Letter from the Lead Pastor & President

Mission: Equip all to be the heart, hands, and feet of Jesus in the world!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Letter from the Lead Pastor & President...........2 Communication Touchpoints............................5 Church Snapshot.................................................6 Preschool Snapshot.............................................7 Financials..............................................................8 MLST Status...........................................................9 2019 Minutes.......................................................10 2020 Minutes.......................................................11 2020 Annual Gathering Agenda......................12

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today. Matthew 6:33-34

The above passage from Matthew speaks directly to us this year as we have faced unprecedented struggles caused by the global pandemic of COVID-19. But instead of focusing this report on our hardships and difficulties, we would like to celebrate the blessings, victories, and successes that God has provided.

The Pivot to Virtual

In mid-March, we were forced to stop all face-to-face gatherings and move all of our ministries online. It’s important to recognize that your Abiding Hope staff and leaders were able to “pivot” our ministries within two weeks. Some ministries, such as our Preschool, were forced to stop until we received clearance from the state and county to reopen. Thankfully, our Preschool re-opened partially in June and then fully in August. We also began to gather small groups of people in August.

Several of our shifts to virtual will be maintained beyond COVID-19. For instance, we plan to continue to provide a weekly online worship experience. Certainly, once we reopen to face to face worship we’d prefer people to attend on site. However, we recognize that people can’t make it to worship every week and having an online option is a way to stay connected. Also, we’ve learned that an online worship experience is a safe and easy way for new people to check us out and learn a bit about our congregation. It can be an effective entrée for guiding new people into Abiding Hope.

In addition to maintaining an online worship presence, we have converted our Confirmation Ministry called “Affirm” to a family-based, self-driven model. In the past, confirmation was the only ministry that we offered for middle school aged kids. It was primarily an instructional model that incorporated a few retreats. The shift to a family-based model is intended to be more experiential and promote full family participation in the confirmation process. Families receive guidance from the pastors and can work through the process slowly or quickly, whichever works best for them. In addition, we now provide alternate ministries for middle schoolers that are not related to confirmation. We hope this expansion will enable us to reach more youth and families.

Facility Upgrades

This year, we’ve been afforded the time and resources to engage in some necessary and overdue investment in our facility. A hailstorm last year damaged our roof badly enough that our insurance company covered a full replacement. We received the new roof early in 2020. We delayed, however, replacing the skylight in the worship center until we could do some research into materials and find a replacement that is a bit more opaque so as to reduce the ambient light and increase the visibility of the screens. The new skylight will be installed before the end of the year.

Last year, we converted all interior lights to LED and this year, thanks to a generous donor, we will be converting all exterior lights to LED.

Thanks to another generous donor, we were able to replace our parking lot this year. The new parking lot is a bit larger and affords more parking spots than the previous one. This was an expensive and badly needed project. We are grateful to be able to make this happen.

We have removed all of the desks from the seminar room and are working to make the room more accessible to our Preschool and other ministries. More on this to come.

The Music Center is being transformed back into a chapel that can be used weekly by the Preschool. We also plan to utilize that space for midweek contemplative services as well as smaller weddings and funerals.

Staff Development

This year, we lost two staff people: Paul Schultz, Lead Servant for Resources, and Andrea Meier, Administrative Assistant. With COVID-19, we decided not to fill either role. We have shifted some of their responsibilities to others and will continue to assess staffing needs as we go.

We would be remiss if we did not take a moment to celebrate our incredible staff and the amazing work they have done this year. Someone once said that adversity doesn’t only create character, it reveals it. God has blessed us richly at Abiding Hope with amazing staff people who have risen to the occasion throughout this year to provide tremendous leadership and consistent ministries. We thank God for their work among us.

Congregational Development

It’s also important that we say thank you to the countless people at Abiding Hope who have risen to the occasion by continually helping us to execute worship, small groups, youth ministries, confirmation, retreats, care ministries, and every other thing that we continue to do through this pandemic. Your tireless efforts mean the world. THANK YOU!!!

We are especially grateful to those who have made generosity to Abiding Hope a top priority this year. Receiving the Federal Paycheck Protection Program Grant in April certainly helped us to keep all of our staff employed and paid. However, it’s the weekly, monthly, regular giving that enables us to meet our obligations and continue to stand with the poor and powerless of the world.

What’s Next?

None of us knows how long this pandemic will force us to continue to avoid large gatherings. However, we are confident that the Holy Spirit will continue to bless us with all that we need to be the heart, hands, and feet of Jesus in the world.

We are reminded daily that we are all Children of God and as such we get to be God’s servants in the world. What an amazing gift! We’ve all had to adapt to the changing environment of today’s reality, but we can still maintain a focus that fulfills our Christ identity and purpose. We would like to challenge you to create a plan to support the mission of Christ at Abiding Hope: • Pray – Please hold our congregation and leaders in your daily prayers. We have our Abiding Hope prayer group on social media. Please check this for who needs your prayers. How is your prayer life? Do you focus on the spiritual needs of others? Can you become more intentional in your prayer life? Who are your prayer partners? • Worship – Make watching our worship services a part of your weekly routine with your family. Please share the links for our services with your friends and neighbors. Our schedules continue to adapt and probably will continue to do so. We have noticed many engage our worship services at different times throughout the week. Plan ahead for yourself and your loved ones to enjoy the gift of worship. • Serve – If you are not in a small group, please reach out to the church office and we’ll get you connected. Also, please find other ways to use your gifts and abilities through Abiding Hope and in the community. Watch the Abiding Hope emails for ways in which you can serve. Who is it in your family, neighborhood, workplace, school that God is calling you to serve? Create an ongoing plan for walking alongside and serving others. • Give – Your generosity matters! Please be sure to make your commitment for 2021 and stay current in your giving. Be wise with your giving as well. Are there specific strategies that would allow you to increase your giving, such as matching funds from your work? What are tools and resources to help you leverage your gifts? Do you need guidance to understand how to maximize your gifts? You may also ask what resources are available to increase your giving? If you need help, let us know. We’re here for you. • Share the Good News – Be an ambassador for Christ and share your faith story with others. Help lead others to Abiding Hope by inviting them to experience us through our online worship and/or social media. Be intentional in your plan to carry the message which means give some thought to how you might share the Good News with others. You may very well be the one who God uses to bring one of his flock home. Be bold and be alert for those who need your message. Trust the Holy Spirit to guide you.

We have a history at Abiding Hope of being bold as we equip all to be the heart, hands, and feet of Jesus in the world. Let’s lean into who we are. Let’s embrace our current situation and adapt for greater impact. Afterall, God is counting on us just as we count on God.

We thank God for you and the many blessings that we enjoy at Abiding Hope. Thank you for your ongoing faithfulness to Christ’s mission. We look forward to all that lies ahead trusting that the Holy Spirit will continue to fuel us so that all people may experience real life in Jesus’ name.

With abiding hope,

Rev. Dr. Douglas Hill Lead Pastor Christian Holgard Congregation President