COUNCIL NOTES, SEPTEMBER 10, 2013

7:00PM Elenbaas Residence; Mike/Teresa Elenbaas, Eric Likkel, Mark Nelson, David Anema, Ryan Engel via telephone

Roses, Thorns

Council members each shared something for which they are grateful, and something in their current life that is challenging; followed this w/prayer

Finances/Pastor family plans; Eric’s work life

Called Ryan; church’s bank balance fell from high of $21k late May, early June, down to $16k as of mid-Sept.; less than $10k at beginning of September after monthly/quarterly payments made; July only saw $4k and August $3k in giving; Emmaus Road did lose one major contributor who moved out of town

Eric shared goal of trying to line up $1-1.5k part time work, in order to offer Emmaus Road opportunity to cut hours/pay, but has not been able to reach goal; January will begin leadership position w/connected ministry org., netting an addtl. $1k per month; position lasts 12 mo. (thru Dec.2014); currently an extremely stressful period for Likkels as money is, has been, and will continue to be tight, and uncertainty about Emmaus Road’s giving strength/limits makes planning difficult; Ryan/Mike tasked w/publishing new update; also agreed to invite Christina to edit/publish letter to church she had worked on late May/early June

Council agreed that a tongue/cheek way to raise awareness would be to announce to Emmaus that when we restore balance to $20k, we will buy new bulb for second projector currently out of commission

Four E's/KEZ doc; useful for Emmaus?

Eric shared planning document being used in another ministry setting; includes planning categories under “Four E’s” of Engage, Equip, Empower, Expand; could be helpful tool for Emmaus Road leadership; Council approved, welcoming opportunity to put it to use this fall in the next month or two

Mission Insite – what if….

Also from Eric’s work with KEZ/Cluster, using Mission Insite software; able to show map of Emmaus Road households overlayed w/Sanctuary CRC and Refuge RCA congregational members; demonstrates geographic clusters; useful for envisioning shared, collaborative, missional work; shared youth ministry one example; map could also be used to help Emmaus households less connected w/Belltown envision how they could connect around mission together, closer to their neighborhoods

Spiritual Health of the Body; Pastoral Visits, Prayer Parties, Book Brunch –

8 visits completed; 3 more scheduled; 20+ remain; people responsive, appreciative of Eric’s time

Dave/Jessie ready to schedule; Arauctos willing to entertain idea, also; looking for one or two more hosts

Eric began scheduling Sunday Book Brunch around “When Helping Hurts; How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor or Yourself”; first brunch discussion at New Horizons, Sunday October 13^th

Eric hoping to create spaces for relationships to deepen, rekindle, etc.

New Horizons – Update

Eric had coffee w/Exec. Dir. Mary Steele last Friday; Mary reported New Horizons has big renovations ahead; church will feel initial disruption when upstairs becomes unavailable, perhaps by March/April 2014; later, NH will be renovating downstairs; Emmaus Road will need to temporarily relocate; current lease extended for another six months with no change in rent

Mission Belltown; David Anema update; Holiday Blues and Bingo

David continues to serve, walk alongside neighbors and friends made over last few years; wishes there was tighter connection between church and neighbors; notes a high level of alcoholism among crowd; Emmaus has enjoyed presence of small handful of Belltown residents, though, on Sundays in worship and in Belltown small group; there is a cluster of people, connecting church/neighbors, willing/able to serve and address needs withing neighborhood

Eric announced aim to organize Holiday Blues & Bingo party in Belltown; will be joint effort between Emmaus Road and individual neighbors; hopes to involve seniors in planning/carrying out of event; also hopes to see healthy involvement from Emmaus Road in something fun, worthwhile, and relational

Worship

Mark glad to be back after three weeks abroad; eager to launch new songs this season

Childrens Ministry

Teresa mentioned hinges needing attention on Godly Play furniture/barrier; also noted door knob/handle missing from Prayer/Nursery room; both questions to pursue w/Biff; Elenbaas’ hoping to meet w/Matt Park soon and find out how he felt about the summer season of Godly Play

Classis October 10^th

Eric invited any Council members interested, willing, able, to come along to the semi-annual Classis Pacific Northwest meeting; noted this particular meeting would be “heavy” as assembly will convene a form of church court to hear difficult, delicate testimony re: injustice, allegations of authority abuse, etc. from a sister congregation

Council Calendar

All agreed to stick to a Tuesday night schedule every several weeks/few months; also agreed we should convene Road Crew prior to Thanksgiving to communicate about big changes ahead, options, etc.

Ended meeting with prayer

GIVING and BUDGET UPDATE, JUNE 2013

First things first: let us thank God for giving us all so many blessings and resources, and for bringing us together as a church that thrives in so many ways.

I’ll start this memo with the takeaway from our November 2012 budget memo, which highlighted lower giving in 2012: If the current trend continues, our bank account will reach a critical level where we will operate 'month to month' sometime in the second half of 2013 (as early as Summer 2013, likely Fall 2013).

The bold sentence above states verbatim what was published in the November update (check our blog for historical memos, link is included at end of this document).  Unfortunately, lower giving has continued through the first four to five months of 2013.  Recent giving in the last several weeks has picked up significantly; thank you all for your generosity.  But we are still well below budget for the year. Our cash reserves (see below), fluctuate between one and two months’ worth of expenses.  As we have discussed before, our goal is to maintain three months’ worth of expenses in reserve to manage our month to month fluctuation in giving which naturally occurs. We still have some catching up to do.

We can turn this trend around as a church; please pray for continued financial sustainability; consider your own personal, and/or your family’s ability to give in order to sustain Emmaus Road financially.  Please give what you are able, and commit to it; our church needs finances to remain in existence.  

Cash Reserves

The chart above shows the average amount, by month, in our reserves for the last year and a half.  We have seen a steady decline during this time, particularly over the first five months of this year, where we have at times been as low as approximately one months' worth of expenses.

Having three months’ expenses is important because it allows us to handle large quarterly and annual payments that arise each year.  It also allows us the freedom to give back to our community through the Acts 6 fund.

As shown below, giving has been lower than expenses by approximately $1400 to $1500 per month in 2012 and 2013.  If we do not change this trend, cash reserves (the blue line in the above chart) will very quickly reach a critical level where we will begin to operate ‘month to month’ sometime this year.

Expenses This Year

The chart below shows our church’s actual monthly expenses for the past year and a half.  Actual expenses came in very close to budget, although we have not been tithing as much as budgeted due to lower levels of giving.  January through May, we averaged approximately $9,200 in expenses.

Giving Trends

Giving has averaged $7,600 per month in 2013.  It was only this high because of several large gifts in May, which help make up for the low January through April giving, but do not cover our expenses.  See the black line with triangles for average 2013 giving, and compare it to the solid red line, which are our average monthly expenses.  This shows our ‘giving gap’ and is why we have been using up our cash reserves.

The challenge for our church is that giving is significantly below our monthly expenses.  If we are unable to collectively bring our giving up, we will need to look for ways to cut expenses in order to remain financially solvent and sustainable as a church going forward.  Council has discussed these potential actions, and stewardship team will review our finances in late June to determine any next steps.

What You Should Do, Road Crew

Thank and praise God that Emmaus Road has been able to remain financially sustainable throughout its existence.  Please pray for continued abundance for our church that we can meet our expenses and continue to do God’s work in Belltown and Seattle.  Please give to our church – we need the money to exist as a church, and budget cuts will be painful for all involved if we have to make them.

We’ll continue to highlight our church’s finances through the eweekly, the bulletin, budget updates like this one, and through communication on Sundays.  Thank you for all you do for Emmaus Road Church!

Please feel free to contact a member of the stewardship team if you have questions.  Note that our current budget, with expense breakdowns, can be found in the November budget memo, which is on our blog at:  http://emmausroadcrew.blogspot.com/2012/11/finance-update-for-sunday-december-2.html

Stewardship team email addresses:

• Ryan Engel at: rengel@gmail.com
• Mike Elenbaas at: mchllnbs@yahoo.com
• David Anema at: heyitsdavida@comcast.net