AGENDA
The 145th Annual Congregational Meeting
St. Paul’s Church
Milltown, New Jersey
SUNDAY, March 12 , 2017
I. Financial Reports
• Operating
• Fund Balances
II. Committee Reports
III. New Business
MEMBERSHIP CHANGES 2016
MEMBERSHIP GAINS -
By Confirmation – 14
Hannah Arthur Zachary Bernstein
Gabriella Ciccone Juliana Ciccone
Nathan Devine Shane Dwyer
Alyssa Hahn Amanda Keiser
Kali Maynard Kylie Medina
Dustyn Pellicane Diana Rucinski
Lillian Torres Maya Wesen
MEMBERSHIP LOSSES -
By Death – 9
Edward Eib
Charles Stewart
Doris Pagano
Hazel Burgeson
Heinrich Ernst
Albert Shanabrook
Florence Torok
Drew Harto
John Adochio
BAPTISMS – Thomas Michael Catenaro
Lyla Rose Catenaro
Randy Thomas Crotzer, Jr.
Warren Michael Crotzer
Lillian Rae Dominicus
WEDDINGS –
Megan Rademacher
Robert Crotzer & Denise Gomez
Ethan Sarch & Pamela Gray
ACTIVE MEMBERS – 428 INACTIVE MEMBERS – 127
NON-MEMBERS – 21 CHILDREN - 140
FINANCE
COST OF MINISTRY
Expenses – The cost of ministry that we carried out through worship, education, outreach, congregation care, etc. was $294,717.38
Income – The amount of money we received in support of our ministry was $256,709.29
The result was a deficit for the year in the amount of ($38,008.09)
THANK YOU to every who gave as God enabled you to, so that the ministry we do for the glory of God and the edification of one another was just shy of being fully funded in 2016.
INVESTMENTS
A total of $31,883.80 in contributions were received in our Capital Improvement, Memorial, Scholarship, Endowment and Organ Fund. The bulk of that going into the Organ Fund.
A total of $31,604.79 in interest and dividends were received.
BEQUESTS
Bequests of any size provide financial stability for St. Paul’s.
Would you consider remembering St. Paul’s in your will. By doing so you provide a lasting legacy and will ensure that St. Paul’s will continue to be used by God after you have returned home to the heavenly kingdom that awaits you.
ON-LINE GIVING
You can give on-line by using PayPal. As of Dec 31 we discontinued our use of PushPay.
FUND RAISING
$9,864 was raised through several fund raising events. Thank you to everyone who participated in the shoe collection, Applebee’s breakfast, Yard Sale, Soup Sale and Wine & Beer Tasting.
CHURCH & FAMILY
Throughout 2016 the Church & Family ministry team was active organizing activities that served to enhance the fellowship of church family.
Our activities included:
- inviting the congregation to sign Christmas and Easter cards to approximately 30 homebound members of the St Paul’s family
- Each Wednesday evening during Lent approximately 40 people joined together for dinner and worship.
- 4th of July Float - many participated.
- In September we had 100+ people gather in the local park for worship and a picnic.
- Christmas caroling to our homebound
- A Night in Bethlehem - our social hall was transformed into the city of Bethlehem. All visitors had the opportunity to make bread, paint an ornament, write Jesus name in Hebrew, make a piece of pottery, make a name plate and visit the manger.
- Advent lunch – 26 seniors attended.
- Gary and Marge Conger delivered poinsettias to our homebound the day after Christmas
- Overseeing the fellowship hour after Sunday worship service
- Collecting small gifts, notions and toiletries during the Christmas season which were then donated to a the Reformed Church Home
EDUCATION MINISTRY
SUNDAY SCHOOL HIGHLIGHTS
We continued using the online based curriculum Kids Sunday School Place. It is an online source for fresh, creative Children's Ministry resources for Grade school and Preschool. They feature complete Sunday school lessons, Bible crafts, Christian activities, object lessons, stories, skits, games, songs, and much more. Teaching Sunday school is easy, fun, and rewarding! It was very cost effective. The teachers can log in on their own and review lessons and it incorporates games, songs, crafts, science and more!
CONFIRMATION CLASS
In May 14 youth confirmed their faith in God, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
In October, 7 youth began classes to prepare them for their confirmation in 2017. The class requirements are: weekly attendance at Sunday worship, weekly attendance at Wednesday night classes and 20 hours of community service. They also are required to participate in Sunday worship by ushering, being an acolyte, and reading scripture.
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL
Cave Quest was an exciting new approach to our Vacation Bible School. With the construction of a cave in the social hall, the cave back drop, our new cave quest buddies Radar, Sal, Ray, Martha and Olivia and a great staff of volunteers we lead the children through different learning centers, we discovered that: the Lord alone is our hope, the Lord will show us the path to take, the Lord is our strength, the Lord is always near so take courage, and the Lord loves us because he gave up His live.
ADULT BIBLE STUDY
Adult bible studies were offered on Wednesday afternoons throughout the year.
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SPIRTUAL LIFE
WORSHIP
Our 10:00 a.m. Sunday worship service includes time for people to greet each other, scripture readings, prayer, an offering, the Lord's Prayer, a children's message, the sermon, special music and hymns.
Our morning service is a blend of time honored hymns and contemporary worship songs. We have special music from our adult choir, praise band, children's choir or individuals. We seek to have Christ centered services focused on prayer and Bible based messages.
Communion is served the first Sunday of every month. All are invited to celebrate communion, but you can choose whether or not you wish to participate.
Worship attendance for the year was 5,574 people. This is a weekly average of 110 worshippers. This was an average increase of 3 from 2015.
DRAMA MINISTRY
The drama ministry provided some very thought provoking messages by performing The Call, The Envelope and Ragman.
NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER
We organized and lead the annual National Day of Prayer service on the first Thursday in May. The service was held at the American Legion Pavilion. It was a powerful and prayer filled worship service with our praise team providing the music and prayers being led by participants from all 3 Milltown churches.
MUSIC MINISTRY
Our music ministries throughout 2016 were blessed by the faithfulness of St. Paul’s and of God, who consistently provided what we needed. I give thanks especially to God for the volunteers who devote their time to our worship music, allowing each of us creative communion with God and one another.
Our Children’s choir began its program year in the fall with a young, extremely energetic group. Attendance has been exceptionally good (thanks be to God for the parents!), and we are learning quickly about worship and working together as a choir.
Our Adult choir has added several new voices. We sang with the Methodist Church on Ash Wed. We added extra members for Holy Week and presented Bethlehem Joy in Advent.
Our Praise band members continue to give generously of their time. We led outdoor worship for the National Day of Prayer and for our annual picnic. For Milltown’s 4th of July parade, the band played on a float..
Our Organ is in need of repair. We started an Organ Fund appeal to raise $25,000. We have raises $22,448 as of December 31st, thanks in part to an $5,000 match grant. The work has begun.
In 2016, we were blessed with soloists who offered special music. I hope to encourage more such participation in 2017!
Christ’s peace,
Emily Sensenbach-Gopal
PROPERTY AND GROUNDS COMMITTEE
LAWN CARE
We are very fortunate and grateful that Ken Skalla donates his time to keep our lawns well-groomed through the spring, summer and fall.
SNOW REMOVAL
We are very fortunate and grateful that Danny and Danny Rob Holsten and Carmen DeLorenzo and his crew have donated their time and equipment to the clearing of our lots and sidewalks.
LEAF REMOVAL
The Autumn leaves look beautiful but eventual they all fall off the trees. John Garback and his landscaping crew cleared our property of our leaves.
FURNACE CONTRACT
We have service contracts for the boilers in our church and education building. BUT the man behind keeping us warm in the winter is Dick McDowell. Dick constantly checks our buildings to make sure our furnaces are running. He continues to make minor repairs, which saves us from having to pay for a service call.
FALL WORK DAY
We had a wonderful turn out of people to trim hedges, wash windows, clean the kitchen, replace toilets and tend to other household issues that had to be addressed to keep our facilities in good condition
NOTE: The donation of time and talent to perform the services listed above saved the church a large amount of money.
AIR CONDITIONERS
We needed to replace the air conditioning units in the social hall. We accepted the bid from John E. Herbst Heating and Cooling. The cost was $16,465.
We need to repair the sanctuary air conditioner as well. The cost of both contributed to our deficit for the year.
RETRO FIGHTING OF LIGHT FIXTURE
In 2015 we took advantage an energy grant and retrofitted all the light fixtures in the church and education building with energy efficient lighting. We had a savings of $5,261. in our electric bill for the 2016.
SENIOR YOUTH GROUP
WINTER RETREAT
23 youth and 5 adults participated in the winter retreat at Harvey Cedar’s Bible Conference Center. The them of the retreat was What will be your legacy?
MISSION TRIP
23 youth and 5 adults spent the week in Chattanooga, TN working among the homeless, the elderly and the underprivileged children. God used us to be His hands and feet in awesome ways.
FUND RAISING – THANK YOU
We want to say thank you to everyone who participated in the many fund raisers we ran to cover the mission trip expenses. Without your willingness to share time, money and talent our mission trips would not be possible.
Our fund raisers were:
Super Bowl Pool; Vera Bradley Tricky Tray; and the July 4th Duck Race.
SUNDAY NIGHT MEETINGS
Throughout the school year we met, usually on the first and third Sunday nights to share faith, fellowship and fun.
JOIN US!
All youth in grades 7th-12th are invited to join us. Church membership is not required.
JUNIOR YOUTH GROUP
It has been my privilege to serve as the leader of St. Paul’s Junior Youth Group for the tenth year. I was also pleased to welcome Dawn Milburn as a regular adult assistant for the group. Mrs. Milburn is an education professional, as well as a warm, creative, patient and faithful individual, and her assistance has been so appreciated. I also owe a great deal of thanks to the parent helpers who take turns bringing snacks and helping out in any way needed at each meeting.
We started in September with a Crazy Games Ice Cream Sundae Party, which allowed our very energetic group to get acquainted.
Since that first meeting, we have been using Scripture lessons to help to guide us in our lives. Using the Faith For Life Preteen Bible Study Series, the youth have explored how to be the kind of friends that God wants us to be. The youth have learned through the example of Jesus in Scripture, and have explored a variety of situations to help them to understand what makes a true friend. In the Spring of 2016, we tackled what faith means for a pre-teen, and wrestled with a number of questions, including how a youth can live their faith in Jesus in their daily lives, and how they can communicate God’s love and grace to those they meet. In September, we began a series that deals with responsibility, and discussed what is expected of them at this time in their lives. We learned that we deserve the trust of others when we behave responsibly, and discussed our responsibilities to others and to God’s creation. In each of these programs, we took the time to talk about how the topics relate to the lives of those in the group, and how they can use what they’ve learned each day.
In April, we had a lock-in. The event began with a trip to Rebounderz, followed by an evening of silly games, and finished with a movie as we attempted to sleep. In the morning, the kids were treated to bagels and donuts before heading home with their parents.
We also seek to serve our church and community. The Youth made ornaments for our homebound which were delivered prior to Christmas. We continue to support our World Vision child, Ronnie Magracia from the Philippines. In March we held our annual bake sale, and the proceeds were sent to World Vision for Ronnie.
I have been blessed to work with these youth. They are bright, funny and insightful, and I am so often amazed and humbled by the depth of their faith.
Elana Kircher