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CCC NewsNotes June 9, 2002 CCC Budget Expands As Building Debt Is Absorbed Mission Cuts Too Deep In Proposed Budget, Movers Needed June 22, Senior Minister Plans Sabbatical For 2003, Special Offering June 23, Focus On Students, AIM Targets Its Issues, Seeking Help In Summer, Parents' Night Out, News Notes Deadlines, CCC Staff CCC Budget Expands As Building Debt Is Absorbed One of the main items of business at the annual meeting on June 16 will be the consideration and adoption of the operating budget for our next fiscal year. The Board of Trustees will present a budget that does not do everything we would like but that leaves the door open for funding additional items later in the year if our income is higher than projected. For several reasons, the principle guiding the trustees' development of the budget for the coming year has been that it should be close to being in balance. Thus, the proposed budget projects total income to be $571,380 and total expenditures to be $581,357. But to get to this small a deficit has required difficult decisions. The income side assumes that pledges will eventually total $480,000 -- that's $30-$35,000 above what has been pledged so far. It also assumes substantial income from the use of our renovated structure by the Silver Spring Child Care Center, our two counselors, and others. It includes the anticipated income from the rental of 9601 Colesville Rd. to the YMCA. On the expenditure side, the budget allocates $39,450 to our boards, committees and office functions. That is about $6,000 higher than this year and accommodates many, but not all of the expanded program initiatives proposed for the coming year. Items not funded include $1,000 requested by the Board of Stewardship to cater the leadership luncheon next year and $700 of the $6,200 requested for the music program. Property expenses are estimated to total $64,425. That is more than double this year's allocation both because property expenses were artificially low this year due to our relocation and because utilities and maintenance costs are expected to be higher in the coming year. For staff salaries and benefits, the budget allocates $350,482. That is about $14,000 higher than this year and includes a 2.5 percent cost-of-living increase for all staff, modest increases in the base salaries for John and Dick, and the restoration of funding for night custodians. At the same time, the proposed budget eliminates the position of coordinator of child care and assumes that the position of director of children's programming will not be filled before Oct. 1. The operating budget will need to pick up about four months of the amortization costs for our Cornerstones loan and the member loans (contributions to Keystones should cover those costs through February). This is a new item for the budget, and those costs will be about $61,000. For missions, the budget allocates $66,000. That represents particularly painful reductions of $10,000 in what we gave to Our Church's Wider Mission (OCWM) this past year and for many preceding years, and a reduction of $8,000 in the amount provided for discretionary mission giving by the Board for Social Witness. As noted, the trustees are proposing a budget that is close to being in balance. But perhaps more than in most years, there are a number of uncertainties about this budget. Maybe pledges will be higher than $480,000. Maybe we'll realize more from the use of the building than we expect, or loose plate offerings will be higher than projected. Maybe utilities will be lower. For these and other reasons, therefore, the trustees are proposing that we review the budget again in six months and that, if income is higher than projected and/or expenses lower, we provide funding for the following items:
If the funding available at that time cannot support all of these items, the trustees propose that 75 percent be allocated to missions, and the remaining 25 percent be allocated by the board of trustees among the remaining items. All of this will be presented in greater detail at the annual meeting, and there will be ample opportunity for discussion and amendment. Please come and share your views. Budget documents providing greater detail are now available in the church office. Dave Ackerman, chair, Board of Trustees
Mission Cuts Too Deep In Proposed Budget A Dissenting View In a sermon several years ago, our senior minister quoted from a member of the congregation to the effect that, when she wrote her monthly checks, she always made out the one for her CCC pledge first. Then she paid the rest of her obligations. Her commitment to her church came off the top, not out of what was left over at the end of the process. Her priorities were clear -- God and her church came first. CCC's yearly commitment to Our Church's Wider Mission (OCWM), and thus to the Central Atlantic Conference and to the national UCC, plus our discretionary mission giving administered by the Board for Social Witness are our congregation's equivalent of that member's pledge. They are our commitment to what is beyond ourselves -- to God, to the wider church and to God's people in need. The proposed budget that apparently is to be placed before the congregation on June 16 does not follow this order of priorities. This proposal places our commitment to the world outside our newly renovated walls near or at the bottom of the pecking order, not the top. It pays other bills -- salaries, maintenance, loan amortization, etc. -- and then allots to the greater church and to those in need what is left over. It cuts by $10,000, or 20 percent, the $50,000 we have been giving to OCWM for many years (no annual cost-of-living increase there), and it cuts the present year's discretionary mission giving of $29,500 by $8,000, or 27 percent. Recognizing that mission giving is at the top of the list of potential but very "iffy" restorations, the bottom line remains that the proposed budget asks us to operate on faith with regard to meeting, perhaps and in six months, our obligations to the wider world, but does not demand the same degree of faith with regard to those portions of the budget that address CCC's basic care of itself. Is this the picture of CCC that we want to share with all those potential new members we want to attract? Do we really want to tell our children that, in a crunch, we will provide for ourselves first and that our avowed support for the church as a whole and for those in need must bear the lion's share of the risk related to shortfalls? Is this what God and our covenant require of us? And, do we really want to cut our support of OCWM in the year immediately following the wider UCC's efforts on our behalf with regard to our renovations? It was through the intervention of the CAC that the national UCC established the $1.75 million loan fund that rescued our financing of the renovations from purgatory. Is our response to John Deckenbeck, our CAC conference minister who went to bat for us and who has attended our several celebrations that, while we thank him very much, we are cutting his budget next year? A strange form of gratitude! At the very least we should restore that $10,000 to the budget and spread the risk of any increased budget shortfall to other, internal obligations. Please think long and hard about CCC's priorities and come to the annual meeting prepared to discuss this exceedingly important issue. Anne Weissenborn, on behalf of the Board for Social Witness Volunteers are needed on Sat., June 22 from 9 a.m. -- 12 p.m., and from 1 p.m. -- 4 p.m. to help remove CCC's temporarily stored furnishings from 620 Pershing Dr. Everything must be out by the end of June. No need to sign up -- just come! Randy Caswell, Building & Grounds Committee Senior Minister Plans Sabbatical For 2003 From Rev. Jim Todhunter I am writing to inform you of my intention to take sabbatical leave during the first three to four months of 2003. My call to CCC includes the provision of a four-month sabbatical leave for every six years of ministry (since 1984 I have taken a total of less than four months). The purpose of a sabbatical is intentional rest and renewal for a pastor, so that the pastor can return better equipped to lead. Sabbaticals are not vacations or junkets. To some extent they need to be designed and focused. My first sabbatical in 1983 was working as a Capitol Hill policy advocate for the UCC Office for Church in Society on arms control issues. My second sabbatical in 1991 was community organizing in Silver Spring, which led to the creation of Silver Spring Community Vision. As I have thought, prayed and reflected on sabbatical with my spiritual director, my Shalem support group and many of you, it has become clear to me that a different kind of sabbatical is in order for me now. The theme I see developing for this sabbatical is how to take better care of oneself in a holistic way -- spiritually, physically and mentally. I think each of us yearns to experience wholeness and health. But our lives are characterized by stress, lack of rest, no clear line between work and play and the difficulty in experiencing true Sabbath. All the great religious traditions teach about the importance of integrating mind, body and spirit into soul. It is appealing to me to think about spending sabbatical trying to experience that for myself -- that is, learning self-care by starting with myself. Now I am exploring just how to do this, and I have many ideas that I am eager to share with you. How would such a sabbatical impact favorably on CCC? First, I believe it is in our mutual interest to have me return to you rested, energized and ready to face the challenges that lie ahead for us. Second, I am fascinated by the thought of CCC becoming a much more intentional "self care" community. Shouldn't the church be a place where we are each supported in our efforts to experience health and wholeness? For example, it was a strong "wake up" call to me recently when my spiritual director roundly scolded me, not for my methods of prayer and meditation, but because of my neglectful and uninformed attitude toward my diet! Eating right is part of caring for the soul! CCC has "done" a lot and will continue to be a doing church. But now I believe we need to put more stress on learning to "be." I would love to hear from you. Love, Jim The Board for Social Witness invites everyone to participate in a new special offering on June 23 called "Strengthen the Church." Information about the offering is enclosed, as is an envelope. Please give generously. Board for Social Witness From the CMMC Newsletter Community Ministry of Montgomery County is certified by the public schools for Student Service Learning Credit. We provide a very rewarding and enjoyable volunteer experience sorting and displaying clothing and working with small children. Come to one of our two sites: Upcounty Interfaith Clothing Center, 620 E. Diamond Ave., Suite M, Gaithersburg, and Interfaith Clothing Center, 751 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville. For more information contact Teresa in Rockville at (301) 424-3796; or Andres at (301) 977-1267 for Gaithersburg. Community Ministry's interfaith clothing centers seek congregations and others to collect school supplies. They will be distributed to children from low-income families prior to the opening of school in late August. We need backpacks and the supplies that go with them. For more details, or to arrange delivery, call the Rockville ICC at (301) 424-3796, or Gaithersburg UICC at (301) 977-1267. A new organization celebrates its 2nd birthday this month. Action In Montgomery (AIM), a church-related citizen's action group, has amassed impressive victories under its new organizer, Mark Fraley. AIM played major roles in lobbying the County Council to increase funding for low and moderate income housing to $15 million last year, and to increase money for senior transportation by $800,000. AIM also influenced the school board to increase all-day kindergarten to assist in the adequate care and education for working families. These issues were identified by congregations throughout the county through more than 80 house meetings attended by over 800 people. This year, in a similar process involving more than 1,000 people, the following list emerged as the AIM issues agenda:
Over this coming year, CCC will be asked to assess its participation in AIM and look at AIM's increasingly influential role in Silver Spring. This is an area where CCC's expertise can help set AIM's agenda. On June 23, you will be given the opportunity to add your endorsement to the above issues by signing a petition. If you have any questions, please contact Sue Dollins, Gordon Forbes or Jim Henkelman-Bahn. The Silver Spring Child Care Center will be moving to CCC in July. Volunteers are needed in June and early July to be with the children while teachers pack up for the move and to help with the move itself. Contact Connie Iacomini at (301) 589-1593. Summer church school teachers and caregivers are needed. Please call Kristen Brown at (301) 460-1806 if you can help teach our children one Sunday this summer. Parents' Night Out will be held on June 21, from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. It will be great to be home in our new building. Please call Glenda Neal (301) 622-3948, or e-mail to gbneal@aol.com if you plan to attend or if you wish more information about the program. PLEASE NOTE: DEADLINE for the second June issue will be THURS., JUNE 20 at 5 p.m. News Notes editor -- Susan DeFord (301) 649-3093, or sjdkjk@erols.com The Rev. Jim Todhunter, senior minister; the Rev. Linda Carder, assoc. minister; John Touchton, director of music; the Rev. Dale Ostrander, director of programming for older adults; Richard Meyer, property administrator; Ruth Avery, office administrator.
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