Dear Trinity Community,
The good news is that we’re not doing a “stewardship drive” this year.
The bad news is that we are still asking for your pledge of support.
Stewardship is really a bigger topic than money given to Trinity, so we plan to move it to a year-round focus. During the year we’ll be introducing stewardship messages about how Trinity uses our donations to impact our community, as well as learning and discussion opportunities that explore faithful relationships with our worldly goods and blessings. Please stay tuned.
But the fall is still the time of year when our vestry needs to look at last year’s spending, look at how our “fixed” costs are likely to change in the next year, and figure out what activities and ministries we can afford to fund in the next year.
We all know that prices are rising. We know that Trinity’s costs for electricity and heat will increase, along with salaries and many other costs. The 2023 budget starts with an estimate of how much everything we need will cost. Then the vestry will look at what was given last year, and a summary of anticipated income for next year based on 2023 pledges and general giving from non-pledgers in 2022.
There are three possible outcomes when comparing the anticipated costs vs. the anticipated income:
1. Costs are higher than projected income: the vestry looks for ways to economize current programs and adds nothing new.
2. Costs and income look balanced: with a sigh of relief, everything stays the same.
3. Projected income looks to be higher than expected costs: the vestry has the enviable job of deciding what to do with “more”! Are there maintenance projects that should be scheduled? Should we restore our depleted endowment? Should we invest in a re-invigorated children’s religious education program? How much “more” can we do?
The way we can move to that third possibility is if more of us pledge, and we pledge to give more. Please help make “more” Trinity’s reality for next year by prayerful consideration of your pledge toward next year’s continued ministries, and “more”!
Stewardship Sunday will be November 13th.
You can return your pledge form to Trinity by mail or return it on Sundays in the offering plate, any time before or on the 13th. You can also submit your pledge online by visiting: TrinityNewport.org, select “Stewardship” on the top, and click on the “2023 Pledge Card” button on the left, then complete the pledge form and you will receive a confirmation email.
Thanks to you all,
The Stewardship Team