The Kuwaa Mission 

"Thank you for your generous contribution of $20 for the work of the Kuwaa Mission...With you gracious assistance, men, women, and children throughout the Kuwaa Chiefdom are experiencing the love of God in a new way."

Montana Synod

"I would like to express my appreciation to all of you for your consistent and generous Mission Support" - Sue Ost Synod Treasurer

Freedom in Christ

"Thank you for your support of Freedom in Christ Prision Minisry. Your faithful connection and commitment helps bring healing and hope to men at the Montana State Prison."

Memo from Council President, Lynn Bulger

RE:  Budget Committee Meeting on December 8, 2018

To:  Bethlehem Lutheran Church members

In Attendance: Pr. Jean, Lynn Bulger (Council President), Darlene Fernelius (Treasurer), Margie Shea (Financial Secretary), Pat Gum (Council Member), Pr. Paul Hanson, Jan Harper, Connie Sider

A.  Thank you to everyone who turned in a “pledge” card!  There were 22 responses from the appeal letter that was sent out to 75 households prior to the December 2, 2018 Congregation Meeting.  The cards were also available at the meeting.  The majority of the responses were to maintain giving.  There did seem to be some confusion about what exactly was being asked for.   We were looking for amounts we could add or subtract to the 2018 donation amount to estimate what 2019 giving would be. 

An example for clarification would be:  Your current offering is $20 a week.  If you felt like you could increase your giving to $35 a week, you would have filled out section A on the top line to increase weekly giving by $15 (x 52 weeks for $780 Annually).  Another example is:  Your current offering is $100 a month.  If you felt like you could only give $75 a month in 2019, you would have filled out Section C using the bottom line to decrease monthly giving by $25 (x12 months for $300 Annually).

If you feel you need to change your amount or would like to complete a “pledge” card, please contact Margie Shea.

B.  Attached is the proposed budget for 2019.

Explanation of Changes Made (changes made are denoted by an “*” in the far-right column):

1.  Pastor’s Salary, Pension, Retirement & Health Insurance amounts were supplied from Portico Benefit Services to reflect 2019 rates.
2. Supply Pastor was bumped up from $1,050.00 to not only include vacation & sick days and Synod Assembly, but also 1 Sunday for Continuing Education and 2 Sundays for Christikon (Youth & Congregation).
3. Insurance Expense/Liability Property was decreased by $200.00
4. Vanco Charges were increased from $200.00 in 2018 to reflect more people using the electronic giving option.
5. Benevolence to the Montana Synod was increased by $1,000.00 to account for the 2019 rate of 6% of Current Receipts and Loose Offerings.

Considerations regarding the Proposed Budget of $103,444.48:

1.  This Proposed Budget, as of December 8^th, has not been voted on by the Council.
2.  Pr. Jean is current with the Salary Guidelines from Synod.  Her status would be full-time to reflect her letter of call
3. There is not a consensus that the proposed budget is reachable.
4. The budget remains barebones as in the past few years.  There will still be a need for in-kind giving.  Major expenditures (such as new carpet in the Sanctuary, etc) will need to be brought forward to the congregation for approval/funding.
5. A serious commitment is needed from the congregation in money, time and other resources; especially, if moving forward with Evangelism and/or alternative sources for income.
6. The council and Pastor have healing work to do.  Recommendations from the Montana Synod Consultation Team, include:
   1. working on healthy communications
   2. establishing “Best Practices” where needed
   3. re-examining Pr. Jean’s Letter of Call and making adjustments as needed to make it up-to-date
7. What happens if we continue to have cash flow issues?

C.  Another generous $10,000 donation has been pledged to Bethlehem Lutheran Church for early 2019.  This will absolutely help our bottom line, but cash flow will still need to be closely monitored.

More notes from the November meeting:

• December meetings feature a cookie exchange. The text study is based on "Fear Not - God is at work beyond our ability to imagine."
• We earned $1,659.60 through the Chili/Bake Sale and we sent out $1,100 to local charities. Also, we received donations of $350 after hosting funeral luncheons recently.
• Our Annual Women's Christmas Party will be held January 5th beginning 10:00a at Golden Corral.
• The next WELCA business meeting is January 27th @7:00p.

Notes on the financials: In the newsletter, the “big 4” numbers are reported. A full copy of financials is available in the Congregation Notebook (located above the mail boxes).
1. Total Income is the reporting of all donations (including in-kind) & miscellaneous income for a particular month. Total Income includes any gifts that are given for a specific purpose (such as missions, memorials, flowers, etc.) 2. Total Expenses is expressed as a negative number as it shows all the bills that were paid that month. For some of these expenses, a special gift was given and these do not come out of our “Current Expenses.” 3. Net Income is the difference between the Total In- come and the Total Expenses. When the amount is a negative, there has not been enough money in to cover the items that need to be paid. 4. Cash Balance is the running total of Net Income. A negative amount does not mean the checking account is overdrawn; however, it does show a potential problem for the future. Currently, we are able to delay designated All Are Welcome funds to pay for general expenses. AAW funds are deposited to their own account as Income is available.

Tags with a desired gift item are available in the narthex on the "Ways to Get Involved Board".
After taking a tag from the list, the item(s) will need to be wrapped with the tag attached and returned to church (old IHN/Family Promise area of basement) by Saturday, December 15th.  
The latest to return will probably be noon on Sunday, December 16th as WELCA will need to prepare the packages for delivery to Family Services Inc.