Finance Committee Report

On behalf of the Finance Committee, I wanted to report that the church council has approved the 2023 church operational budget. This year’s budget is centered on growing the Kingdom and supports all the wonderful programs of our church. You may have noticed the increased focus on our programs during our worship services lately. This effort is to communicate how your contribution supports the mission of our church; Reach, Teach, and Send. As I hope you have witnessed, our church is growing in so many ways. As we have been blessed individually, our church has also been blessed with a desire to serve our Lord here at Shalimar and make an impact for Jesus in so many ways.

We do have challenges and a good friend of mine used to say there is no testimony without a test. So, as we enter a time of deep discernment let us see through the challenges we face and continue the mission in worship, outreach, and service in the name of the Lord.

Our stewardship efforts this year have seen an increase in the number of commitment cards as well as an increase in the commitment of giving for the coming year. Our goal this year for commitment cards is 230 and as of this week, we are just 7 short of that goal. Please consider submitting a card if you have not already. Your contribution to our operating budget provides for the resources of our wonderful staff as well as maintaining our facilities and many programs and missions we have. We know our church is a giving church. This has been proven time and time again. Every time there has been a need communicated to our church, we have met the challenge joyfully. In addition to an increased focus on our many programs, you will see a weekly budget report in the Beacon. Our hope is that this will provide clear financial information to our congregation and show how our contributions are meeting the needs of our operations. As we seek to strengthen our faith through worship this year, it is our hope that you see how your contribution is growing the Kingdom here in our Shalimar community as well as the mission field here and abroad.

In His Service,

JD Peacock Chair, SUMC Finance Committee