Greetings from
the Treasurer's office.
Greetings from
the Treasurer's office.
The first quarter of 1997 is behind us. Among other things that means my grandchildren are about eight weeks old. Clinton and Heather (the twins) and their parents Dan and Crystal are doing fine. I appreciate the cards congratulating me on their birth.
Now, on to the financial picture. The first quarter was, on reflection, stable compared to the last couple of years. We are thankful for your loyal support of the church as we wrestle with perplexing financial and operational issues.
We are ever mindful here in Pasadena that without the support of each of you the Worldwide Church of God as an organization can't accomplish anything for long.
Our daily average mail income for March was just over $132,000, with the year-to-date figure holding steady at around $133,500.
We have budgeted for $122,000 per day this year, so this is encouraging. However, for us to average at least $122,000 by year's end, we must be, as we are, a bit higher than this figure for the first part of the year.
Traditionally income is higher for the first quarter than for the summer. If April and the summer hold up, as we hope and pray they will, we may finish the year close to our projected total of $122,000 per day.
We hope that with the institution of the pledge system, contributions will remain consistent even through the summer and allow us to breathe a little easier as far as the financial health of the church goes.
By the time you read this the spring festival will be over. Traditionally, we have taken up offerings on the seven Holy Days. We budget for this income in addition to the daily income mentioned in the preceding paragraphs.
Certainly, we hope and pray that members will find it in their hearts to give generously on these days. This year we projected that about 17 percent of our year's income ($6.3 million) would come through festival offerings. While this number is large, it is nevertheless about 30 percent lower than the amount we received last year and reflects our general change in size.
In addition we need to see April's regular income, that is, your regular giving apart from the offerings on the festivals, remain consistent. April's non-festival income may be lagging, but we hope this will not happen since such a drop would tend to offset the festival income and may create an unwelcome dip.
Thank you for your financial contributions. We endeavor to follow God's lead in putting your contributions to the wisest possible use.
What is the status of the local church financial reporting system?
At the beginning of April all pastors were sent preliminary reports outlining the status of their congregation's contributions.
The report shows how much your area contributed and how your money was used. The reports are still being refined. It is complicated to take aggregated financial information and break it down into something meaningful at the local level. However, the first draft of the report has been sent to your pastor.
If you have not looked at the report, talk with your pastor. The report is intended for the church member's benefit and we welcome feedback you would like to give.
Please let your pastor know any thoughts you have about the report, and he will relay the information back to us so we can adjust it to serve local churches and members more effectively.
We are committed to reducing our spending here in Pasadena. As you can see from the monthly update, spending in all categories is down more than 35 percent from last year.
However, when income continues to drop, it makes it difficult to free up monies for new projects at the local level. This is frustrating to everyone.
Nevertheless, we ask for your patience as we try to orchestrate this transition in such a way as to maintain our financial integrity as an organization and serve the many financial needs of the local churches.
April 22, 1997, WN, page 10
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