Each January our vestry works very hard to create a budget based largely on your pledges. The great majority of these expenses are fixed, for example – salaries, electric bills, diocesan assessment, and mortgage payments. Naturally, these are included first during the budgeting process. There are only a few significant expenses which are not fixed, one of which is Outreach. This year and last year, total pledges were sufficient to fund only about half of basic Outreach needs. Yet Outreach is a core value of Christian belief, central to Nativity’s culture and history. A good example of our current need is the Episcopal Habitat Build. A number of area Episcopal churches, several of which are considerably larger than Nativity, work together to pay for and build a Habitat home. In the past several years, Nativity has supplied more worker hours than any of the other churches, but unlike previous years, we currently do not have sufficient funds to pay our fair share.
So the upcoming special offering will go toward fulfilling our commitment as a Christian community to love our neighbors in a number of concrete ways. Please visit the Outreach page of this website to see a full listing of causes and organizations supported by your Outreach dollars. Any contribution you make is much needed and will be greatly appreciated.