What Does My Pledge Support?

A Church for Tomorrow.

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 80% 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 2020, 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 online participation and continue regular meetings
• During past 18 months we welcomed 45 households (118 individuals) as new members
• We continue to create occasions for joy, connection, and celebration – e.g., the “We're still here for you" music video, Sundae Sunday ice cream drive-by, Halloween Monster Mash Party, Youth Movie Night

Communication & Technology

• Invest in staff with time dedicated to video editing, production & distribution to enable online worship and other forms of connectivity outside the church’s building
• 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. As of November, 456 parishioners have Realm accounts, and 124 household set up recurring donations through Realm.

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
• Offer five choirs that are all active including virtual offerings
  • Primary choir (youngest), with 15 members
  • Children’s choir (3rd – 6th grades), with 27 members
  • Gallery choir (teens), with 14 members
  • Adult choir, with 64 members
  • Handbell Choir, with 8 members

Formation & discipleship

• Continue to innovate and develop new curriculum and format for children and youth – Columba Crew & Quest for children & redesign youth programs
• Expand opportunities for adult bible study
• Offer Columba Circles for ways to connect through prayer and bible study. As of now, we have 8 active Columba Circles with an average of 10 members each
• Develop courses that are relevant (for example, on the topic of engaging racial justice) and/or supportive (for example, “Love in the Time of Coronavirus” for couples, “Faith and Parenting in a Pandemic” for parents, and “Surviving and Thriving in a Pandemic: A Conversation with Mental Health Professionals”)
• Create and deliver “Daily Bread” which offers a chance for prayerful reflection

Embrace our World

• Launch initiative to end family homelessness, which as of October 2020 has helped 20 families
• 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 new 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
• 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

Personnel

• Hire new staff, including a new minister for community engagement, and a new director of communications, new youth director
• Provide staff team-building, development and care

Learn more about the spiritual underpinnings of pledging, financial information about the church, and the nuts and bolts of pledging here.