Congregational Meeting – January 2014

During a meeting held on Sunday, January 26, 2014, three items were addressed.

*1. 2014 Budget*

Tammy presented the 2014 budget to the congregation for approval. After some questions and a discussion the budget was approved with a possible deficit of $7,000. A plea was made to the members of Faith Church to each give a $120 above and beyond their pledges in order to cover the amount
Faith Church pays to the Denomination in assessments for each member. If each of our members do this over the course of the year, we will easily balance the budget in 2014.

*2. Natural Church Development Survey Results*

Pastor Albert presented the results of the survey taken at the end of 2013 to the congregation. The scores are very encouraging and we have plenty to be thankful for and to celebrate at Faith Church. Carole Hurst offered a prayer in which the congregation gave glory to God for what he is doing in our lives and in the church.

In properly understanding the scores below, the following should be noted:

The numbers are not percentages but standardized scores – scoring less than 50 is not a failure for that Quality Characteristic.

The NCD Institute’s software converts the raw scores from the
questionnaires to the numbers shown on the profile using a standardization formula. This standardization formula sets the “average” for any Quality Characteristic at 50. In other words, the average church would score 50 for each of the Quality Characteristics.

The standardization itself is built on a national database of churches to give the profile greater accuracy. In other words, the health of you church is measured against other churches in this country. This database covers a wide spectrum of churches – different denominations and movements, traditions, liturgical styles, theological positions, locations, leadership etc.

The software has three main categories for scoring each of the Quality Characteristics:

– 70% of churches will score between 35 and 65.
– 15% of churches will score less than 35.
– 15% of churches will score more than 65.
– It is possible to get less than zero and more than hundred.

Since Passionate Spirituality continues to be our Minimum Factor, we will again be planning and implementing a strategy over the course of this year to raise this particular quality characteristic at Faith Church.

*3. Faith in the Future*

After an alternative and more cost effective design for building a new church on the Route 6 property was approved last year, the next step was to get a projection of what this might cost. During the meeting Pete Bidoglio shared with the congregation that the projected cost for building the new
design would be between 1.6 and 1.8 million dollars.

The next step is to get a team of finance minded people together to come up with creative ideas and a strategy to raise the necessary funds to build the new church. The team will report back to the congregation in a few months time when a decision will be made.

We ask the congregation to pray continually that God will show us the way forward!