Aldersgate United Methodist Church - June Newsletter Article

Embracing the Dream of a Fruitful Congregation

Aldersgate’s Capital Campaign

(published in June newsletter)

This summer, Aldersgate will move forward to reduce its debt, pay faith bonds that are coming due, and position the church’s finances so major unexpected expenses will be covered by reserve funds.

For some time, the church leadership has recognized and been concerned about the church’s debt and future obligations. Of particular concern are the bonds on Shepherd Hall that will be coming due beginning in 2012. The church has been capable of conducting good stewardship campaigns with the excellent participation of many volunteers. However, these annual stewardship campaigns have not been successful in raising adequate money to reduce the capital debt of the church.

The Church Council met on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 and heard a presentation and recommendations from Klote & Associates about how to proceed to address the debt situation. After extended discussion, the Council voted 11 – 9 in favor of conducting a campaign and retaining the services of Klote. However, it was the opinion of the Council that this vote lacked consensus to move forward. The motion was rescinded. The Council agreed to form a subgroup to address other alternatives. A subgroup was formed from Council members representing both sides of the vote to further review the proposal and explore other options.

The Subgroup met on Sunday, May 16 and Wednesday, May 19. It had lengthy discussions on the Klote proposal and other options. It addressed many of the questions and issues raised at the May 12 Council meeting.

This group created objectives by which to measure the options:

Hear God’s calling - listen to His voice
Obtain Consensus
Funding match mission which leads to integrity
Well informed, financially sound decision

and reached a consensus that they wanted to:

Run a different type of campaign
Pay off bonds
Reduce Mortgage Debt
Build a Reserve Fund

They brainstormed various methods to achieve these goals and came up with three:

Hire Klote and Associates
Run campaign on our own
Hire a fund raiser on staff to run campaign

They considered all the options against the objectives and ability to reach the goals.

Three members of the group presented the options to the Church Council on May 26. The pros and cons of each option were outlined. Then the group recommended to the council that the best option was to hire Klote & Associates. Following extended discussion, a vote was taken. With 14 yeas, 4 nays and 2 abstentions, the motion passed that Aldersgate conduct a fundraising campaign to pay off the bonds, reduce the mortgage debt and build a reserve fund, and that James D. Klote & Associates be hired as the campaign consultants.

A Steering Committee is being developed and planning for a Kick off event has begun. Please save the date of Sunday, July 11 for a special event for everyone in the church. We all look forward to your support as the church takes on this important challenge!