Western District Conference Stewardship Commission Minutes - DRAFT
April 23, 2013, 6:00 PM WDC Offices
Present: Phyllis Regier, Clarence Rempel, Stan Voth (chair), Steve Hochstetler, Leanna Ediger, Jeanette Stucky, and Karen Zehr
1. Stan welcomed our newest member, Leanna Ediger, a member of the church in Turpin, OK.
2. Karen opened with sharing about her experience with Hope’s Reading the Bible in 90 Days experience.
3. Jeanette moved to approve the January 29, 2013 minutes. Karen seconded and motion passed unanimously.
4. Need to appoint a new person to Staff Relations. The following names were submitted to us by the Gifts Discernment commission: Janice Good, Jim Schrag, Leann Toews, and Ruth Penner. Consensus was that these persons should be asked in the order listed above.
5. Stan Voth will write the Stewardship Commission report for the WDC annual assembly and will e-mail to everyone to review.
6. Jeanette reported that Church of the Servant received a 17,000 loan from WDC to help with the down payment of the purchase of their building. The Trustees voted to make the loan and Everence will hold the mortgage. Peace Menn. in Dallas and Casa Batana in Newton may be making similar requests for loans soon.
7. Phyllis and Clarence created thank you notes for writing hand-written notes to the top individual contributors ($1,000 or more) to WDC. Similar notes are being sent to the chair/moderator of the congregations that are top contributors (strong giving per member).
8. Phyllis gave a financial update. 2012 Unaudited Year-End Report: Everyone stayed within their budget parameters which was good. Stewardship Commission was over on communications due to the printing of the new newsletter. The insurance numbers are misleading because we actually got a rebate, but that is in 2013. Ended the year with $2,600 income. Requesting that half be set aside for the church plant restricted fund, and the remaining half be split three-fourths for a new conference vehicle and one-fourth for conference equipment (computers, etc.). The letter that was sent out around Thanksgiving brought in around $30,000 which was a pretty good response.
9. Phyllis presented the 2014 budget. Some of the significant changes from 2013:
· Lowered contributions from congregations since we didn’t meet 2013 target
· Increase in church plant contributions. Task force has been formed to focus on new church plants and contacting churches about supporting them
· Staffing expenses increased due to wage increases (1.6%) and increase in health insurance costs
· Leadership Commission: camp subsidy $2,000 less per year now until zero; no longer supporting an OK conference minister; increased ministerial travel expenses; scholarships for seminary students that are not full-time.
· Resource Commission: most everything the same except staffing (youth minister position) and reduced travel expenses
Does budget fit our mission? Somewhat cautious since anticipating six churches withdrawing their membership from WDC before assembly. Focus areas/priorities for 2014:
· Church planting and church planting task force
· Year of the Bible (new website focusing on this)
· New first-time pastor support (Schowalter grant for this)
Leanna motioned to approve the 2014 Proposed Budget. Seconded by Jeanette. Motion passed.
10. Reviewed pyramid of giving that Phyllis put together as well as the notes Karen took from CCCG planning session in November. (Attached) Plan is to continue meeting with congregations. Agenda for these meeting is as follows:
· Thanking them for monies giving to WDC as well as sharing congregants time with WDC
· Ask for continued support and encourage moving up on the giving chart
· Review and answer questions regarding the narrative budget
· Review core tasks of WDC
11. Thank you to Jeanette for her years of serving on Stewardship Commission!
12. Dates to keep in mind: Aug. 1 – Year of the Bible Workshop; Aug. 2-4 – WDC Annual Assembly at Bethel College
13. Next meeting: Tuesday, August 20 at 6:00 PM.
14. Stan closed with prayer.
Recorded by Karen Zehr
Attachment
(Notes taken by Karen Zehr during the final planning session for the WDC table at the Creating Congregational Cultures of Generosity Seminar, November 17, 2012)
Telling the Story
What we do well:
· Website (rotating pictures, etc.)
· Newsletter (changes for 2013 will be good – more professional looking, fewer times/yr., etc.)
What we could do better/new:
· Make use of social media (Facebook, blogs, etc.)
· Short new pieces once a week
· Continued Celebration of Vision 2012 completion – recap of what was given; stories of recent ways monies have helped specific projects, etc.
Asking
What we do well:
· Annual giving letter
· Narrative Budget
What we could do better/new:
· Push time and talent contributions more. It would be good to have congregations share resources (IT, financial skills, etc.) with each other – how can WDC facilitate this?
· Need to find new way of getting suggestions from pastors on who can serve in WDC roles
· When visiting with churches, also need to focus on sharing “people”, not just monies with WDC
· Talk with Gilberto about establishing giving plans with church plants
· Check into information about online giving and getting this information to WDC congregations
Learning and Planning
What we do well:
(I didn’t have anything written down for this!)
What we could do better/new:
· Have an informational/inspirational meeting and have Whitestone Mennonite Church share their story
· Talk with the top 10% of donors about endowment planning with WDC in mind
· Include brochure with information about the Bequest Fund in WDC packets for annual meeting
· Have Clarence meet with top 10 donors of WDC
Keeping Momentum Going
What we do well:
(I didn’t have anything written down for this!)
What we could do better/new:
· Stewardship Commission members meeting with leaders from WDC congregations to discuss their giving to WDC
· Clarence personally meeting with top 10% donors to thank them for their gifts to WDC