20 January 2021

Blessings and Greetings Fellow Yorkshirians!

As we are now a few weeks into the New Year, our worship, meeting and activity cycles are again finding their way to a more consistent rhythm.  Although I never like to see the Advent Season come to an end, I also find peace in the process of getting things back to normal (whatever normal means anymore!).  

Beginning in February, we will return to our monthly celebration of Communion during the first Sunday of each month.  We will continue to use the practice that we put in place in September where you will pick up the “elements” as you enter the Sanctuary (oyster crackers and Dixie cup).  For those that are participating on-line, I invite you to have the elements at hand for worship, either a cracker, or a piece of bread and a small cup of juice so that you may also participate in this Sacrament.  

Looking a little further ahead, you can also plan for an Ash Wednesday service at 7PM on the 17^th of February and a Good Friday service on April 2^nd.  More info to come on those services, but you can at least know that we are planning on them. 

Regarding our church financial picture, our 2020 financial statements have been completed.  As we enter 2021, we have a stable financial foundation to build on.  As you can see, we ended last year in a positive fashion proven by our ability to pay all of our financial obligations and achieving what a finance person would consider “positive cash flow.” As you will see, we were $45,000 cash positive as of December 31^st.  What is important to realize moving forward, that this was made possible by the receipt of the PPP Loan (due to Covid), as well as the fact that we only paid a small portion of our shares of ministry.  So, while the picture is very positive, many of those factors will not play out in 2021. Even with that being said, our finance team has done the diligent work of managing and reducing our operating expenses so that we can continue to meet our financial obligations as well as pay a negotiated level of shares of ministry which is acceptable to the United Methodist Church.

Additionally, Joyful Noise Preschool has done a fantastic job managing their expenses given that they were not able to hold preschool due to the early pandemic lock downs and then minimized enrollment to meet guidelines when they were permitted to again open their doors.  Kudos to team Joyful Noise in providing a robust, energetic, and welcoming Christian learning environment to our students!  

January through December 2020

INCOME:

                        Tithes, Gifts and Offerings:                $376,822

                        PPP Loan (Covid)                                    44,028

                        Boiler Fund                                              33,130

                        Joyful Noise Tuition                                17,305

                        Other Income                                                934

                        TOTAL INCOME                             $472,219

EXPENSES:

                        Operating Expenses                             $345,296

                        Shares of Ministry                                   15,043

                        Boiler & Building Improvements           44,156

                        Joyful Noise Preschool                            21,902                                 

                        TOTAL EXPENSES                         $426,397

BALANCE:                                                                $45,821

Of course if you have any questions on this financial summary, please do not hesitate to contact me, Doug Berman (new Finance Chair), Justin Mann (Treasurer), or Dale Achenbach (past Finance Chair).

Also looking ahead…our Women’s Bible Study will be starting and a new Men’s Bible Fellowship Challenge will run for Lent.  I will be providing more information next week, but, in order for our men folk to start planning, we will hold an 8-week men’s bible study beginning on Wednesday morning, February 17^th and wrapping up the Wednesday after Easter.  We will meet at 6AM in the Fellowship Hall to participate in a Series called “Rough Cut Men” which will include a half hour video and 15-20 minutes of discussion and fellowship.  Coffee and Donuts will be available.  This early meeting time will allow those that are working plenty of time to get to work, and the rest to possibly continue in fellowship for breakfast at a local restaurant of choice– of course all of this will follow our existing safety guidelines and protocols.  This is my Lenten Challenge to our men- more info to come!

I hope and pray that all of you have a great and blessed week!  Peace!

– pastor dave.dkominsky@susumc.org

13 January 2021

Great day to you Yorkshire!

Just a few things to bring you up to date on this week as things continue to move along well for our fellowship.  First, our new signage has been installed at the church.  If you are in the area, drive by and check them out, I trust you will find them to add a bright, fresh look to our facility.  I will include some pictures in next week’s “what’s brewing” letter.  

We have begun the process of transitioning our leadership teams to our newly elected leaders and team members. Typically, we would have had team meetings which would have included all members.  Due to current challenges in holding meetings, I have started meeting with the leaders of each team to discuss transition elements.  Our first meeting was last night with the Finance team leaders. In addition to transitioning leadership, we are upgrading and improving our financial software platform which includes the outsourcing of the payroll function.  Next week I will be meeting with the SPRC leadership.  For teams that had no leadership change, we will simply be scheduling team meetings over the next two to three months (first quarter) with the hope that some of the restrictions that we are residing under may begin to ease a bit.  These meetings will include newly structured teams such as a Worship Team, Education Team, and Missions Team.  

Over the past 11 months, York District Churches have been operating under the premise that we need to move forward in a specific way until pandemic restrictions are no longer necessary.  Since we don’t know when that will be, we need to continue to adapt our ministries to not only serving in this current environment, but also in understanding new requirements that it is creating.  The virus itself is of great concern, but how can we be a light in the midst of growing mental health issues, anxiety, depression, and suicide?  Is this an area that the church should arise in, or should we remain cautious and reserved?  What does this look like?  How do we adapt our small group ministries, youth ministries, and Sunday morning worship ministries to not only be visible in dark times, but to be an ever present beacon of hope to those seeking respite, relief, and searching for hope?

These questions and more will challenge our leadership and our team members.  I believe that those that have been called to serve as part of our leadership team have a great opportunity to seek God’s will and direction for Yorkshire Church for a time such as this.  It is a time for the voice of the entire fellowship to be heard in identifying new ways to be the church that we are called to be.  The mission of every element of our church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ through the specific gifts they have been given.  From the Finance team to the Worship Team, the Trustees to the Education folks, Missions, SPRC, and our Nominations and Leadership folks- our task is to make disciples of Jesus Christ.  Our fellowship, the body of the church has the same responsibility.  Make disciples.

Sounds pretty simple!  But to do this, we must remain a unified body in our efforts.  Jesus stated;

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” 

-John 13:34-35 (NIV)

So, we have a great challenge ahead of us in 2021 as Yorkshire Church!  How do we shine the light of Christ into this world in a way that others will know of our discipleship?  Last week, at the end of each worship service, I challenged the church that as we pray for the concerns of the day, we also pray specifically for the wisdom and discernment for ourselves as Christians.  I cited the examples of Solomon and the Bereans.  I believe the context of the biblical lessons of each of these examples is different than the world in which we live.  But the prayer of seeking wisdom from God in a similar manner as Solomon and gaining the gift of discernment like the Bereans will help us grow in our faith and in our understanding while we navigate an unprecedented time of informational chaos.  The scripture references for these examples are:  1 Kings 3:1-15 and Acts 17:10-15.  As you read and study these, I challenge you to read all of the footnote reference scriptures, as well- a little extra guided reading devotional time for you!

Our new Sunday School study is off to a great start, Goliath Must Fall.  This week, we will be looking at the giant of fear in our lives and our study will be supporting by the message in our worship, as well.  This week’s message is titled, “Fear Not.”  Of course all of this will be live streamed.  If you have had difficulty finding the Sunday School video on our church website (yorkshirechurch.org), it is linked into the 9AM worship video.  Because of the short time between services, we do not have enough time to allow the first worship service stream to completely process into a storable format, so the two services link together.  We will add this to the title on the website for the 9AM worship time.  But, you can find the Goliath Must Fall weekly Sunday School video at the end of the 9AM service online.

On a closing note, I want to thank each and every one of you for your continued generosity to Yorkshire Church.  During our Finance Team leadership transition meeting last evening, we reviewed our 2020 financial statements. Yorkshire Church ended the year in the black, meaning that we received more money than we paid out in bills.  Over the last 3-4 months, we have gone from operating at a deficit to operating in a means that allows us to be solvent, meaning we can pay our bills and continue to invest in our church ministries, facilities, and missional outreaches to our community.  Praise God.  I will provide the church’s financial overview to you next week.  

As I’ve said before, and I’ll say it again, it is an honor to serve this fellowship and be a part of the leadership of a church that is seeking God’s direction in all that we do.  Thank you again for the role that each of you play in our vital mission as God’s church.

Peace and Blessings!

– pastor dave.

dkominsky@susumc.org