We are the Church

January is annual meeting month at Abiding Presence. Our church constitution states that we must gather in January for an annual meeting to pass the operating budget for the year as well as elect council members and voting members to the synod assembly. As a church, council and staff, we will spend the month getting ready for the annual meeting that will take place on Sunday, January 26 at 10:00 a.m.

The “State of the Church” address has become a favorite tradition for me. I love sharing with you during the annual meeting where we’ve been and where I hear God calling us to go as a church.

Annual meetings at Abiding Presence are fun, joyful and Spirit-filled. They aren’t contentious. We pray, vote, laugh, dream, discern and...the youth play BINGO!

While spending a Sunday morning going line by line through the budget like we will do at the Cafe Session on January 19 may not seem like the most exciting thing to do, it is important. Fiscal transparency is one of my guiding principles. I want every one of you to know the nuts and bolts of your church budget.

We pay for an audit with an outside CPA firm every two years, which is something few churches do. Being the church, we act in faith and follow best non-profit business practices. That sets us apart!

You are the church. In our Lutheran tradition, we aren’t led by a hierarchical figure. Our theology of the “priesthood of all believers” means that the highest decision making body in the church is not me as the pastor, but you as the congregation. I hope you will join me in Abiding Together to be the church at the annual meeting.