Living in to God's promised shalom
“And all ate and were filled.” - Luke 9:17
Throughout 2022, Calvary has been filled with generosity in spirit and financial resources as we have navigated uncertain times in our community. Through this time, we have maintained our commitment to participating in the reconciling call of Christ in our Worship, Fellowship and Formation as well as our commitment to the work of Mission and the stewardship of our Administration and Facilities.As we have moved through this year, we are continually brought back to that moment of miracle described in Luke’s Gospel, when the gathered crowd has been fed by Jesus from a scant few loaves and fishes.
The people in that story heard Jesus’ call to share what they had in order that all might benefit; and that is what we are called to do with the gifts we possess. When we have challenges to meet and opportunities to explore, we also have the chance to be filled with God’s Shalom, the promise that we have will have enough to answer the call to participate in the reconciling work of Christ in our midst.
As we share our gifts, our whole community is filled with inspiration and action. Your gifts carry with them that inspiration and action, with which our church and our ministry can experience the wholeness, the shalom that God promises. We describe six Vocational Areas in which we carry out God’s call to Calvary: Fellowship, Formation, Mission, Worship, Administration, and Facilities. Following are graphs which help illustrate our projected income from various sources, our projected expenses by category, and how our expense match the areas in which we are called to serve.
Calvary’s Annual Budget can be displayed in terms of traditional budgetary categories, as seen above, and this is helpful in understanding the context of our finances. For instance, one can easily see that the majority of our budget is dedicated to providing salaries, insurance, and retirement plans for our clergy and staff. It is also helpful, however, to view our budget in terms of the Vocational Areas which we have discerned.
Displaying our Annual Budget in this way helps us understand how our expenditures line up with the areas into which we hear God calling us. As we further discern the path which lies ahead of us, we can adjust our allocation of resources to match the work we are celled to do. It is also interesting to compare our spending in each vocational area to Calvary’s various sources of income.
What is most notable about this illustration is that the percentage of our income which comes from lease and building use sources is closely matched to our expenditures in facilities. This means that parishioner contributions are freed up to support the programmatic areas of our vocation — Fellowship, Formation, Mission, Worship, and Administration — rather than keeping on the lights and maintaining the parking lot. As contributions grow, so does our capacity to follow God’s call at Calvary.