What Does My Pledge Support?
The Ministries of St. Columba's
Your pledge supports the mission and ministry of St. Columba’s. The priorities of our strategic plan to Live God’s Love include:
- Strengthen community
- Practice faith
- Embrace our world
- Build capacity
The chart below shows the annual church budget, about 78% of which is supported through pledges.
We are fortunate to have a generous parish that supports the church. Here are some quick facts about pledges and members at St. C's:
Average number of new members each year: 50
Average gift amount of all members: $3900
Number of parishioners with recurring donations through Realm: 124
Number of States parishioners live in: 8
Learn more about church finances here.
The following are examples of specific activities and accomplishments that your pledge supports:
Strengthen Community
Hospitality, fellowship & pastoral
- Conduct activities like the “Stay Connected” phone tree in 2021, which created opportunities for personal connections for over 750 households
- Offer a range of fellowship & support groups, e.g., Father’s Group, Caregivers Support, Mother’s Group, which switched to hybrid meetings.
- We continue to create occasions for joy, connection, and celebration – e.g., the “We're still here for you" music video, Together in Hope Ministry Fair and Sundae Sunday, Halloween Monster Mash Party, Youth Movie Night
Communication & Technology
- Invest in staff with time dedicated to video editing, production & distribution to enable online worship, courtyard worship and nave worship for increased accessibility and flexibility during uncertain times.
- Develop and maintain the new website with robust content to support our mission and ministries
- Improve and increase use of Realm database tool for church members to connect to one another, including a church directory and group lists for different church ministries.
Practice Faith
Worship
- Develop new worship formats to meet current needs, including the principal Sunday liturgy, Wee Worship, House Church, Morning Prayer
- Offer in-person worship in the nave consistent with local guidelines and safety protocols
- Offer baptisms and other formal ceremonies and rites
Music
- Continue a vibrant music ministry
- Train & equip singers to participate and record from home, and now in person.
- Offer five choirs that are all active including virtual offerings
- Primary choir (youngest)
- Children’s choir (3rd – 6th grades)
- Gallery choir (teens)
- Adult choir
- Handbell Choir
Formation & discipleship
- Continue to innovate and develop new curriculum and format for children and youth – Columba Crew & Quest45 for children & redesign youth programs
- Expand opportunities for adult bible study
- Offer Columba Circles for ways to connect through prayer and bible study.
- Offer Sunday forums, available both in-person and online.
Embrace our World
- Initiatives to end family homelessness
- Create a partnership with the organization Housing Up
- Commit to becoming an antiracist church
- Develop a digital strategy for evangelism, hospitality, and engagement
Build Capacity
Property
- Develop and continue to maintain robust procedures & protocols for safety and health
- Expand and adapted spaces to accommodate Nursery School needs per Covid regulations
- Renovate & expand the columbarium, adding an additional 96 niches for a total of 278 spaces.
- Set up room 212 with teleconference capabilities to allow for dual-format meetings
- Install new audio visual equipment and lights in Nave for live streaming
- Completed church nave renovation
- Develop Property Master Plan to be good stewards of our property and use it to fully live our mission and ministry
Finances
- Continue regular audits to support strong financial stewardship and responsibility
Learn more about the spiritual underpinnings of pledging, financial information about the church, and the nuts and bolts of pledging here.
