The past three years (2020-2023) have been some of the hardest times for Holy Covenant in many years, or so we thought. The year 2023 is now topping 2022 for the hardest year, financially, for us as a church and we are only into March!
Every week our newsletter "What's Happening at Holy Covenant" lists our cash flow and what the needs are of the church for each month. We also post our bills for the month. We have been as transparent as we can about Holy Covenant’s financial needs. Unfortunately, we have not eet our monthly money needs. We are continuing to have a shortfall every month to the point that the Board cannot see a way that Rev. Martha Daniels can be paid this April 1st. Other bills would also be in arrears.
At this writing, congregants, members and friends, we have about $966 in the bank with only this coming Sunday’s collection to add to the bank totals. Our weekly offerings average about $400 a week so even adding that amount, we will have $1,366 in our account, with bills and Rev. Daniels’ salary of $2500 owing.
The Board has made many cuts in our costs. We now use NetTalk for our phone service instead of ATT (NetTalk is just $55/year), changing internet service to have a lower cost, lowering Rev. Daniels salary by 20%, having our Assessment to UFMCC lowered to 2% (what we pay every month to UFMCC) and lowering our heating costs by keeping the temperature down when we are not using the building.
The Board has tried to sell some unused assets such as our handbells and the ten gravesites we received as a donation many years ago. However, there was no interest in either.
Holy Covenant provides so much to our congregants, friends, and the community. The Board is committed to keeping our obligations to you as a safe place to come worship, reach out to the community, have fellowship and attend events like our Garage Sale May 20th & our Spring Pride Dance on June 10th. We truly want to be your place for faith, fellowship and friendship!
The Board is asking you to please make a donation to the church to help us meet our financial obligations. Our bills include items such as utilities (water, sewage, electricity, gas), internet, insurance, and Rev. Daniels’ salary (which is also a contractual obligation). The Board has placed payroll as our number one priority, . Some of you have paid some bills directly, or on a regular basis, or made large donations, and we thank them for their generosity.
This has been a difficult issue for this Board to discuss--which is how do we find the financial resources to pay our obligations? We have done everything we as a Board can do—cutting costs, holding fundraisers, and making our own donations. We are now appealing to you, the members and friends of Holy Covenant. The choice of what we do in the future for the life of this church is in your hands.
Please donate to help us out and feel free to reach out to any of the Board members with any questions you may have.
Click on the button below to donate via PayPal. If you like to use Zelle, then please us donations@holycovenantmcc.org. You can also send us a check via mail.