June 29, 2022
Dear Friends,
I have returned from the Covenant’s Annual Meeting in Kansas City with some insights and observations. Here are a few of them. To begin with, I was struck by how much my colleagues have aged, how many of them had children who I met, and how many of my classmates were retiring. Then I realized it was decades, not years, since I had last been among many of these colleagues of mine. Over those decades, however, both the denomination and I have changed. The gathering at both the Ministerium and the Annual Meeting was very intergenerational, multiracial, with much larger percentage of women in leadership and in attendance. There were also many more people who are not “cradle Covenanters” which has led to a more diverse denomination than before. I have been apart from much of this change, being engaged in many ecumenical conversations, some of which intersected with the life of the Covenant, many which did not. And people probably came back saying how much I have aged since they last saw me as well…
In terms of the events at these meetings, here are some of my take-aways, first from the meeting of the ministerium. Most of this meeting was not exceptional, but was not unimportant. We approved the New Dean of the Seminary, as well as the Executive Minister of Develop Leaders and Ordered Ministry, elected new officers, and approved those entering and leaving our ministerium. The exceptional agenda item was a pastor who was contesting the removal of his credentials for performing a same-sex wedding. It required a “super majority” (or 2/3rds majority to pass. About 40% voted not to approve this resolution. Therefore this resolution did not achieve the numbers needed and was not passed on to the Annual Meeting.
As far as the Annual Meeting itself, it was both informative and productive. First, I was struck by the number of resources the denomination provides for both myself as a pastor and us as a congregation. Noteworthy were three: Anti-racism spiritual resources for congregations, vital congregation assessment resources for a church’s on-going self-assessment, and National Covenant Properties and the financial resources they offer congregations. I also gleaned some helpful data. For example, as a denomination we have already raised $800,000 for assistance to the Ukrainian people. At the same time, as a denomination we have lost churches this past year, some because they could not survive COVID, or COVID hastened their demise. On the other hand, congregations (and clergy) have chosen to leave the Covenant, with a significant reason being our position on human sexuality. What I find most interesting in this area is that in a few months or so, a resource paper, entitled “Freedom, Unity, and Responsibility,” on human sexuality in the Covenant will be released. It will come as a draft sent out for feedback. I look forward to sharing this with you and hearing your thoughts.
This leads me to talk about our denomination’s current budget. For the last few years, the Covenant’s expenditures have been increasing, while income has been flat at best. We have filled the gap by drawing upon our reserves. As a denomination, we are tightening our belt, and limiting new projects and ministries to reflect our resources. We have resolved to have a balanced budget by fiscal year 2024. We cannot afford our current structure, organization, and ministries at our current level of income. Currently 70% of the budget goes to staff positions, so staff salaries are now frozen. The long-standing request of congregations is that each church offer a tithe to the denomination: 3.5% to the conference and 6.5% to the denomination. We were told that if every Covenant church would increase their denominational giving (whatever it currently is) by adding an additional 1.3%, we would more than balance our budget.
And, by the way, we elected a new (and first woman) President, Tammy Swanson-Draheim, who will have all of these items on her desk when she begins in September. President Swanson-Draheim is moving to Chicago and is requiring our denominational leaders to working physically together in our headquarters there. It is only appropriate, then, that we pray early and often for our president elect.
Last, returning to matters of finance, I had a conversation with Curt Peterson, who is currently leading Serve Globally, about the Tangs, who we support as missionaries. He mentioned that the Tangs have significant expenses (thousands of US dollars) resulting from their daughter’s death. If anyone would like to contribute to the Tangs’ directly to offset those costs, please contact me or Arlie Swanson.
If I were to summarize, a recurring theme this past week was what an unusual and challenging season we have been through: religiously, politically, internationally, economically, and ‘pandemically’. Many churches have taken on water, some are struggling, while others have sunk. And these realities are reflected in our denomination as a whole. I see the effects of all of this on our church and our ministry, yet I remain impressed by our vitality and am optimistic about the season ahead of us—thanks to you all. And for a church with a 133 year-old history, you don’t look a day older than 125…
Pastor Todd