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Here’s “The Gap” – What do we do about it?
By Pastor Jason
Here’s “The Gap” I spoke about in my sermon last Sunday.
You can see how it’s changed over the years. It shrank dramatically between 2019 and 2021 due to the Refill the Tank fundraising effort and the Covid pandemic. But then started growing again soon after. You can see a dramatic reduction in expenses from 2024 to 2025 due to the restructuring of our staff.
Unfortunately, our offering income dropped just as dramatically due to a loss in membership.
There are two things we need to accomplish to address the Gap. First and foremost, we must grow our membership by bringing new people to the love of Jesus through First Church. I’ve written about that in another article. In this article, I will explore the second way we need to address the Gap: by managing other areas of our finances.
When we compare the budget of 2020 to 2025, we immediately see that our budget has been reduced in every category except one. The budget for our facilities has increased by about 28%. Utilities has doubled from $26,000 to $45,000; Property Insurance has more than doubled from $10,300 to $24,000; Security contracts have increased from $11,600 to $15,000.
Thankfully regular maintenance has remained constant at $26,000 and our gardening and landscaping has actually been slightly reduced to $22,000. When everything is added up, our facilities budget has increased from about $105,000 to $135,000 in just 5 years. I need to point out here that the numbers I’ve been talking about were budgetary projections. When we look at the actuals from 2024, we can see the challenge we have maintaining our facilities. Actual utilities were $61,800; building maintenance was $35,174; security was $17,000. The actual cost of facilities for 2024 was $160,000.
These numbers are a sign that we need to address issues surrounding our property. Are there ways to reduce our utility, maintenance, and security costs? Can we share our property with other churches or businesses to offset the costs? Are we willing to share our property? Are we able to maintain our property without finding tenants? Could we close the Gap by moving to a smaller property with less facilities costs?
These are some of the questions we need to bring before God, to listen to his guidance. Please join me in bringing these issues to God in prayer, and listening to what Jesus has to tells us.
In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Jason