The financial challenge before us
From the office of President Mark Schroeder
"I will be with you, to the very end of the age." With those words, Jesus gave his sure and unchanging promise that he would be with his people as they carry out the mission he had just given them. Those words, as familiar as they are, need to fill our thoughts and hearts as our nation and the world struggle with growing economic problems, and as we address some of the most difficult financial challenges our synod has faced in many years.
This newsletter was begun 18 months ago as a way to provide information to you that is both current and accurate. As we've tried to share with you both the good news and the bad, the information has changed rapidly and repeatedly. In recent weeks, the latest information of one week became outdated by the next. Plans based on yesterday's information have had to be adjusted to fit today's new realities.
The new reality is, by any measure, very difficult. We are faced with the simple and painful fact that the level of funding available to support our synod's mission and ministry will be significantly less in the next two years than it is today. While support from congregations has been commendable and steady in these difficult times, expected support from other sources has dropped significantly. The blunt reality is that we will need to reduce our synod's budget by approximately $8 million, from about $38 million today to approximately $30 million in the next fiscal year. When the Synodical Council presents a balanced budget to the convention in July, which it is required by the constitution to do, significant reductions will need to be made in all areas of our synod's work.
All areas of ministry have been asked to determine and describe how reductions will be made and the impact they will have. We will begin by sharply reducing the administrative costs across the synod, including significant staffing reductions. We are working to identify one-time expenditures that can be delayed, reduced, or eliminated. From there, areas of ministry will also need to plan for significant reductions in the size and scope of their ministries. There is no sugar-coating this situation. The reductions will be deep and they will be painful; all areas will be affected. The current situation will require us to evaluate everything we do, determine our programs in keeping with expected funding and the synod's stated priorities, and focus on the essential programs that can be retained. We will need to do less than we are doing now; whatever we continue to do, we will need to do it better and more efficiently.
Our desire to proclaim the gospel to more and more people has led us to adopt ambitious plans across the synod. That is a noble goal, but we have often looked to support those plans on anticipated gifts from foundations, individuals, and other sources. We are now in a situation where some of those large gifts have been suddenly reduced. As commendable as our plans may have been, we simply do not have the financial means to continue at the same level as before.
Determining where those reductions in mission and ministry are to be made will be extremely difficult, since every current program is valuable and important. On the positive side of this, the cuts—while very difficult and painful—will require us to plan our mission and ministry at a level that is sustainable with the ongoing funding available to us. Faithful stewardship of God's resources demands that we plan in this way.
For that reason, the Synodical Council will not simply be wrestling with the short-term reduction in the budget. It will also be looking to the need for providing long-term stability to our finances. The Synodical Council will be considering at least one proposal to achieve this goal. This proposal for long-term stability will not enable us to avoid difficult cuts now, but it will seek to provide a new approach to budgeting and planning that will greatly reduce the likelihood of a similar situation occurring in the future. One main element of the proposal is a commitment to planning our ongoing ministry based primarily on our most stable source of funding (Congregation Mission Offerings) and using large donations from other sources for one-time or limited-time programs. All ideas to provide long-term financial stability will be explored.
Because the funding situation changed so suddenly, the Synodical Council will not be able to adopt a complete budget recommendation at its February meeting. Adoption of a final budget and the reductions it will require will need to wait until April, in order to give areas of ministry the time to adjust their plans and programs. For that reason, the Conference of Presidents has agreed that the Book of Reports and Memorials, which contains the budget recommendation and all other business that will be considered at the synod convention in July, will be published somewhat later than normal. The plan is to have the information in the Book of Reports and Memorials available electronically in time for district conferences in June. The published book will be in the hands of convention delegates a few weeks later.
In all of these challenges, we remain confident that God is using these circumstances somehow to bless his believers and to benefit his church. We continue to place our trust in him, and we pray that God would use these difficult times to unite us more closely with him and with each other.
Serving in Christ,
Mark Schroeder
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GJ - Early 2009 will look good compared to the end of the year. The house of cards is still falling down. Everyone in retirement age or nearing retirement has lost a ton of money from the global financial meltdown. Therefore, giving will be much weaker from now on. I think synods will have to prepare Depression-era budgets: no frills, no junkets, no Church and Changers.
