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Hey Church!

What a topic for a "first" blog post. Money. Because as the saying goes, "All the church talks about is money." I am grateful that we can confidently say that's not a part of our culture. And that is because of YOU and your generosity. We don't even pass an offering plate any longer. So first of all - Thank You!

But just like it's wise practice for you to have a budget and spend less than you make in your household, the church must have wise practices as well when it comes to finances. And since we started this pledge process a couple of years ago, it has given the finance team and leadership the tools they need to make wise decisions and changed our financial picture significantly.

Just a quick comparison. Back in 2021, the church budget for the year was $116,430.60. Before the pledge campaign, we were guessing and hoping that enough offering would come in to meet that budget. That year, giving was only $97,124.51. That's nearly a negative $20,000 difference. Not good.

But in 2023 we reduced our yearly budget to $99,087 based on the pledges that you gave us. And the giving total for that year was $113,403.19. Nearly a $15,000 surplus on the year.

Through your partnership in the pledge process in just 2 years, we were able to make a shift in our financial picture to the tune of almost $35,000 ($20,000 deficit to a $15,000 surplus). That's incredible. And this is why this process is so important. It's helped our leadership make better decisions and it's helped all of us make a decision in advance on what to give to the Lord.

Now - for the hard stuff. In order to reduce our budget by so much, we had to make some hard decisions. We ended our overseas mission support. We stopped sponsoring a child in Haiti. We ended our monthly giving to support Wolverine Christian Service Camp. We reduced the "fun" things we do as a church (Friend & Family Day, volunteer appreciation dinners, etc.) We ended our community support in the way of gas cards and outreach efforts. We have very little money going toward our children's ministry. We rely on you to provide Sunday snacks, mow the lawn and plow our parking lot. And I don't want this to come off self-serving in any way because I'm so grateful to serve this church, but it is important to note that we've done all of this AND we've not given raises to our staff since we started the pledge campaign 2 years ago. Sometimes, in churches, raises still go out while the community and gospel outreach get reduced. That is not so at Rising and it is a credit to our leadership.

The above paragraph is just a little dose of reality that we all have to face. I'm sure in your household, you've had to make similar decisions in different seasons of life. I hope that someday we can return to supporting all of the things that we used to and we can bless those who are much less fortunate than we are as a church body in the name of Christ and His Kingdom.

But as they say, the way you eat an elephant is one bite at a time. The first bite has been taken. As a result of your commitments through past pledge months, we are able to make better decisions for this church body. And because of that, our financial picture has improved immensely. Again - THANK YOU!

This is why pledge month is so important. And now, because of the track record that's being established we get to consider, once again, how we can be a blessing to the Kingdom of God. How we can empower you to spread the word of God in our community, how to change lives overseas, how to support local missions and ministries in our own church that impact your homes and the legacy of Christ in this community.

So from a very practical standpoint, would you prayerfully consider making a commitment to give in 2025? I will write about the spiritual side of giving in another post soon, but given just the tangible changes I've outlined here, the changes as a result of faithful giving from individuals like you, would you consider committing to give that we might be able to do what was considered, just a short time ago, impossible?

I'll write about that next. Stay tuned.