Finances at Peoples

This year the Church Council approved a budget with a deficit of about $36,000. The last few years have been considerably worse financially than years previous due to the stock market. However, as many have pointed out, using investment income is not only unpredictable, it also decreases people's need to give. The most serious matter at hand is that for the past two years, in order to pay the bills such as heat and light, Peoples has paid only 6-8% of our mission shares to the Conference. Of the 70 some churches in our district, we were in the bottom 6. We cannot continue to avoid this important responsibility. These mission shares go to support vital conference ministries such as all of our Methodist Camps like Mechuwana. You can click here to see all of the ministries that Mission Shares support. Also at this link you can find mission share information and history for individual churches.

However, the good news is that we have begun to tap a Conference resource to help Peoples put together a financial plan for the future. The Finance Committee and other leaders will be working together with the District Superintendent, Rev. Mike Davis and the Tri State District Mission Shares Review Team led by Rev. Deb Shipp. If you have any questions about this process, feel free to contact the pastors or any member of the Finance Committee. And if you feel led to come on board to help out with this mission shares review process, please also contact us.

Above all, please be in prayer for your church family. More important than meeting our budget is knowing that we are each giving all that God is calling us to. This type of sacrifice is essential to growing in faith. So many are struggling financially and most feel they are giving all they can. The question is not, however, what we can do, but what God can do through us! Amen!