Fall Update from the Executive Pastor
Now that we’re back from the summer, I thought it would be a good time to let you know how we’re doing as a congregation. Last weekend, we had 710 in our worship services, an approximate increase of 30 people from our kick-off in 2015. If you count online downloads of the weekly sermon, our worship attendance was near 1,000.
In Education, we had 220 children and youth in classes during 9:45, and 62 youth at Swamp Romp Sunday evening. Over 35 youth have signed up for our new small group model of youth group, which already shows an increase of two dozen over Sunday night youth group participation in 2015. Meanwhile, our Wellness and CHEER Coordinator, Judy Jurkowski, works with 200 people on a weekly basis.
We’ve had 20 first-time visitors welcomed and given a gift and information about the church since August, when we launched our new welcome desk and greeters. Starting this Sunday we kick-off a new four-part Meet the Church new-member course designed to get new people plugged into giving their time and talent to Christ through Aldersgate.
Financially, Aldersgate is tracking with where we were this time in 2015. Our operating budget is running $139,000 behind for the year compared to $95,000 this time last year; however, our revenue has increased on the year by over $7,000 compared to 2015. We have 133 online givers; approximately one-third of our operating income is now received online. We have paid $20,000 more in apportionments to the larger United Methodist denomination compared to 2015. We pay $249,876 in such apportionments per year, almost 20 percent of our total operating budget.
Over the summer, one generous member decided to leave a percentage of their estate to Aldersgate while another came forward to fund the remodel of Founders Hall and the adjacent area. We’re now paying our Shepherd Hall debt twice per month to maximize our ability to pay down principal on the loan, and we’ve seen an increase in online givers.
We have a lot of big events coming up, including the return of Wednesday Night Dinners and a number of activities around Aldersgate’s 60th Anniversary. See the list of Events on the other side of this sheet.
Perhaps most important of all as we anticipate the anniversary, we’ve got a number of baptisms, including some adult baptisms, on the schedule in the months ahead. This, more than anything, is a sign of Aldersgate’s fruitfulness.
Peace,
Jason Micheli
Executive Pastor
