Current Stewardship Campaign Status - through 12/10/2024*
* Updated through 12:00pm 12/10/2024
Why I pledge...
LEARN: Stewardship and What is a Pledge?
Stewardship is....everything we do after we say, "I believe". Stewardship is a whole-life concept, calling for right use of all the resources that God has given us. Healthy stewardship formation, then, obliges congregations to expand their definition to touch on every aspect of faithful living.
Stewardship is about being grateful, responsible stewards of the gifts we receive from God. The tradition of giving back to God and to the church comes from the Biblical practice of “tithing,” which means to give back a tenth of our earnings to God (Numbers 18:26).
The Episcopal Church sees stewardship as more than simply contributing money to the church; it’s also about contributing time and talents and volunteering for ministry and mission. It’s about reaching out to build relationships from a perspective of abundance instead of scarcity. A spirit of scarcity can tear a parish down. A spirit of abundance can build one up.
Your "pledge" to St. James is your commitment for the year 2025 to your community, to your faith, to your favorite Ministry and to your fellow parishioners.
Ministry Pledge - Choose a ministry or multiple ministries on your pledge card that you can support in 2025. We'll put you in touch with someone to involve you and guide you in the ministry if you aren't already involved.
Financial Pledge - Make your financial commitment to St. James on your pledge card. This is what you commit to giving in 2025. You don't make any payments to the church today.
LEARN: Proportional Giving
And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.
2 Corinthians 9:8
LEARN: Parish Finances
Parish finances begin and end with Stewardship. Nearly every dollar St. James has is given by our people to do good with; to share our love of God. It is our hope that each person who is a part of St. James will commit to being a part of what is to come...next year and all the years to come.
St. James Episcopal Church is a completely self-funded Parish. Annually the Vestry and the Finance Committee carefully assemble a budget that will fit the parish for the coming year. St. James has run on a classically “shoe string” budget for a good number of years, making ends meet and carving out exactly what it needs to support the good work of the parish. 2025 will be no exception.
The Stewardship Committee, which changes leadership annually, makes an appeal to the congregation during the annual canvas, or “Stewardship Campaign”, to make a commitment for the coming year in the form of a pledge. In 2025, 88% of our income will come from within the congregation.
The remaining income of $47,000 comes from Sunday plate gifts, some non-restricted donations, fundraising and building use fees. St. James offers our building for use at a significantly reduced price, as compared to similar facilities, to many different groups, largely non-profits and recovery groups. This contribution to our income has continued to grow over the last 10 years and has been critical to making ends meet as our active congregation continues to shrink, as does the number of pledging households.
An expense budget in any organization can be complicated. Many of the lay leaders that are on Finance Committee or the Vestry at St. James have experience in the business and parochial world that help guide how we communicate the bigger picture, without detailing out every single one of our 53 expense lines. While those 53 expense lines are available to anyone that would like to see them, and are publicly posted a church monthly, the view here is intended to be a little more palatable and understandable to any member of our congregation.
Our expenses are broken out into three main pillars:
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Sacramental Life - The Liturgy, immersion in the life and prayer of St. James, including all Worship, Faith Formation, Children’s Chapel, Confirmation & Baptism Classes
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Our Neighbors - Outreach, inclusion, and reaching in to our Community
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Parish Community - Our People, Hospitality, Engagement, Pastoral Care
Under the advice of the ECF and TENS groups, both guidance ministries of The Episcopal Church, St. James creates a more narrative view of our expense budget by spreading some expenses across our three pillars. These "spread" expenses are generally 55% to Sacramental Life, 35% to Parish Community, and 10% to our Neighbors.
Many expenses within the parish annual expense budget are very straightforward, say fabric or candles for the Altar Guild. Those would fall into Sacramental Life. Our Music Director's salary is similarly easy to place as well. But that simplicity doesn't translate well across other expenses, for example, the salaries of our Rector and Parish Office Manager. Father Christopher and Connie are regularly supporting all areas of the parish and community. The spreading methodology allows us to apply a percentage of their salary to these pillars. Another example would be our electricity bill or office supply expenses. These are largely shared across many ministries and groups at St. James and so they are spread according to the percentages.
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If you have questions about our Parish Finances you can contact our Rector or Treasurer.
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