offsets its expenses. This means that the reductions will come out of our ministry budget. 

In deciding where to make cuts, the elders and trustees first considered carefully what God is calling our church family to do for his Kingdom over the next 12 months. We received clarity that God wants us to focus on making disciples of all ages: older adults, young adults, youth and children. Our metro area will continue to grow this year and we believe God is calling us to do a strong job bringing our neighbors closer to Christ. As we looked at the budget, this prompted us to continue funding all of our discipleship staff and programming, with only small changes in this area. 

Having decided this priority, the officers identified budget cuts in the remaining areas of our ministry budget. These decisions were very difficult to make. This has included the sad decision to end our professional relationship with our custodial and landscaping staff after many faithful years of service and instead contract with lower-cost providers. The officers took this action earlier this quarter when it became clear that this reduction was necessary. In addition, in 2021 we will be reducing the number of missionaries that we support financially and the amount that we send them. I have communicated personally with each of our mission partners to express our love and appreciation for their ministry even though we will not be able to support them at the same level in this coming year. 

If you would like to see a line-item budget with these details, please email Susan Pendergrass, our Director of Finance and Administration, at susan.pendergrass@covhsv.org. Or call her at 256-759-9492. We are happy to share that detail with you. 

If you would like to speak with me about our finances, leadership or the future of the church I will be having an open-invitation conference call this coming Wednesday, December 16th at 2PM. You can use your computer or cell phone for “zoom” video conferencing, or you can dial in for a traditional call. I will be also hosting calls Wednesdays at 2pm on January 6th, January 13th and January 20th. The link and dial-in information for the calls are below. I hope that everyone who would like to talk with me has that opportunity. If none of these options work for you please send me an email at david.kling@covhsv.org and I would be happy to call you at your convenience. 

I will be sharing more and more information about our forthcoming strategy in January and you can expect to see the Annual Report with additional information in mid-January ahead of our Annual Congregational Meeting on January 31st at 11:00AM in the Sanctuary. 

I don’t know what the future holds. But I do know that God has a “purpose in our being there” just as we say each week in our Charge. Thank you again for your partnership and support. There is no where else I’d rather be than your pastor right now. I am so honored to share this journey with you over the next 12 months. 

In Christ,

David

Invitation to Pastor’s Open Office Hours

Wednesday, December 16th at 2:00PM

Wednesday, January 6th at 2:00PM

Wednesday, January 13th at 2:00PM

Wednesday, January 20th at 2:00PM

You can dial in to any of these meetings using a traditional phone with the following information:

Conference Call Dial-In: 312-626-6799

Meeting ID: 833 1895 8641
Passcode: 230625

Or you can download the “Zoom” app on your smart phone or use a video-enabled computer and click the following link

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83318958641?pwd=WFE3UzVYTjNDUG8vYTNtZktOSzhidz09