At every Board meeting, the Trustees begin their time together by sharing these words, written by outgoing Board member, Dan Berg: 

"May this flame that burns before us light our way, informed by the wisdom of leaders gone before, and inspired by the trust that we have been given as stewards of this Church. May we have vision, compassion, and courage as we serve this congregation now and for the generations to come."  

These words were also shared at the Annual Meeting on Sunday, June 1. I love these words because they capture a sense of the bigger arc that we all live in: we are here because of those who came before; we serve on behave of the generations yet to come; together, we are stewarding something of great value. 

In many ways, these words guided our budget process. As you know, we had to make some difficult cuts to our budget, but we worked hard to preserve the core ministries of the church. 

We are hopeful that in the coming months, we will be able to restore some of these cuts, as additional pledge revenue comes in. There are still over a hundred pledge units (who pledged in 2013-2014), who have not yet pledged for 2014-2015.  As some of these pledges come in, we will begin to tackle our "first to restore" list, in the following order:

• We'll restore child care being offered for all church events ($12,000)
• We'll restore staffing cuts made to our Religious Education Program ($10,000)
• We'll restore our Minister of Worship Arts to 12 months, instead of 10 ($5,000)

There are other items on the "first to restore" list, including Administrative Support for Rev. Jen Crow's Faith in Action work, restoring cuts we made to the program budget, and more. We'll keep you informed about this process.

Finally, thank you to the hundreds and hundreds of church members and friends who support this community with your treasure, time, and many gifts. Together, informed by the wisdom of those gone before, we light the path in front of us.

I'll see you in church,

Justin 

Last summer the "Community Investment Team" was formed and charged with the following:

• To develop strategies for and carry out the church's community investment/give away the offering plate efforts
• To engage the congregation in submitting Sunday offering recipient nominations

The team received 24 recipient nominations from the congregation.  Throughout the year, the Community Investment Team led the congregation in giving money to WaterLegacy, Augsburg Fairview Academy, Women's Environmental Institute, Reclaim, MN Indian Women's Resource Center, Simpson Shelter and Breaking Free.  Thank you for your generosity.  The offering plate donations support the work of organizations that put our faith in action. 

This summer we will continue to give to organizations nominated by the congregation, including MN Neighborhoods Organizing for Change and Minnesota Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Alliance. 

Would you like to participate in the planning and organization of offering plate donation?  The Community Investment Team is looking for several new members.  Please contact Reverend Justin Schroeder ([email protected]) if you would like to apply to become a member of the team.  This is a meaningful and rewarding way to participate in the church community.

Thank You,

Bryan Noice, Umesh Berry 

and Molly Darsow

Community Investment Team 

Leaders from a spectrum of downtown Minneapolis faith communities will discuss this very important topic (Rev. Justin Schroeder will be one of the voices on this panel.) As people are saying "Religion: why bother?" this "Voices of Faith" presentation will feature honest dialogue about the ways America's religious traditions interpret this decline and how they are or are not interacting with the questions of the average 21st Century person.  

Bring your questions because the second half of the event will be devoted to an audience driven Q&A. Monday, June 9, 7pm at Breck School Cargill Theater in Golden Valley. For more information, please visit:

https://vimeo.com/97066765 

or http://multifaithnetwork.org/