Honoring our resources

Meeting after church on September 19, we had the fourth of the four conversations sponsored by CnE to consider ideas that Pilgrims have for revitalizing the church. We discussed the resources we have been given by our forebears focusing especially on the building and the investments. We lamented that the Ministry of Building and Grounds chose to meet at the same time and thus those persons were not able to attend this discussion.

With regard to the building: we also noted that the Council has voted to suspend any further conversation about moving out of our building. We can't sell what we have for anything close to what it is worth to us. We don't have another place to be. It costs us a lot, but so would another building. We do have some prospects for sharing the building with organizations whose mission is compatible with our own [as with Afriky Lolo's interest in using the third floor] so we may well become better stewards of what we have.

We continue to see a need for a Facilities Management Committee. It has been dormant and would need a refreshed mandate from the Council to begin to function again.

With regard to the investments: we appreciate the willingness of the Woman's Association to come forward and make grants for specific purposes and we understand that well has a bottom. We don't want to do with any of our investments what we did to the Kitty Murray Fund and spend it down without a clear sense of purpose or direction. We note that we could access even restricted endowments with the right legal intervention, but we are afraid that is both a temporary solution and a statement that "we are only buying time… in fact, we are really dying."

We would feel much better about raising the necessary money by doing a capital campaign. We think having a specific list of projects and programs which are clearly aimed at revitalizing the church would get a strong response. Most of those things we identified had to do with cosmetic or structural changes that can be easily seen [replacing the front sidewalk, painting the front doors, sealing and striping the parking lot…] but we also noted that some of the funds should go to supporting specific programs that will reach out to and touch those around us.