2024 Narrative Budget

WFirst Presbyterian Church

2024 Narrative Budget

ho do we say we are? And what is the story we tell,

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Rev. Wes Pitts

to ourselves and the community around us, by how we spend our capital? I’m intentional in that word, capital, because our stewardship campaigns are about far more than money, they’re about volunteerism and allowing our people to put their God given talents to use to make us better. Money is certainly part of that equation because life in our world is expensive, but church does not happen by simply throwing money at problems, church happens when people gather together to worship, serve, pray, sing, clean, build, cook, eat, knit, garden, and so much more. This document will break down not only how the Session seeks to be good stewards of the financial gifts of the congregation in our mission, but also how our church community continues to adapt to new challenges and changes so that what we say we believe matches how we live our life. Is it perfect? Of course not. We’re not going to get it right today or tomorrow, this year or next. We’ll probably never get it “right,” but we’ll continue to discern what God is asking of our church and invite you to join in that journey.

2 Corinthians 9 : 6b

bountifully will also reap bountifully.

reap sparingly, and the one who sows

the one who sows sparingly will also

We care about doing the right thing, not only in the Lord ’ s eyes but also in the eyes of other people.

2 Corinthians 8:21

administration

Administration encompasses all that makes the church function on a day-to-day basis – finance, personnel, and communication. Without these essential ministries, very little of the church could function. Pastors, musicians, and church administrators aren’t strictly necessary, of course, but it’s awfully hard to have a church without them. Proper financial management, how we care for staff, and how we run the legal requirements of our church can easily make or break the continued ministry of First Presbyterian. The Finance Ministry, led by Jeri Wilson, manages all financial aspects of the church, an enormous venture involving many tasks and requiring ongoing communication with the Session and its many ministries, the church office, the CPA, the financial advisor, and of course, church members. During this last year responsibilities have increased as the capital campaign has gotten underway. As of March 1, 2024, $216,486.88 has been collected for the capital campaign, which is allowing work to start on projects prioritized by the Session. The Finance Ministry also prepares the yearly budget and presents it to the Session for approval. The Finance Ministry meets 3-4 times per year with Stearns Financial for a review of the church’s investment portfolio performance and strategies for the future. Likewise, meetings take place with the CPA for review of the investment portfolio allocations and review of the budget. Stewardship also falls on finance, and to help communicate with the congregation on the fourth Sunday of every month, a moment of stewardship is shared at the beginning of the service highlighting our financial health and sharing the ministries and benevolences that our tithes and offerings support. The goal is to be transparent with the

members about the church's financial condition as well as promote pride in knowing what work is being done in our community and beyond because of their financial support. The Personnel Ministry, led by Shirley McMichael, is responsible for the recruitment, hiring, training, and evaluation of church staff. Annual staff reviews are needed to ensure expectations of staff are being met and we, as a church, are helping them grow professionally, as well as considerations for compensation increases. This year Personnel, with the direction of Finance, has allotted staff the recommended cost of living increase of 3%. In addition to supporting church staff, Personnel serves as the church’s nominating committee and is responsible for the nomination of Elders to serve on Session. Over the last year, Personnel has been undertaking the task of updating employee and Elder manuals with new job descriptions that better fit the needs of our congregation. These updates aid staff evaluations, Elder recruitment, and Elder training. Personnel is also in the process of updating church policy manuals to ensure our policies and procedures are in compliance with new standards of practices for safe and effective churches. Not only do well thought out policies keep the church running efficiently, but they have also enabled us to receive a 25% reduction in our insurance rate, a great way to offset large increases seen in recent years. In addition, Personnel is reviewing all contracted repair/maintenance agreements to ensure they align with our mission and goals. The final arm of Administration is The Communication Ministry. This ministry is currently undergoing a revamping to encompass no just internal church communication, but marketing the church to the community.

up, just like you are doing already.

1

Thessalonians 5:11

So continue encouraging each other and building each other

Church Life

The life of our church has the potential to be the most dynamic aspect of our community. It also has the potential to get stuck if we’re not constantly addressing the needs of an ever-changing body. While some things will always stay the same – we’ll continue to gather for worship, we’ll host educational events to deepen our spiritual lives, and we’ll meet for fun, food, and fellowship – but how we do those things will need to constantly evolve. The Worship Ministry, led by Calvert Smith, meets every month to plan, reflect, and expand on the offerings of our worship. Feedback from the congregation is essential as we continue to ensure the worship we offer is nurturing for all in their faith. We’ve responded to the growing number of children in the congregation by bringing back the Children’s Sermon. Songs missed by the congregation have come back into the regular pattern of worship. Our Advent traditions are expanding by the inclusion of a family Christmas tree to celebrate our church family. The warmth of the sanctuary in the Advent season will be brought into other seasons of the church through the inclusion of candles in the windowsills for every season. And the Worship is also responding to a call for a new style of worship, with a contemporary service held earlier each Sunday morning to be offered soon. In addition to keeping up with all the changes that might need to happen, the Worship Ministry ensures that qualified ministers can be found for pulpit supply as needed when Wes is on vacation or study leave and finds all the volunteers needed for weekly worship – ushers, communion preparers, liturgists, and more. The necessary counterpart to our worship life is education, and our Christian Education Ministry, led by Emma Crabtree, also seeks to continue to grow Shout triumphantly to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with celebration! Come before GOD with shouts of joy! Psalm 100 :12

what offerings we have to meet the needs of our people. With Sunday School led by Jim Murray, Monday Morning Bible Study led by Tom Callicutt, and the Year of the Bible led by Wes Pitts, our current round of offerings gives anyone a place to learn and grow their faith. To meet the needs of the littlest members of the church, Christian Education keeps our nursery staffed with both a paid worker (Brittany Wiley) and a rotation of volunteers, ensuring that our kids can be cared for and begin the foundation they need in faith, as we promise to offer them in our baptism vows. In the months ahead we can look forward to more programs, including occasional movie and discussion nights in a renovated movie room. FPC isn’t just about learning and worship – we love to have fun, too! We have a long history of gathering at any and every opportunity to enjoy great fellowship, eat incredible meals, and share our love for one another and Christ. Fellowship events give us the opportunity to build our relationships and enjoy each other as we do God’s work. We have a reputation for inviting others to come join us at our tables as we live into the model we have from Christ and his table! In addition to large format fellowship events, we’re beginning to explore small groups for members to engage with one another and deepen their relationships. We kicked off 2023 with the creation of a knitting group and it has had a lot of growth and become a great source of support for many! Wes has been working on getting everyone to come for dinner in his home and this is always a fun evening with lots of great food! We also look forward to the possibility of the reintroduction of a women’s group, men’s group, young adult’s group, and more. If there’s a small group you’d be interested in joining, or better yet, leading, let us know!

equipped to do everything that is good.

character, so that the person who belongs to God can be 1

Timothy 3:1617

showing mistakes, for correcting, and for training

Property

Psalm 63:1a. 2

We’ve been blessed with beautiful, historic properties, both our church where we gather for worship, education, fellowship, mission, and much more, and our mountain retreat in Montreat where any member can go for relaxation, restoration, and fun. The Building Ministry, led by Rick McKinney and focusing on the physical structure of the church, has been hard at work maintaining and planning for improvements. The 100+ year old sanctuary building is set to receive much needed updates and repairs in the coming months and years as the Capital Campaign continues until 2027. Through it we’re reclaiming unused space to grow what we can offer in the building that has been center to our church for so many years, we’re making repairs to all the places that have simply worn out with the years, and we’re modernizing our building by improving accessibility, sustainability, and security. Recent updates in lighting, switching lightbulbs to LEDs in the sanctuary and fellowship hall, has already led to a noticeable decrease in energy costs. We’ve also moved to new janitorial and dumpster services in order to keep a check on the rising costs of what it takes to run the church, reducing several costs by 50% while also improving the services we receive. The church grounds have also seen incredible improvement over the past year, and that work isn’t done! Thanks to the Harrell family, we have an incredible garden that has blessed families in need throughout Reidsville, not only with fresh produce, but bunches of flowers. Those flowers have also filled our sanctuary many Sundays of the past year. A new sidewalk was poured on the playground to help prevent erosion and maintain areas that suffer from frequent flooding. Trees have been trimmed to mitigate damage to the building and not God! My God! It ’ s you — I search for you! I ’ ve seen you in the sanctuary; I ’ ve seen your power and glory.

an impediment for entering the building. Special attention has also been given to the columbarium to keep it a beautiful space for keeping the memory of our loved ones. Look forward to continued improvements in the next year, as well as the regular maintenance of an already beautiful space. While most of our life happens at 318 S. Main Street, our Montreat house is also a hub of life. The Montreat Ministry, led by Tom Callicutt, keeps the house running, both for our church and the church groups that get to use it. Having a comfortable space other groups can make home base for their time of renewal or education at Montreat is truly a blessing that can’t be understated. The 2023 rental season was very good, as we were booked for all but a couple of weeks during the summer conference season and for a few weekends in January, August, and September by nonmember groups. We had churches stay with us from as far away as Arizona. Among repairs made this year was replacing one of our refrigerators and new lighting in the kitchen. We’ll be replacing the vanity in one of the first-floor bathrooms soon. We also hope to complete some larger renovations to the kitchen in coming years so that the house can be more functional for the groups that stay there. 2024 is already booked for the summer season, which is great news because those rentals enable us to make the house budget neutral. The Montreat house remains available for members during the spring, fall, and winter months, and we hope that members will continue to take advantage of this wonderful property in the heart of the Blue Ridge. Rental of the house is free, less the cleaning fee (and if you clean it yourself, there’s no charge for that either)!

hosts to angels without knowing it.

Hebrews 13 :12

your homes to guests, because by doing this some have been

Keep loving each other like family. Don ’ t neglect to open up

Mission

Claiming to have faith can ’ t save anyone, can it?

James 3 : 14b

A church that looks only inward isn’t a church, it’s a social club. Mission enables us to live our faith so that our trust in Christ is expressed to the community and lives, more than our own, can experience the saving grace of Jesus. During 2023, the Mission Ministry, led by Billy Coleman, continued to grow our longstanding commitment to support the local community through volunteer service and financial assistance. Last year, by way of our association with Church World Service Triad, our congregation was provided the opportunity to furnish apartments for two refugee families, creating safe and comfortable homes for their families as they restarted life away from the dangers of refugee camps. This project was made possible by church members’ generous donations of household items and monetary contributions, contributions which were so overwhelmingly generous that we’ve maintained a warehouse of additional supplies to help other families in need, be they refugees or local families in need of some extra love. In addition, we have maintained our involvement in various local organizations and outreach activities including: The Rockingham United Mobile Market; The Reidsville Soup Kitchen; The Reidsville Outreach Center; Rockingham County Meals on Wheels; Reidsville Habitat for Humanity; Salem Presbytery Pennies for Hunger; YMCA Bright Beginnings; REMMSCO House; The Salvation Army; The Free Clinic of Rockingham County; and The Reidsville High School backpack food drive program. Our involvement with these community services helps feed the hungry, house the homeless, provide medical support for the underinsured and uninsured, give school supplies for disadvantaged students, and clothe those what good is it if people say they have faith but do nothing to show it?

without the means to do so themselves. Because of our participation in Pennies for Hunger, for example, we helped give thousands of dollars in grants to 12 local feeding agencies, including the Reidsville Outreach Center, and 2 grants to agencies feeding children in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya. We also support the larger ministry of Salem Presbytery, both with our financial support (based on our membership) and volunteerism. Wes Pitts and Billy Coleman are currently serving on the Commission on Ministry, Wes as the moderator of the Task Force for Ministry in the Changing Church and Billy as a member on the Task Force on Policy and Compensation. Wes Pitts and Jeri Wilson have also served on the Administrative Commission called to close the ministry of Stoneville Presbyterian Church and sell their property. And in November 2024 our church will host a meeting of Salem Presbytery, an opportunity to serve and show off our beautiful space! Continuing a long-standing effort to support local high school students’ educational pursuits, First Presbyterian also maintain four scholarship funds with distributions awarded annually. Last year’s well deserving students included two members of our congregation and four from the wider community. The missions of First Presbyterian will only grow as we open our hearts and continue to reach out to meet the needs of those around us, just as Jesus has commanded. If you have an idea for a needed mission, don’t keep it to yourself!

Deuteronomy

you, and to the poor who live with you in your land.

generously to your fellow Israelites, to the needy among 1 5:11

I

’

let ’ s not love with words or speech but with action and truth. This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and reassure our hearts in God ’ s presence.

1 John 3 :1 8b

CAREGIVERS

The top priority for the Caregivers Ministry, led by Jane Harrill, continues to be connecting with one another to support our church community. Caregivers meet the needs of our congregation in various ways, through cards, calls, texts, emails, visits, and well-checks. Offering one another support in time of joy, sadness, and need allows us to be united as one in the body of Christ. Nonstop communication between Wes, Dawne, Jane, the twelve caregivers, our two congregational nurses, and the congregation enables us to make our members feel connected to their church family and supported in times of need. Keeping this web of communication going takes tremendous energy, but it’s the only way we can strive to ensure no one’s needs fall through the cracks. Caregivers will continue to find ways to support our church community - if you ever need anything, give us a call. Your needs or requests will always be confidential unless you want them shared more broadly. We are here for you! And to support the connectional nature of our church family, we’re in process of producing a new church directory. With hopes of having it complete by Easter of 2024, our new directory will supply the congregation with updated email addresses, phone numbers, and addresses of our members so that we can share love with one another. The directory is also being produced in such a way that it can be easily reproduced with the most current information at a moment’s notice, ensuring that out dated directories are a thing of the past.

Lived Budget

For the purposes of showing how the church’s budget is lived out, personnel and building expenses are divided into the categories of Administration (doing the business of the church), Church Life (worship, education, and fellowship), Mission, and Caregivers. Presenting it in the manner attempts to give a more honest look at how dollars are being spent.