Session Notes

Your Session sat (by Zoom, as usual) for its regular monthly meeting earlier this week. It was a long meeting, and one mostly devoted to serious “think time”.

We considered and discussed a report from the investment fund policy group, led by Elder Becky Koenig. This group was created to make recommendations on the “missional focus” of our endowment funds.

If this sounds esoteric, please bear with us.

The biggest expense in our church budget is salary and benefits for our staff. The second biggest is not programs or benevolences.  It’s the cost to maintain our remarkable building, including maintenance, utilities, insurance and capital expenditures.

As Becky Koenig observed, the building and the endowment were “born together” – both came to us in the IMF transaction 25 years ago. The building became an ongoing expense burden on the church; the endowment was a solution to this problem.

The building is an indivisible (and visible) part of our mission. It’s the “purpose-built” home of Miriam’s Kitchen. We’ve been temporarily dispossessed from our home but, like the ancient Israelites, we will return.

Even in our "exile" God's work goes on every day at 24th and Virginia -- Miriam's continues to serve 150 guests at a safe social distance.

As we enter stewardship season, it’s a logical time to ask how we prioritize the finite resources we have. The endowment produces a sufficient return to pay for our building costs every year, but not much else. Congregational giving needs to cover salaries, programs, and mission giving.  The sum of the two falls way short of our expense commitments. If we continue to make up the difference year after year from the endowment, it will (as you are undoubtedly tired of hearing) run dry.

As I said, this was a “think time” meeting.  Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading.  Stay safe and be well.