The Board of Directors wants to wish our whole UCOP church family a peaceful and serene Holiday Season. As we continue to come together, expressing the Christ from within, and bringing that Christ light to shine in all situations, let me thank each of you for participating in such a loving and caring way as we move forward with our Listening Circles. Our last Circle was on November 12, and you can find the summary notes here.
Our Treasurer, Allen, gave a brief update regarding our current financial situation. Following our normal trend, we have come back up from being significantly in the ‘red’, and are currently in the ‘black’, with some money being put back into reserves. We seem to be looking solid, financially, in terms of what is projected for December, January, and February. As always, we are ever more grateful for the way this church community has pulled together in individual and collective prayer, gratitude, giving of time, talents and treasure, and the presence you are each week as Love expressing.
One of the primary concerns stated by many during the Listening Circle was to ensure that the Board is not solely invested in selling the church, but that we remain open to other possibilities which might allow us to stay in the church building. The Board wants to assure the community here that our primary commitment is to financial sustainability. Currently, selling the building appears to be the likely best solution to move us into financial health. Having said that, we remain open to all possibilities, including the possibility of partnering with other businesses, doing a partial sale to another business, or any other option for our building which might allow us to stay here, but move into sustainable financial footing. There will continue to be restructuring of staff, as well, moving into 2018, as we continue to examine what sustainable finances look like for our church.
We continue to get inquiry about how UCOP is tithing or committing to Spiritual Gifts. The Board seeks to give a Spiritual Gift every month, and announcements about where the Spiritual Gift is going are now being made once a month during our Love Offering Blessing during church services.
Lastly, we had numerous people asking about the possibility of going to one church service every week. This is something the Staff and the Board have discussed on several occasions, and recently our whole church community had an opportunity to provide direct feedback via either on-line survey or paper survey during church. The tallies are being counted, which will provide great information for Rev. Brandon and the staff as they consider what appears to be the best decision for UCOP at this time. Rev. Brandon will talk about this in upcoming church services.
Many blessings to all at Unity Church of Overland Park,
The Board of Directors
