22 June 2023

Greetings and Welcome to Summer!

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for his life time.”

This is not a biblical quote and how or where it originated is in question. But I find relevance in its intent for today’s church. I wonder if this is not how we approach the Word of God in our daily lives. I often receive inquiries that are seeking a scripture or passage to answer someone’s specific question or need. “Can you give me a scripture to help me deal with…” or, “Can you show me in the Bible where it addresses….” These are good questions and I love to help. And, I even find joy in knowing that I have fed someone for that day. I think that many of us use daily devotionals to provide our daily fish. We have established regimens that have us start our day with a cup of coffee, breakfast, and a few minutes in our devotional or reading plan of choice. And this is also good, very good.

However, if we did not have that fish thrown to us each day from someone, or a specific devotional, would we know how to open and read the scriptures on our own? Do we know how to read the scriptures in a way that provides a lifetime of provision – or even an eternity of provision? So, if the opening quote in this letter related to God’s work in our lives, how might we receive His provision in it? In John 17, Jesus is praying on behalf of those He desires to feed… “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3). So, to be fed for a lifetime involves knowing God, and Jesus Christ. Jesus calls Himself out in the prayer. He also states, “I have given them your word…” and prays that we are sanctified by it, “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:14, 17).

Today we have the Word of God preserved for us in the Holy Scriptures. It is where we get to know Him, it is where we seek Him, and it is through His Word that we are provided an eternity of provision. Over the past few months, many of you have shared with me a great desire to learn how to read the Bible. Many have expressed this as a specific challenge and have made a goal to become more familiar with the scriptural story and God’s revelation of Himself in it. And this is very exciting, and it is a specific goal of our ministry focus at Yorkshire Church to teach everyone, “how to fish.”

During the first half of 2023, our Sunday School participation and group Bible studies have continued to grow. Our women’s and men’s fellowships have completed some great studies focused on the Word of God and we are enjoying a new summer study on Wednesday nights which is geared directly to understanding our faith and growing into it through scriptural focus. If you have not yet attended one of our studies, I would invite you to check a class out, either on Sunday mornings at 10:15, or one of the Group Bible Studies that are in session (see announcements for current classes).

During a recent Worship and Education Team meeting, one of the topics of discussion was our service schedule and consideration what it should look like moving forward. NOW, THERE ARE NO CHANGES CURRENTLY RECOMMENDED. One of the considerations is having only one worship service each Sunday,

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instead of two. It would be a combined service which would reflect a hybrid worship style including both contemporary and traditional elements. A reason behind making this change, is that although our worship attendance averages are growing, we do not have enough volunteers to staff the various functions necessary to operate two separate services. This includes, greeters, ushers, money counters, media center volunteers, and general hospitality needs. So, in recognizing our current capabilities, a one service model is a topic of consideration. Your input and feedback would be greatly appreciated and again, I emphasize that no permanent changes will be made without hearing from all of you!

Over the past few years, I have consistently heard that having a “fellowship time” on Sundays was of great interest. We heard your requests! Since the Lenten Season this year, we have offered a time of fellowship in the Fellowship Hall at 10AM which has included everything from home cooked breakfast specialties to simple snacks, coffee, juice, and other beverages. Yet, the participation in this time of fellowship is often only a few, sometimes only 2 or 3 folks, yet we have folks working hard to provide the various refreshments. But we want to give it another try, and our Education and Worship teams have put forth a plan to try something different. On Sunday, July 30th, we will have a Combined Worship Sunday format. The schedule will be as follows:

SUNDAY, JULY 30th

9:00AM Sunday School
10:00AM Combined Service (Hybrid of Contemporary & Traditional) 11:00AM Pot-luck lunch/brunch fellowship in Fellowship Hall

Please share this information with folks that you know attend our services – even if you think they get our announcements. We want to ensure that we let everyone know of the modified schedule for July 30th!

I want to acknowledge the great work of all our teams so far this year. We are growing in so many areas and great things are happening across the board – worship, education, finance, SPRC, missions, leadership, et al! Our Trustee team has been busy with continuing improvements to our facility. Since our Fellowship Hall renovations were completed at the beginning of this year, we have needed to address many other facility concerns. Some of these key areas include having our parking lot repaired and sealed, windows in the Administration wing repaired, media projectors in the sanctuary replaced, lighting controls in sanctuary repaired, roof concerns, HVAC unit replacement in Nursery, and most recently, our generator has begun to fail, which will require a new unit in the near future. All these necessary repairs have come at a great expense. As of the end of May, we have spent nearly $45,000.00 on these items and anticipate these costs to grow to well over $50,000.00 by the end of July. The good news is that we have been able to fund these repairs without capital fundraising campaigns or weekly reports to the congregation to ensure that we can cover the expenses. We have been able to cover all of the needed costs, but the level of expense has put some stress on our financial reserves. We budgeted $20,000.00 for expected repairs, but as you can see, some of our components are failing faster than we expected.

We will provide a complete financial report in July which will be based on the first two quarters of 2023. But I wanted to give you an idea of where we are through the end of May. The numbers include the Joyful Noise Preschool:

Income (Offering, Gifts, Designated Giving, Tuition): Expenses (including Preschool):
Net (Loss)

$ 198,031 $ 215,815 $ -17,784

125 Edgewood Road, York, PA 17402 • (717)755-4952 • www.yorkshirechurch.org

So, you can see that we are operating at a deficit through May. But we have had the funds in our accounts to cover the additional expenses that we have incurred. However, one of the things that we must consider as we move into the second half of the year is that even though our attendance continues to grow, our giving is basically the same as last year. If we take the Preschool tuition numbers out of the income, our congregational giving has grown less than one percent, while many of our operating expenses such as utilities, materials and repairs have grown at a much higher rate. As we have incurred the fellowship hall line of credit debt, we have seen an increase in our “Building Fund” giving, yet it is directly proportional to a reduction in our general giving, meaning that we are not realizing increased giving to offset the additional expense, we are just moving it from one general account to another. So, with additional expenses realized, the giving has remained the same.

The numbers that I have reported are certainly part of the ebb and flow of church finances. We are in a position, based on the expertise and diligence of our financial leadership team, to continue to invest in our ministries, our missions, and our church and preschool staff. But we also need to keep a keen eye on the trends as we move forward, and it is our hope to continue to grow in the ministry and mission work that we are called to.

As I close out this episode of “What’s Brewing,” I would simply ask that you enjoy and praise God for all the wonderful things He is doing in our church fellowship. Share in the joy of our growth in our Bible Studies and Sunday School classes. Be thankful for the enhancement of our various outreach ministries including a refreshed card care ministry, visitation ministry, and growth in our various elements of hospitality. Be thankful that God has provided us with all that we need to continue to serve Him in our church fellowship, community, and areas of mission’s support that He has called us. Continue to pray about where you fit into these various ministries through your participation and involvement and financial support.

Most of all, continue to seek God through your time in His Word. We can grow in every area of church administration and numerical participation in services, but if we are not growing in our relationship with God, through our time in the Word, then all we do is for naught. God is doing so much for us. In the Book of Acts, Luke writes about many of the things God had done for His people, which includes us (Read Acts 17!), and he documents why…

“God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” (Acts 17:27).

Have a great and blessed day. Learn how to fish!

Peace!

-pastor dave.

dkominsky@susumc.org

717-858-5870

125 Edgewood Road, York, PA 17402 • (717)755-4952 • www.yorkshirechurch.org

2 September 2022 / Greetings Yorkshire Church!

As we prepare to celebrate the unofficial end of summer, Labor Day weekend, there is much to update you on. Yorkshire Church has been a busy place, and you can see that by simply driving by our facility, or looking at the pictures in our weekly announcements!

Today (Friday), we complete our eleventh week of the building renovation project. Our tentative timeline completion schedule reflects a mid-September completion date, but I suspect it will be closer to the end of September. This is not due to a lack of effort, but moreso the additional work that has been necessary to address unforeseen obstacles and challenges. If you have the opportunity to stop by and take a look around the building and in the fellowship hall, you will be able to appreciate all of the hard work that our team has accomplished. Special thanks to Steve Spangler for his countless hours dedicated to this project!

As you may remember, the project estimate was about $267,000 which included a 20% contingency for unforeseen obstacles as well as additional improvement opportunities that reveal themselves during the construction process. At this point, the project is still well within the budgeted target. I believe with the addition of some outdoor lamp posts along the ramp, some enhancements to the ramp and retaining wall, as well as some finishing touches, we will be very close to our initial estimates. (For reference, we established a $275,000 credit facility with Traditions Bank).

At this point, the church is only paying the interest on the monies that we are utilizing for the project. We get a monthly bill from the primary contractor, Keller Construction. At this point we have paid just about $100,000 in construction costs. Once the job is completed, the final amount will be calculated, and the interest payments will convert to loan payments. We anticipate these payments to be approximately $2,000 per month. It is our hope that we will be able to make these payments out of the building fund account which is supported by your additional gifts to the “Building Fund.” This can be designated utilizing any of the standard means that you currently utilize for giving. Through additional giving to the “Building Fund,” we can continue to allocate our traditional income to the ministries that we are called to serve and the many other critical maintenance, repairs and improvements that our facility currently requires.

We are planning additional important investments in our facility. One major item is the addition of fire detection equipment throughout the building. We currently have no smoke detectors within the church, except for the kitchen area and hallway. During a planning session where we discussed our Fire Drill process for the Preschool, we realized that we have no smoke detection system in the Education wing to alert our teachers and staff in the case of a fire. We recently had a local Fire inspector review our facility and provide us guidance with how to remedy this situation.

We also need to continue to address our parking lot lighting for security purposes. Although the new renovations will provide ample protection for that side of our facility, we have several other areas where the current lighting fixtures no longer work (lamp posts outside sanctuary doors, office doors, and our primary entrance). In the area of lighting, we are also seeking proposals to replace the current lighting for the steeple with more efficient LED lighting fixtures which will be offset by a reduction on our electric bill.

Our parking lot is in need of significant repair which will include crack repair and resealing. The estimate for this project is $16,000. And there are many other areas of focus that need to be addressed ensuring no shortage of workload for our Trustee team going into the Fall! So, as you can see, any gifts to the “Building Fund” will be greatly appreciated, greatly needed, and will be put to good use!

In ministry news, our C.L.I.M.B. children’s Sunday School program is off to a great start. This program is for preschool through 2nd grade students and is a two-hour time of interactive learning and fellowship for our children. Each Sunday, from 9-11AM, children participate in what would look most like a day at Vacation Bible School which includes music, singing, crafts, snacks, and of course, Bible lessons. We hope that this program grows to serve not only current Yorkshire families, but to also be an outreach into our community where folks can drop off their children to participate. This will free them up to worship at 9AM and take advantage of our many adult Sunday School programs, or for others, to allow their children to have the opportunity to participate, even if they choose not to attend other church activities.

Our Preschool season started this past week with “Summer Fun Days” for our 4-year-olds on Wednesday, and our 3-year-olds on Thursday. Once again, we are blessed with wonderful children and families. What have been generally quiet hallways (except for the echoes of jackhammers, saws, hammers, dump trucks and earth moving equipment) are now filled with the joyful noise of our preschool children! Our preschool director Julie Mann has done an incredible job in conjunction with her staff of teachers in ensuring that our classrooms are ready and our curriculums are robust. The children arrived this week, but our preschool staff has been very busy for several weeks in preparation. I had the opportunity to meet with many of our students’ parents at our Preschool Parent’s meeting on Monday evening and again as they dropped off their children. Many commented on how happy they are to have a school like Joyful Noise where their children can learn important life skills in addition to Christian education. Recently, the preschool team made a list of what Joyful Noise’s core values are: Small Class Sizes, Dedicated Teaching Staff, Hands on Learning, Christian Education, Family Atmosphere, and Joy-filled Classrooms. These values are made possible by the wonderful support that the preschool receives from our church fellowship. This is a ministry that we can all be proud of! Go JNCP Team!

Next Sunday, September 11th, we will again celebrate Rally Day. This is a day where we come together to celebrate our fellowship with one another as well as our community. We utilize this day to kick-off our Fall season. We will be introducing you to our Sunday School teachers as well as our Preschool teaching staff. We have invited our preschool families to join us as we celebrate how God has brought us all together in ministry for a time such as this. We will do this with ONE combined service at 10:00AM which will be followed by outdoor celebrations from 11AM to 3PM. This will include music by Steven Courtney Band of Friends, Food Trucks, Bounce House, Face Painting and many games and activities. Rumor has it that there may even be a dunk tank again this year…(…really?)

I hope that everyone that is able will choose to come next Sunday to share in this great day of worship, fellowship, and sharing in all that God is doing through Yorkshire Church. It also gives us a great opportunity to meet many of our community neighbors!

Have a great day and a great week! Peace and Blessings!

-pastor dave.

dkominsky@susumc.org

717-858-5870

125 Edgewood Road, York, PA 17402 • (717)755-4952 •

www.yorkshirechurch.org

21 July 2022 / Greetings Yorkshire Church!

We enjoyed our week of vacation last week which included online worship participation to hear Bud’s great messages! On the 10th I watched from a bench on a dock (online) which was a part of our rental property, and on the 17th, Holly and I actually came to Yorkshire to simply worship with the fellowship. Both were great blessings! Our time in the Finger Lakes region of New York was very relaxing and we had opportunities to spend quality time with our family throughout the week.

But, as they say, it is good to be back and this week has again been a busy one. Of course the most obvious activity happening at our church is the renovation process. We did not move a lot of dirt this week outside, but significant work has been happening on the inside preparing for the construction of the new restroom facilities and the installation of a new water service to replace the old, outdated one. You can enjoy the pictures in the weekly announcements! Next week, work will again shift to the outside and additional grading and ramp preparation work will continue.

Our public proclamation of our process is “We’re Opening New Doors.” This of course is a literal point as we are doing just that with the new ADA access ramp and door into the fellowship hall. But I would like to think that this is also a great mantra to go into the Fall and “Back-to-School” time period in a few months (not rushing the summer). We can consider that we are “opening new doors” to new people in our community. We may be “opening new doors” to new relationships with Jesus Christ within our fellowship and our community. We may be “opening new doors” to serving our community and the missions that we are called to support. We may be “opening new doors” to our own participation in our church’s ministries and activities. We may be “opening new doors” in our personal faith journey endeavoring into new Bible study groups, or a small group fellowship. Maybe we will simply “open new doors” in our hearts to spend focused time in the Word of God and an enhanced prayer life. In all of these things, may we simply open new doors within our hearts for Worship of God. Two verses come to mind when I think about doors:

Revelation 3:20: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”

John 10:9: “I am the door; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.”

Although we may consider doors in many ways, our primary focus as a church must be on the door of which Jesus speaks in these scriptures. First, it is Christ that is seeking a relationship with us and for those of us who have opened the door, we enjoy an unmatched joy in our communion with God through His communion with us. It is through our joy in this same communion that we shine His light to those that do not yet know that such a relationship with God is possible. So, when we say we are “Opening New Doors,” the opportunities for Yorkshire Church are not only possible, but they can also a great opportunity for us to bring glory to God in all that we do!

A quick update on the Youth Ministry position. We continue to seek the right candidate to serve this valuable ministry of our church. We currently have two candidates that we are speaking to and a sub-team of Staff Parish will be meeting with one of the candidates next week! Keep this need in our church in your prayers!

The Finance Team met last week while I was on vacation to review our financial posture through the first sixth months of the year. Our financial status through June 30th is as follows:

January 2022 through June 2022

Income: $109,408

Expenses: $122,146

Balance: $ -12,739

As you can see, we are currently in a position where our expenses are exceeding our income. There are two primary culprits for this: 1) Utilities. We have spent over $8,200 more this year in electric and gas than last year due to rate increases. 2) Maintenance & Repair. We continue to need to do repair and maintenance on our facility. We have spent over $13,000 this year in this category compared to about $5,400 last year at this time.

The following observation was noted in the minutes of the Finance Team meeting: “The Committee briefly discussed the increase in weekly attendance, yet the very slight decline in giving…” So, although we are growing in our attendance and activity, we are now financing a portion of our operational expenses out of our savings. Some of this is planned in relation to some of the repairs and structural improvements to our facility, but it also gives us an area that we need to monitor as we continue to invest in our ministries and “opening of doors.”

One of the areas that we have been reaching out to the fellowship for is the area of volunteers. As we launch a new focus area on children’s ministry “CLIMB” on Sunday mornings, we have a need for folks to staff the nursery. While our efforts in this area have filled many of the Sunday morning needs, we are left with several Sundays where we have no volunteers to meet this need. The option that we are considering is to hire additional staff to work on Sunday mornings to provide nursery care. The challenge here is that while we grow in our attendance and ministry, we are doing so with less income, which limits our ability to finance such additional staffing long term. It is my hope that we can meet the needs of our nursery care without creating an additional staff position and fill it with volunteers from the fellowship. Currently, the need for nursery care is limited, but if we don’t prepare for it, we won’t be ready when we have the need. (We are also have needs in the Media Center). Please let Tiffany Ivie or any of the Greeters know of your interest in volunteering!

Although I continue my plea for additional volunteers to support our ministry needs and growth, I want to acknowledge all of our team members that make what we do possible! From the Media Center volunteers to our Sunday School teachers, Greeters and Ushers, Money Counters and Praise Team and Choir vocalists, you are APPRECIATED!

Have a great day and a great week! Peace and Blessings!

-pastor dave.

dkominsky@susumc.org

717-858-5870

125 Edgewood Road, York, PA 17402 • (717)755-4952

• www.yorkshirechurch.org

7 July 2022, Good Day Yorkshire Church!

What a great day of Worship we experienced this past Sunday as we acknowledged the great gift of freedom that God has provided to us as Americans. It was a blessing to give God thanks through some patriotic music as well as honor an Air Force veteran who worshipped with us who recently celebrated his 102nd birthday. It is always a blessing to meet and worship with a member of the Greatest Generation- especially a WWII veteran!

It has been an exciting few weeks at the church! Our renovation project is well underway now! There has been some preliminary grading work outside and our interior perimeter drains have been installed. You can see pictures in this week’s announcements. I met our contractor team members from Keller Construction, Fitz & Smith, Dietz & Nauman and American Waterproofers as they endeavor on our project and have been impressed by their professionalism. We are blessed to have a great team working on our behalf!

Over the next few days, as weather permits, there will be a great deal of excavation occurring at the church. During this time, we may experience breaks in our internet service as Comcast will be working on relocating our lines which will require interruptions in service. If you find that you are unable to contact the church or if you have problems with viewing the livestream over the next week or so, please be patient with us as we work through this phase of the project. I can promise that any interruptions will be brief.

As I mentioned in my last What’s Brewing, we have a new VBS-style Sunday School program starting in the next few weeks to serve our children’s ministry. This is requiring additional time spent by many of our teachers and volunteers. We are very thankful for their commitment of time and energy! Please note Rick Focht’s article in this week’s announcements. With this program, many of our folks are taking on additional volunteer responsibilities which is taking them from other volunteer positions. We currently have need for more volunteers to serve as Greeters, Media Center Support, Teachers and Teacher Assistants, Youth Group assistants, and Nursery Care. I would ask you to pray about participating in some of these great opportunities to serve our church! If you would like to serve in any of these areas, please contact me, the office, or any of our ushers and/or Greeters on Sunday mornings. They will let us know of your interest and we can contact you to get you plugged in! These are exciting times at Yorkshire and I believe the only limitations we may face in the future will be our ability to support our ministries from within.

The Nominations & Leadership Team will be holding a meeting in the next few weeks to discuss our leadership slate for next year. If you have an interest in becoming involved with the leadership of the church, please let me know so we can find a way to get you on board. I will also be speaking with our current leaders to gain an understanding of their interest in continuing in their roles. This is a very important process within any church.

What makes a great church? Well, there is really only one answer for that from a theological standpoint, and that is the worship of the church. Is the church a Bible-teaching, Christ-centered church that loves one another as Christ loves the church and is growing in their relationship with Him. This is the true measure of an effective church. Read Acts 2:42-47 to validate this point.

An element of Yorkshire church that is important to consider as we strive to be “great” as described above is theparticipation of the body. Whether in leadership or as a volunteer, each part of the church brings something with them that results in our ability to worship as we are called to do. The apostle Paul teaches this in his letter to the Christian church in Corinth. I see his words as an affirmation of how the church is to carry out its love and devotion to Jesus Christ as a result of the gifts that He gives us. Consider this as we look at Paul’s writing in 1 Corinthians 12:4-14:

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.”

(Consider this in context with John 14:12-31 from our Sermon series)

So, as we plan for the future, part of what we can plan to accomplish through the programs we support will be based on how the body of church feels called to use the gifts and talents that have been bestowed upon them. If we have 15-20 volunteers that are handling the various needs of the church, then we will be able to support programs that require 15-20 volunteers. If we have 25-30 volunteers, then we can plan on programming and ministries that have a need for this many folks and so on. Currently, we are looking to grow into ministries to serve the Yorkshire fellowship which are requiring more volunteers than we have, which over time will lead to burnout. It is important that our leadership evaluate all that we are doing based on our real capabilities and adjust accordingly. I have sometimes heard that a person does not get involved because they have not been asked, so I want to make it official, I am asking each of you to pray about how God may be calling you into service in the church!

Holly and I are looking forward to our vacation which will be from July 9th through the 17th. The church will be blessed as Reverend Bud Bish will be providing the message on Sunday the 10th and the 17th. I look forward to enjoying worship on the livestream from the Finger Lakes of New York!

Have a great day and a great week! Peace and Blessings!
-pastor dave. dkominsky@susumc.org 717-858-5870

16 June 2022, Greetings Yorkshire Church!

What a great week at Yorkshire Church as we cross the midpoint of June! We are in the “summer” season of the church when things typically slow down a bit, but this is not the case here! Here is a summary of the exciting things happening within our church and our ministries.

On Monday evening, our Children’s ministry team met to continue discussions on programs to enhance our children’s Sunday School programs. An idea that was tossed around a few weeks ago by this same team was to consider a “VBS-type” format for the Children’s Church (9:15 – 10AM) and the Sunday School hour (10:15- 11AM), combining those time periods into one, two-hour session which would ultimately be run as a VBS-style format. This would include teaching times, crafts, snacks, music, media and various activity stations located around the designated rooms in the Education wing. Activities would begin at 9AM and continue through 11AM allowing parents to attend both 9AM worship and Sunday School, while their children are receiving Christian education and enrichment through a fun and interactive program! The name for our new program will be “CLIMB,” Children Learning Important Messages from the Bible. We hope other children in our community will become involved as well! Thanks to Rick Focht, our Education Team Chair and those involved with teaching, leading and participating in our Children’s Ministry programs! (Barb Snare, Rachel Fry, Lexi Morrow, Kristin Berman, Laurie Mink, Julie Mann, Laura Blackwood, Debra Why).

On Tuesday evening, our Joyful Noise Christian Preschool (JNCP) Board of Directors held their quarterly scheduled meeting. Discussions were held regarding the very successful 2021-22 school year, which was validated by several survey response forms submitted by parents of the students. One of the core values that was discussed was the focus on the Word of God in the teaching curriculum. A recognized value of JNCP is the Christian, Bible-based teaching focus, small class size and affordable tuition. Our students benefit from a highly professional and dedicated staff who are dedicated to each student’s growth over the course of the year. As a ministry of Yorkshire Church, JNCP continues to share the Gospel message of Jesus Christ with the young folks of our community 5 days a week, and next year, the Preschool is planning on offering a summer session as our outreach continues to grow. We celebrate this ministry of the church and the difference it is making in the lives of our students and their families! (Our Preschool Board of Directors are: Barb Snare, Chair, Rick Focht, Vice-Chair, Laurie Mink, Secretary, Julie Mann, Preschool Director, Carol Hightman, Suzanne Robertson, Tara Winter, and Dave Kominsky, Pastor).

Also, on Monday evening, a sub-group from our Finance Team met to review and select the Financing Proposals from 5 local banks for our Fellowship Hall Repair and Renovation project. All of the financing institutions offered us very positive proposals which was an indication of their desire to partner with Yorkshire Church. The review team (Doug Berman, Charlie Hoffman, Elke Yingling, and Jim Valentine) considered each proposal carefully and Traditions Bank was selected as our finance partner for the project. With this decision, our project is ready to move forward. Steve Spangler, our Fellowship Hall Renovation Project Leader has scheduled a kick-off meeting with the various construction contractors (Keller Construction, Dietz & Naumann, and Spangler & Boyer) on Wednesday, June 29th and construction will begin shortly after that! It has been a long process to get to this point but it has been a very good one. As Yorkshire Church, we are blessed to have the leaders that we do, and their commitment to our fellowship is so appreciated!

In the area of our church finances, the good news is that through the month of May, 2022, we are operating in a manner that has allowed us to pay all of our bills and expenses with the income that we have received. But we can see that our income vs our expenses is tightening up significantly.

Jan through the end of May 2022 for Yorkshire Church & Joyful Noise Christian Preschool:

Income: $197,430

Expenses: 197,303

Net: 127

In this number, our monthly offerings have increased over the same period last year by only $531 while our expenses have risen by $22,746. This is made up of many areas, I’ll highlight a few.

Electric: +2,000

Natural Gas: +6,100

Building Maint: +9,979

Other areas of increase were budgeted which include Missions, Staffing (Additional Preschool teachers, Music positions, cost of living increases), but were offset by areas of cost reduction by design. So you can see that of the $22,746 dollars of increased expenses, energy and fixing our building accounted for the majority of it.

With the commencement of our Fellowship Hall project, we anticipate the debt service to be in the vicinity of $2,000 per month which will ramp up through the end of the year as construction expenses are received and paid for. We do anticipate significantly lower natural gas expenses over the next several months as we won’t be heating the church as well as we are hopeful that we have a significant reduction in maintenance and repair expenses through the end of the year (we have an aging facility…).

So, I share this information with you to let you know that our Administrative, Finance, and Trustee teams continue to manage our finances and facility in a manner that we are operating well within the means of the blessings that we receive, even while we expand our ministries and grow as a church. But we are facing significantly higher expenses in categories that we are somewhat unable to control as far as what is going on in our general economy with the levels of inflation that we are experiencing. We will continue to manage our resources in a prayerful and discerning manner and I am tremendously confident in the leadership and expertise that God has blessed Yorkshire with!

With all of these things in mind, I would also ask that you continue to pray and discern about your continuing support of the church and our ministries through your ongoing gifts and contributions. It is our hope that even in our difficult economic times, that we can continue to grow in our ministry and our outreach to those in our community, while maintaining our facilities in an effective, yet efficient manner.

We have so much to be thankful for as the fellowship of Yorkshire Church. God
is blessing us with new ministries, new opportunities and an overwhelming Spirit of Joy in all that we do while bringing new people into our fold. As always, if
you have any questions about the content or information that has been provided
in this letter, please feel free to reach out. I am thankful to be a part of the ministry and fellowship that we are being called to as Christ’s body, in fellowship with Him, and in communion with the Holy Spirit!

Have a great day and a great week! Peace and Blessings!

-pastor dave.

dkominsky@susumc.org

717-858-5870

125 Edgewood Road, York, PA 17402 • (717)755-4952 • www.yorkshirechurch.org