Good morning church family,

Today, we want to update you on our current finances and discuss the economic health of our church family. I will start with a brief summary of changes that were initiated late last year.

1. We decided to combine our ministry and missions budgets into a single budget, called One Fund. The intent was to make sure we could meet the various needs of our ministries without having to resort to shoulder-tapping or special fundraising events. The intent was also to improve communication between ministry leaders and church leaders.

The move to One Fund has proven to be very successful. It allows our leadership to better address the financial aspects of running our church family. As we discussed in November, we knew this move to OneFund would be a change from how we had done business previously. We fully expected some confusion as we shifted our giving structure and integrated everything into one budget. But our ministry leaders have been patient, and we are working together to find the best way forward. And we were able to approve their budgets for 2025.

As predicted, there were and continue to be times when unanticipated needs arise. These are also being remedied as we go through the year, but we are confident the One Fund approach will help us forecast and balance our budget better and more easily with time.

2. We also stated that we would provide regular updates on our budget and contributions. Updated numbers can be viewed on our website: nscoc.org. We’ve added a Financial Snapshot page under the Give menu. This page shows our budget, our cumulative contributions, and our most recent contribution. We also decided to provide a public quarterly update, and I am doing so now at the request of the Leadership Team.

While we are behind in meeting our current budget needs, we have learned much about how our church family gives. We know that some give annually, some monthly, and some weekly. We also know that some who depend on their retirement income want to give but want the principal of their savings to be as high as possible at the time they give. Especially in times like these, we know that they will have difficulty estimating a contribution amount, but we know that they are committed to giving as we approach the end of the year. We are working to estimate these end-of-year gifts in order to evaluate giving trends throughout the year.

We are also blessed to have members who have been very successful financially, and we are grateful that they continue to see their largess as belonging to God, and they are liberal givers to this family.

Again, as we have discussed, there is a percentage of our family who do not give even as they participate in our services and activities. We will continue to better define this group. We certainly understand that, at any time, life circumstances can create economic emergencies. If you are having troubles, let us know. We also know that some members are committed to supporting causes outside the realm of our church. Please recognize that giving to Northside is still an expectation and a spiritual responsibility of all of our family members.

Remember, at this time in years past, we would be hosting local missions Sunday. But with our shift to One Fund, missions needs are now included in One Fund. So, if you committed extra to local missions in the past, please increase your current giving to be consistent. We want to make sure we keep our financial commitments to all ministries and missions.

If you have questions or comments, please talk with the Elders or the executive finance team (composed of Alan Cooper, Gary Hoyack, Sandy Applewhite, Ryan Porche, David Sessions, and myself). We will provide another update next quarter.

At the last executive finance meeting, we discussed how grateful we were that we have not seen a drop in our giving, especially in light of the current economic uncertainties. This fact is much appreciated. May God continue to bless us as we seek to accomplish His vision for Northside.

Jim Martin
From the Shepherds