Priorities

The Annual Congregational Meeting was on Sunday.  In preparation we all received a copy of the annual report for 2015. The document is thirty pages long.  Four pages are for the budget and three for financial reports, making seven pages concerned with money, or 23% of our annual report.  Less than one quarter.  
Another seven pages is taken up with administrative stuff -- minutes of last year's meeting, session and committee membership. 

The rest of the report, more than half, deals with the life of the congregation.  Baptisms, deaths, music, Christian education, fellowship, mission, outreach, worship, pastoral care and many other items that show our care for one another, our care for our church and our care for the world.  There are reports on how we celebrated, how we grieved and how we worshipped. 

Churches are often accused of caring more about budgets than people.  The breakdown or our annual report shows just the opposite.  We devote much more space to people than to money. Analysis of the budget shows that we're invested in spending our money on worship (people), missions (people), and education (people).  We have to pay the hydro, maintain the building, cut the grass and pay salaries, necessary expenses in order that we may get on with our real work -- helping people.

Some people skip the annual meeting and barely glance at the annual report because they don't like the dry, administrative stuff.  If you have a close look at our annual report you'll find it's not that dry at all.  It reminds us of the 90th birthday celebrations, a trip to the IMAX, Christmas eve candlelight and hot apple cider.  There's a picture of "Humphrey, the Lonely Cello."  There's an account of a mission trip to the Dominican Republic and the evidence of God at work in that place.  All in all 2015 was an exciting year at SPPC.  Read all about, in the annual report.