The
2014 Annual Report
United Churches of Olympia
We aspire to be a Christian community
We have seen God’s Glory in our church in so many ways in the past year! We thank God for these celebrations: • hiring of our new bookkeeper, Rachel Turner. Tish retired after two years of faithful service. • awarding Adora Nwanko the McNall Scholarship to pursue her studies at Cornell University. • proceeding with Safe Church policy implementation and will focus on staff and volunteer training in 2015. • reopening the new and improved Children’s Library with 217 books in 12 different categories with gratitude to Mindy Robertson. • realizing the dream of a handicap accessible bathroom in the upstairs Women’s Lounge. • focusing upon hunger and homelessness as the primary areas that our Mission, Peace and Justice Ministry seeks to fulfill.
• the hard work John Poler and Duane Johnson for have put into cleaning up the choir room. Future painting and replacement of the floor awaits in 2015, we are thrilled to have restored a healthy place for our music ministry. • the blessing of Peace Crafters that ended its work this year. • Congregational Life Ministry hosted Brunch following worships on Easter Sunday. • the leadership of Jim & Karen Watts on Caring Friends and the smooth transition toward a shared ministry model after they felt called elsewhere. • the Children’s Bond Fund now has a total of $1,746 available for appropriate projects. • renewed connection to our sister church in Costa Rica.
• nine members when on a mission trip this summer to Campbell Farms in Wapato, WA. • the General Endowment Fund earned $7,837 in 2014, which when added to previous years’ earnings makes a total of $21,345 available for specific extra-budgetary projects.
Stu Loyer, Mark Hunter, Dan Andersen, Bunny Hooper, Dylan Lynch, Scott Bishop, John Bowden, Pat Fountain, Calla Hansen, Bryce Hunter, Mark Hunter, Jo Kurtz, Dan Lundberg, Paul McCann, Deb Nickerson, Kathleen Peppard, Sue Poler, Marilyn Richie, Eunice Robb.
• Sue Breidenbach’s many years of service as she leaves the Endowment Board this year.
• celebrating another successful Summer-Kick-Off Picnic hosted by Christian Education Ministry.
• hosting three work parties to clean up the grounds outside the building though out the year, led by Beth Bowden. We did major clearing of overgrown plants and weeds and deterred some littering, added bark to the beds and cleaned out the attics, which held decades of stuff. Thanks to Duane Johnson, John Poler,
• sharing in further partnership with Westminster Presbyterian Church in the Summer Art Series and combined youth programming. • improving relationships with our partners in ministry including SideWalk, Community Kitchen, CROP Walk, Emergency shelter, and others we support with our benevolences.
This summer we shared in the wonder of remembering that Flat Jesus goes with us always.
• the annual Pie Auction as a wonderful time of fellowship hosted by Congregational Life Ministries. • clarifying tasks required by ushers and worship assistants, especially regarding money, as to share the work among more people. • adding a new group of musicians to our Chapel Worship led by Beth Bowden. • transforming our service of communion as a truly open table with both gluten-free bread and juice to allow all to partake. • modifying Worship Ministry’s meetings to quarterly to best work together. • improvements to the front doors locks that make them easier to secure, thanks to Dan Andersen. • increasing our advocacy and education around coal trains, hunger and poverty, including a letter writing campaign with Bread for the World. • forming new relationships as partners with both Faith Action Network and Earth Ministries, thanks to Mission, Peace and Justice Ministry’s good work.
The Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”
Exodus 33:17, New Revised Standard Version
Becoming a Christian Community Seeking to Know and Do God’s Work in the World Today
We have seen the glory of God in the good work we have done as God’s people. Our Stewardship Ministry inspired us to lift our hearts and minds to see this glory in the ways that we seek to be the church together, but it wasn’t just in the pages of a devotional or in the pledges we made toward our future where we saw God’s glory. It has been in all of the work that we shared in realizing this year. In 2014, we worked hard to discern “what God is calling us to be.” It all began in November of 2013 in a Congregational Consultation where the congregation articulated that we would like to begin a process toward developing a strategic plan. Back then, it was a question about the building. When the Council gathered in January of this year, it became clear that there were other questions we were eager to explore. We didn’t want to solve the problem of the building but the Council wanted to focus our attention on what is that God is calling us to do. This became the heart of the strategic plan which began at the Annual Meeting in January. Upon all of the good
work that has done in the past, including the work done with the previous pastoral search, we affirmed that these three themes are still the heart and soul of what we are seeking to know and do: • Building a healthy church community • Spiritual growth and transformation • Outreach to the wider community
This year, we used Fifth Sunday Potlucks as an opportunity to share in the glory of our church realizing this work together. On March 30th, the Council led a brainstorming session about what matters most to us so that we could affirm that Vision, Mission and Values at the June 29th Fifth Sunday Potluck. With a little word-smithing and a lot of prayer, we were voted upon this to be our vision, mission and values. The glory of God was always with us. Even after this vote, when we struggled to articulate our goals and objectives, when we were tired and were uncertain where God was leading us, the Council discovered an opportunity with the Presbytery of Olympia called
“missional transformation” in which the Executive Presbyter Keith Tanis would lead a Guide Team toward action learning and experimentation into further realizing all that we have already learned about ourselves in God’s glory this year. In October, the Council voted enthusiastically to step claim this opportunity as Phase II. There is important learning still to be done about the work that is calling us to do. But, this year, we learned that we are indeed a Christian community seeking and doing this work together. We have seen God’s glory in each other and in the prayerful ways that we evolving with all of God’s glory. It is an exciting time for our church. As it says in our 1992 Mission Statement: We proclaim the future to be God’s!
At the June 29 Fifth-Sunday Potluck we affirmed these words as a reflection of who we are as God’s people.
Vision:
We aspire to be a Christian community seeking to know and do God’s work in the world today.
Mission:
In order to do God’s work in the world, we are: • Encouraging spiritual growth and transformation • Building a healthy church community that is welcoming and respectful of diversity • Reaching out to a the wider community through understanding of other faiths, advocacy of social justice and protecting creation
Values: • Welcoming to all, embracing diversity, and being open to all God’s children • Promoting peace, justice, and reconciliation • Offering intergenerational support and fellowship • Meeting physical and spiritual needs of the church and wider community • Cherishing Judeo-Christian values • Celebrating and honoring our federation of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and United Church of
In January 2014, we approved a budget of $431,100 to use our income of pledges, offering and building use to support our ministry as shown here. Our Hope for Ministry in 2014 Chart  Title  (Income)
6%
13%
Our Plan for Ministry in 2014 (Expenses)
Worship 2%
Offering Building Use
5% Building
Benevolence
81%
Pledges
Office Support
20%
12%
60%
Programs 1%
Personnel
A detailed 2015 financial report is available as a supplement.
God has told you, human one, what is good and what the Lord requires from you: to do justice, embrace faithful love, and walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8, New Revised Standard Version
Our Service to God and Our Community
99 76
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14
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36
22
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In April 2014, the Church Council received a report from Cynthia Cook as chair of the nominating committee addressing the call to leadership our members have felt in our current governance structure. In that report, it was observed that there are barriers to leadership including: • Age and/or disability associated with age (difficulty in hearing, driving at night) • Two-career households whose limited free time must be spent with family • Perceived insecurity around the church and in the community at large • Too many other obligations, no time for church activities As our church seeks to address these barriers in the coming years, it was concluded that “it may be possible to streamline the operations of the Ministries by identifying gaps and overlaps in responsibilities. We have already agreed to incorporate the Theology, Natural Sciences, and Continuing Creation (TNSCC) “What is notable about these “official agenda in the roles and responsibilities of existing positions” is that they are all, with a Ministries. However, some Ministries (e.g. Administration) are overburdened and their functions may need to few exceptions, drawn from the same be split in two. In the end, we will probably still have pool of currently elected Ministry at least six ministries or boards, each with a need for six elected members... More important than changing the members.. This pool consists of about structure, however, will be changing the perceptions 50 people, regardless of the size of that people have about participating in church activities. This should involve celebrating the contributions made the congregation.” Report on the Process of Selection of Church Leaders, April 2014 in the past and that continue to be made by many leaders in the church.”
We remember those in our beloved community who died in 2014
Dorothy Blanchard Muriel Hastings Janet Anderson Judy Schultz Ruth Andrews Lee Johnson
In November 2013, we received a report from the Capital Improvements Task Force that identified several concerns regarding the infrastructure of our building. Since that time, our Administration Ministry has been working toward addressing these concerns.
2013
3 installed new roof
2014
3 upgraded exterior lights
and improved security (installed office doorbell)
3 improved boiler function with new valves
3 removed asbestos from Sunday School rooms
2015 repair south wall drainage replace single-paned windows to improve energy efficiency improve heating system (replace steam boiler with wall-mounted heat pumps or hot water system) improve security (replace wood exterior doors, re-key all doors, secure locking system, insulated)
CITF believes we can still do more ministry in the current structure that God has entrusted to us if we invest in some changes to the infrastructure.
Capital Improvements Task Force Report, November 2014
Membership Report 2014 TUCO 37
UCC 187
Presbyterian 123
We celebrate the people who have formally joined our church family this year!
Alan Anderson Pamela Anderson Susan Bush Robert Freund Inge Freund Heather Henderson Molly Henderson Sharon Harvey Robert Tweit
“This community and God's grace allows me to risk more, trust more and open up parts of myself that have been hidden or lost. This community helps me experience God's glory and love and because of this, I count my blessings every day.� Sandee Sennes
...Seeking to know and do God’s work in the world today
Where God’s Glory Will Lead Us to Know and Do God’s Work in the World Today We trust that the future is God’s and we seek to partner with God into that future. We know that there is work to be done. There are things to learn. There are people to be loved. There are neighbors to be served. It is in this work that we trust we will continue to find God’s glory. In 2015, we will experience the evolving changes of “missional transformation” as the Guide Team leads us through ministry experiments. It will be a year of thinking outside of box. It will be a new season in our ministry as we experience another change in leadership. As our pastoral leadership changes, we’ll find new leadership within ourselves. In 2015 the Council hopes to lead the church to evolve into greater stability through the pastoral transition as we seek to live more fully into our Vision, Mission and Values. We want to reinforce the things we do well and we want to address the hard questions and challenges of church evolution in an inclusive and constructive manner that also allows room for change and individual and group initiatives. As part of this evolution we will be looking for areas of change through a series of ‘Action Learning” experiments. We are following a concept called “missional transformation” where we explore how to follow Jesus in our church mission and the way we “do church”. To help this process we have appointed a Guide Team whose job is to find these new ways of thinking outside the box with the help of a leader from the Olympia Presbytery who has experience with this process in other churches.
At the same time we also want to be sure to take care of our building and bring its operations and maintenance back to normal. This requires making some investments in repairs and catching up with deferred maintenance, while planning for improvements or modifications in the near future that are in line with our evolution as a church. At the end of this next year in our shared ministry, we will know more about how we can “do church better.� And though we can say again and again that the future is God’s, we know that the learning, living
“There have been so many moments I felt the Spirit of God moving in our church family: hearing voiced prayer during worship, sharing in all the music forms we have, through a sermon from our Pastor or our Youth Minister, or during a church outing to Mount Rainier. “ Jonathan Pugh