. . .all things in common . . . with glad and generous hearts

Thinking Forward in our Ministry

UNITED PARISH IN BROOKLINE

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Throughout my discernment about coming to United Parish, people told me about this community’s amazing untapped potential. Former pastors, observers from afar, current staff, the Search & Call Committee, they all spoke about a place brimming with possibility.

Now that I have been here seven months I see the ever-widening potential. I also see the wonderful present. This is a congregation full of kind, talented, committed people, yearning to be faithful, wanting to deepen in spirituality and raise spiritually healthy children, desiring a community of connection and eager to reach out and make a difference in the world.

The question I think a lot about is, how do we grow from this wonderful present moment into our untapped potential? The answer is you. And me. And all of us. Each of us is essential to this community and each of us has a part to play and gifts to offer.

This booklet shows where we are right now andi also shares the dreams and hopes of our staff and ministry teams for our future. We asked each of them what funds they need to do ministry effectively and vibrantly and they dreamed big.

As you flip through these pages, please take some time to linger on the words, linger on the images, linger over the ideas and dreams. Think about the ways that United Parish has touched your heart and soul. Think about what you’ve given here and what you’ve received. Think about the early church’s example of a shared life of faith (see the passage from Acts on the facing page).

Then I hope you will think about our future. Where do we have yet to go? Whom do we have yet to invite into our community, over to our table? With whom can we share the experience of “glad and generous hearts”?

This booklet is about that possibility, grounded in a beautiful reality. I invite you to consider it prayerfully and faithfully and then consider what you have to give and what you have yet to receive.

In faith,

Kent Senior Pastor

from the Book of Acts (2:42-47)

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles.

All who believed were together and had all things in common;they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.

Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple,they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts,

Praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.

And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved . . .all things in common

. . . with glad and generous hearts

May 2014

Just as it was in the early church in the Book of Acts, Exalting in worship is at the heart of our life together. Music, scripture, prayers, teaching and preaching all combine in wonderful ways to center us, inspire us, challenge and comfort us.

Over 75 children, youth and adults lead us regularly in our Sunday morning worship. Worship is one of the ways we teach leadership and faithfulness to our children. This past year, the spectacular Trio Cleonice joined us for monthly worship and concerts. We have also enjoyed special contemplative mid-week worship during Advent and Lent.

Going forward, we plan to continue experimenting and exploring other forms of worship at times other than Sunday morning and in spaces other than the Sanctuary. We will also continue to welcome guest preachers and musicians.

Our requests this year will help provide:

• Honoraria for guest preachers, substitute organists and instrumentalists• More frequent piano tunings• Worship supplies• Sheet music• Continuing support for vocal and instrumental leaders in worship• New piano for Willet Hall for concerts, worship and rentals

EXALTING in worshipWe seek to celebrate the beauty and complexity of God’s creation in liturgy, sacred music, and art . . .

. . .spent much time together in the temple

. . .many signs and wonders

. . .praising God and having the goodwill of all the people

. . .awe came upon everyone

Overall budget increase

for Exalting: $3,700

Deepening takes us a step beyond our Exalting, helping expand our knowledge, grow our spiritual practices and think in practical ways about how to apply our faith and spirituality in daily life.

Our Christian education serves over 80 children and teens in preschool through high school, led by two dozen dedicated volunteer teachers, and overseen by our part-time Christian Education Coordinator (15 hours/week). We deepen together spiritually through our choirs for every age, overseen by our Minister of Music and dedicated volunteers.

On Sundays we have a morning meditation and an active Bible study on the text for worship, led by faithful volunteers. On Thursday evenings, members gather at the Corrib Pub for the Wired Word, an exploration of what the Bible and our faith might have to say about current events. This past Lent we had 90 people exploring discernment and vocation in small groups.

And there is a hunger for more. This past fall and winter, we heard from the congregation that you want more intergenerational deepening opportunities, retreats, and more opportunities for developing spiritual practices.

With that in mind, the requests for Deepening include:

• New curriculum to engage our high-school juniors and seniors• Workshop on preventing teen suicide (a tragic issue this

past year in neighboring Newton)• Supplemental funds to provide books for participants• Scholarships for retreat participation• Staff and teacher development (retreats and training)• Stipend for a Field Education student from a local seminary• Supplies and food for church school• New curriculum for nursery• Teacher training with outside speakers

DEEPENING in Christian faith and spiritualityWe want to equip ourselves and the children among us for life-long spiritual journeys . . .

. . .they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching

Overall budget increase for Deepening: $5,450

Members of United Parish have a great desire to get to know one another better, to gather more regularly in community, to have more small groups, more intergenerational interaction, as well as more ways to welcome new people into our midst.

Most people will enter our community first through our website. Our web team and staff have done a beautiful job of making sure it is up-to-date and welcoming. Just like our building, it requires ongoing maintenance and improvements — although for much less money.

We also need to make sure our building is welcoming to passers-by on Harvard Street. Maintaining the front lawn, having good signage and clear ways to get into the building are important improvements for the new year..

Internally, our Hearts and Hands ministry has over 40 people committed as caregivers, giving generously of their time and talent in preparing meals, transporting people, and visiting folks. Martha’s List volunteers engage us in hosting potluck dinners and special events such as our Easter morning breakfast. Recently, our catering tenant has generously offered her services for church meals. For the year ahead, two outgoing Council members, Bob Schram and Debra Hall, have agreed to organize our Gathering Ministry Team.

Requests for Gathering into 2015 include:

• Food for coffee hour and other gathering events – to make them more welcoming for everyone

• Landscaping improvements – to make the building and grounds more welcoming• Communications and website, including maintenance fees, additional photography, a

high-quality church camera.• Other improvements include a pastors’ blog, a password-protected members area

of website that would allow an online directory and other shared, but confidential information.

• Media advertising beyond Easter and Christmas

GATHERING in communityWe strive to create a sense of home in our community by offering extravagant welcome. . . .

. . . they spent much time together

. . . and day by day the Lord added to their number

Overall budget increase for Gathering: $2,000

People at United Parish have a great desire to serve others and the world around us. We do this through much volunteering, investing our time and talents to help the world align more with God’s view of social justice.

Some of our regular service and justice opportunities include: • Our annual Thanksgiving Dinner, serving nearly 200 people in need• Collecting food monthly for the Brookline Food Pantry• Winter clothing drive for City Mission Society and homeless shelters• Martin Luther King, Junior, Day of Service with City Mission Society• One Great Hour of Sharing ecumenical offering for worldwide relief efforts• Walk for Hunger with Project Bread• Boston’s Gay Pride Parade• Sunday’s Bread, providing hot meals for people in need• Thrifty Threads, providing low-cost clothing to our neighbors

In addition, our Missions Committee makes generous contributions on behalf of the congregation to a variety of social justice, hunger, homeless, anti-poverty, veterans, and other community service and disaster relief agencies. Funding for Missions comes from:

•Endowment Tithing, 10% of the revenue from our endowment funds ($16,000 this past year)

•Your individual pledges to the United Parish Mission Fund (see your pledge form). We would like to increase this amount to $8,000 in the new fiscal year.

•Your individual pledges to one of our three founding churches’ mission funds, supporting the mission work of each of our affiliated denominations (see your pledge form). In the current year, we anticipate pledging to these funds to amount to:

• Harvard Church (United Church of Christ) – $4,000• St. Mark’s Mission Fund (United Methodist Church) – $4,000• Baptist Church in Brookline Mission Fund (American Baptists Churches) – $1,000

The Stretching Ministry Team’s small request for funding ($800) will provide resources for our volunteer efforts: for the cost of books, movie rentals, refreshments and speakers on social justice issues; for scholarships which enable our members to participate in activities like the MLK Day of Service; for extra cleanup help with the Thanksgiving Dinner.

In addition, you have indicated that you want United Parish to do more for the just treatment of the Earth, both locally and globally. To that end, we have a request to invest in an energy study to improve our heating system to be cleaner, more efficient, and less costly.

Have you thought about ways you would like to serve: Volunteering for Thrifty Threads, the Thanksgiving meal, Sunday’s bread, or. . . ? What injustice in the world is God bringing to your attention? What might you and our congregation do about it?

STRETCHING into justiceWe follow the way of Christ by serving others. . . so that we may become better servants of love, justice, and mercy. . .

. . . having the goodwill of all the people with glad and generous hearts

Stretching Ministry increase: $300 Thrifty Threads Revenue Goal: $11,000 2% of Revenue

Pledged Missions Goal (beyond Endowment Tithing): $17,000

UP at 2013 Boston Gay Pride with Senator Elizabeth Warren

Two of our greatest resources in our shared ministry are our human resources (both volunteer and paid) and our building. They make possible all four areas of our shared ministry: Exalting in worship, Deepening in Christian faith, Gathering in community, and Stretching into justice.

Our building allows for worship, prayer, times of celebration, times of mourning, spiritual deepening, baptisms, Church School, choir practice, organ, bells, trumpets, and drums playing to the glory of God, breaking bread together at the communion table and over shared meals, planning and visioning meetings. Through its doors come people in need of clothing, or a meal at Thanksgiving, or support through Alcoholic Anonymous, Al-Anon, and pastoral care. It is a rehearsal space for community musicians, theaters, choral groups, and dance groups and classrooms for education groups. It houses a catering business that donates to our events.

To provide for all of these services, our buildng requires regular maintenance:

• heating ($40-50,000 per year)

• other utilites ($11,000)

• building maintenance, including repair of rotting gutters, downspouts and other outdoor carpentry to prevent wood rot ($10,000)

• other supplies and maintenance ($7,500)

• grounds maintenance ($4,900)

• snow guards to protect the handicap ramp from winter avalanches off the roof ($11,000)

• general miscellaneous repair allowance for as yet unknown costs ($5,000)

• parsonage operating costs ($6,250)

• building and liability insurance ($24,000)

Our OperationsOur Church Office is the central operations hub of our community and the face of the church for those who enter the building during the week. Here is where all our communications, finance matters and building rentals happen. And here is what it takes to keep all of this going:

• basic office supplies ($4,500)

• postage ($2,900)

• telephone and copier contracts ($9,300)

• information technology support, payroll and software ($7,400)

• new equipment ($1,250)

Supporting our DenominationsEach of our three denominations (American Baptist, United Methodist and United Church of Christ) assess annual fees for ongoing association with them. This year, the total fees amount to just over $19,000. In return, the denominations provide us with resources for education, administration and mission.

OPERATIONS MinistryWe are committed to providing a solid foundation . . . for our ministry. . . toutilizeourresources–physical,financialandpersonnel–aswe administer the work of the church.. . .

. . . much time together in the temple. . .

Overall increase for Operations: $10,000

Here’s how we created the budget:

Step 1. We asked our current ministry teams and staff to look at the goals and passions of the congregation, which we learned from our after-worship sessions in the fall and winter and our All-Parish Retreat.

Step 2. We then asked them to let us know their dreams for the new year (July 1-June 30) and potential costs.

Step 3. We assembled a broad-based Stewardship and Budget Ministry (see names on back cover).

Step 4. We are informing you in after-worship sessions and through this brochure.

Step 5. We are asking for your pledges for fiscal year 2015 (due on Stewardship Celebration Sunday, June 1)

Step 6. Council will shape a final working budget on June 9.

Step 7. The final budget will be voted on at an after-worship all-parish meeting on June 22.

With this booklet, you received a pledge form. Please take it out and consider the following.

. . . all things in commonThis year we would like to see everyone who participates regularly in our common life to make some sort of pledge, not only in terms of finances, but also in terms of time or talent. It helps when we all have a little skin in the game, when each one of us takes a personal stake in the common life. It helps all of us. If you have not yet pledged or are not sure if you can pledge, we invite you to start with something that you know is manageable.

. . . with glad and generous heartsMaking a pledge is a spiritual decision, a spiritual practice just like prayer, meditation, worship, and Bible study.

It requires some time for reflection: time to pray and reflect on the many God-given blessings in your life; time to think of the financial and time commitments in your life, like food, clothing, housing, education, medical expenses, entertainment, other organizations and charities; time to think about how your pledging fits with those other necessities and commitments.

Your gift, given with gladness and generosity, will help with our vision of exalting, deepening, stretching, and gathering, It also helps all of us grow spiritually.

…the nitty-gritty “Many wonders and signs” are already happening in our midst. The challenge and opportunity for more of these “wonders and signs” lie before us. And God invites us to respond with “glad and generous hearts.”

To achieve our current basic programming and close our annual deficit, we will need pledging to increase by 14% ($37,500).

To achieve ALL of the dreams in our budget requests, we will need to increase pledging by 67% ($174,000). This is what we need to work toward this year and in the years to come.

online pledging!Please note that we also have available and are encouraging online pledging this year. See your pledge form for more information.

BUILDING a BudgetThese are the steps we’ve taken to create our budget . . . It has been a communal project . . .

YOUR PLEDGE to United ParishPledging is a promise of how you can support our ministry. It is an act of faith. . .

EXPENSESStaff 397,461 61.7%Building 125,580 19.5%Operations 33,929 5.3%Denominational 3,180 0.5%Exalting 34,185 5.3%Deepening 12,500 1.9%Gathering 12,651 2.0%Stretching 800 0.1%Missions 23,758 3.7%Total 644,044 100%

INCOMEContributions 32,766 5.1%Rental 151.159 23.5%Endowment 163,300 25.4%Total 347,225 53.9%

STEWARDSHIP TARGET

296,819 46.1%

Total 644,044 100%

Here’s what the current working budget looks like:

. . .all things in common . . . with glad and generous hearts

2014 Budget and Stewardship Ministry TeamDonna Treece Missions CommitteeDavid Rockwell TreasurerKaren Quillen Children and Youth DeepeningKathy Phenix Hearts and Hands, Adult Deepening and StretchingLietza Molloy Young FamiliesHenry McCorkle 20/30s GroupMike McConnell Adult DeepeningBetty Lindsay Church Council, Discernment, Stretching and Thrifty ThreadsPat Howkinson Discernment Ministry and StretchingKent French SeniorPastorex-officio

United Parish StaffKent French Senior PastorLisa Straus Interim Associate Pastor, Christian Education CoordinatorSusan DeSelms Minister of MusicMarla Walters OfficeManagerCasey Hickson SextonTom Reilly Part-Time SextonClaudine Joseph OfficeAssistantKatie Omberg SummerOfficeAssistant

Graphic design donated by Kathryn CommonPhoto selection help from Jennifer Rodine

210 Harvard Street | Brookline, Massachusetts 02446 | unitedparishbrookline.org

UNITED PARISH IN BROOKLINE