As we enter into May and another week of self-isolation in this new and uncertain world, I figured it is time to share the “State of the Church.” I have received numerous questions over the last few days and weeks from people that generally revolve around two central topics: (1) when can we come back? and (2) how is St. Peter’s doing financially? Let’s take a look at both of those questions and conclude with where we stand as a congregation.
1. When can we come back? The most straightforward answer is that I do not know at this time. As the situation continues to change, we are constantly monitoring the news, the local, state, and federal guidelines and recommendations, and information from the synod. At this point, all that I can definitively state is that we will not be re-opening the building any time in the near future. That is a statement of fact based on the information we currently have. Yes, it is disappointing as we all want to return to “normal” as soon as we can, but right now it is not possible to return to the way things used to be and, quite frankly, moving forward we are likely going to have to move into a “new normal.”
So what can I tell you? First, the synod is directing us to follow the state and local guidelines for re-opening. Beyond that, they are leaving decisions of when and how to re-open to individual leaders and congregations based on their particular congregational settings. With this in mind, I can tell you that we will not rush to re-open, and that we will likely lag behind the larger community out of an abundance of caution. We are a community that contains a high number of “at risk” people, and safety is, and will remain, our primary concern.
Second, when we are able to start re-opening, it will not be a quick process – it will not be as simple as flinging wide the doors and inviting everyone into the building. Instead, we will take a gradual approach to re-opening the building starting with a small number of people, starting with only the 10am service with a small number of people, appropriately distanced, attending worship in person with the rest of the congregation continuing to participate through online worship. After that, we will eventually return to two services, still with distancing measures likely in place, and a change in worship times to allow for proper cleaning of pews and entrances. And lastly, when we are able, we will return to a relatively normal worship schedule with reduced restrictions – but, honestly, it looks like that day is still in the future. Throughout all of this, and moving into the future, we will be live-streaming all our worship services, even when we return to “normal”.
What I can firmly say is that for the time being we must continue in our current state and that we will not re-opening the building anytime in the near future. I understand that this is difficult for us all – we miss our church, we miss our friends, we miss our pews – but this is necessary for the safety of our people, our church, our community, and our world. I will continue to look at all information available, consult with the synod and other churches, and discuss and plan with Council and various committees so that when we are able to begin to re-open, we have a safe and clear plan. At the moment though, the best way that we can love and serve our neighbors is to continue in this manner for the foreseeable future. While this is all difficult there are many amazing things happening in our St. Peter’s community – we are continuing with worship in a new way and our people have been tremendously supportive and have been inviting their friends! We have held weekly meetings on Zoom with our SPY (St. Peter’s Youth) as well as times on Sunday afternoons for our younger children to talk, share, and laugh together. A new Women’s Bible Study group has begun on Zoom on Mondays, we have a group of parents talking and sharing, and we are creating opportunities for our community to ask questions on Thursday evenings on Facebook Live and sharing conversations so that our congregation can hear from one another and from people beyond St. Peter’s. While this is all difficult new opportunities are arising and we are continuing to grow and try new things throughout this new world in which we all live – while the world may be in self-isolation the Holy Spirit is most certainly moving throughout the people of St. Peter’s and beyond throughout it all.
2. How are we financially? Thanks to tremendous work by our Church Council, particularly Dave Stettler and Brian Deal, we were able to secure a loan through the Payroll Protection Program – that was a very big help to both the church and the Weekday Nursery School. As you will see in the information below provided by Brian Deal, we are still below where we need to be for our budget, but we are hanging in there. We understand that times are very difficult financially for many people and our shortfall is not a tremendous surprise. We will continue to encourage people to give the best as they are able by mailing envelopes to the church office or by transitioning to the online giving option through the church website. For a more detailed explanation please see the following update provided by our Church Treasurer, Brian Deal:
Finance Update from our Church Treasurer: Hope you are all well and safely socially distanced. We look forward to a time when we can congregate together again. While the church office has been working on a limited schedule, the Church Council and the Executive Council have been busy.
Congregational Giving: We were doing ok until the government shutdown but March was a tough month, for obvious reasons. We usually see a nice increase in giving during our Easter month, but given the current situation, our giving in March was off $14k, or a 40% drop from our budgeted amount. We did receive envelopes, which were mailed. And we saw a nice increase in our Vanco online giving. Thank you to all who took the extra steps to give as we continue to worship remotely. A nice surprise, we received $517 in visitor offering. Perhaps the Facebook Live services are expanding our Evangelism. Nice!
Weekday Nursery School 1: We have some challenges with the WNS. Soon after shutting down the school, Debbie Graham requested that we continue to pay our teachers through the end of the year, despite the school being shut. The Church Council voted and we agreed to continue paying them. We all believe it is the right thing to do.
Weekday Nursery School 2: Our WNS families are required to pay the first month and the last month tuition at the beginning of the school year. As a result, we will have to refund tuition for May, which will further strain the WNS bank accounts. Despite that, their accounts are healthy and we will be fine.
CARES Act: A few weeks ago, Congress passed the CARES Act to provide relief to small businesses. Charities and churches were included in the legislation. One piece of the CARES Act is the Payroll Protection Plan, a loan that can be used to cover payroll costs. St. Peters has applied for, and has been, granted this loan. The loan amount, if used to pay employees, is forgiven by the government. Executive Council believes this opportunity was too good to pass up. We are very happy we have been approved and final documents to close on the loan have been processed.
Mortgage Loan: With interest rates plummeting, we investigated whether to refinance our mortgage to obtain a lower rate. To date, our rate is lower than the current lending rate so refinancing is not warranted.
Long-term Investments: Our investments took a substantial hit when the markets reacted to the government shutdown. Thankfully, we had taken some steps a month ago to move more money into cash and cash equivalents to give us quicker access to funds. We hope we can continue to pay all our bills without having to touch our long-term investments and, in time, they will rebound to pre-virus levels. We continue to monitor and will take steps as needed to protect our positions.
So after all of that, where do we stand? One of the best things that I heard came from our Council President, Matt Clark, when I interviewed him for our new talk program on YouTube. During our conversation, Matt said that St. Peter’s has been through every war, every emergency, everything that this nation has faced; we are still here and we will still be here when this is all over. He is absolutely right, things are different and difficult now, things will likely be different moving forward, but just as St. Peter’s has changed and grown throughout the past, we will move forward together. The support of the congregation, and people beyond our congregation, throughout all of this has been tremendous. We have received countless emails, phone calls, messages, and letters full of encouragement and support.
The people of St. Peter’s have rallied together during this time, learning and trying new ways to be the church in this new day, supporting our ministries to the best of their abilities financially, and worshipping with an enthusiasm not seen in a long time. Where do we stand? We stand right here as the people of St. Peter’s, gathered together in new and different ways, but even in an uncertain world we still share the life, love, and joy of Jesus Christ with others. Where do we stand? We stand where we have for almost 300 years and where we will remain for well over 300 more – around the cross, bound by grace, united in the Spirit, as the people of God at St. Peter’s.
Your fellow servant in Christ,
Pastor Suloff
