Church,
This month’s financial disclosures not only mark the end of the calendar year, but also the first full year since the official launch of Neighborhood Church. Simply put, this past year has been incredible. With the freedom to run our church financially without any outside restrictions or heavy financial burdens, we have been able to do things in new and unique ways that both worship Jesus and reflects the things we believe and value. Some ideas have worked out, some continue to need to be refined and others not as we hoped they would. But what we know for sure is that God has blessed us tremendously this past year and we hope to continue worshiping Him by faithfully stewarding the resources He entrusted us with.
In light of this, please see below our December 2019 financial update.
1) December 2019 Financials
Revenue for the month of December was $7,003, which means we had a monthly average revenue of $6,160 for the full year of 2019.
Some giving statistics:
Revenue: $7,003
Average donation: $250 (+30 from last month)
# of Giving Units: 28 (+2 from last month)
Min: $25
Max: $1,000
Click HERE to view our monthly financial documents on Google Drive!
2) Mission Fund
We started December with over $9,000 available in our Mission Fund to use. As we approached the end of the year, we felt that having such a large balance was indicative of a lack of activity. As a result, the Finance Team and Pastor Eric decided to more intentionally communicate how and when to use the Mission Fund by meeting with each of our Missional Community Groups. We asked the six groups to each identify needs within and around their neighborhood and commit to meeting those needs with their time, talent and treasures, using the Mission Fund if necessary. Each group would agree where and how much to allocate and present to the Finance Team for approval. Our goal was to facilitate our Missional Community groups to practically live on mission and be a witness of God’s love to their neighborhood.
The results were amazing. It was wonderful to see that when people began to purposefully look for needs around them, they were able to help and meet those needs using the Mission Fund, ingraining themselves in the lives of their neighbors and coming alongside them to support. Below are just a few of the ways we utilized the Mission Fund in December:
$200 to buy Christmas gifts for Person A, who has two daughters and is going through a difficult divorce;
$500 to Person B, who is currently an unpaid intern and needed help paying fees to obtain his American Citizenship;
$500 gift card for food to Person C, a coworker of someone from Neighborhood who is supporting her mother who was recently diagnosed with cancer;
$800 to Person D, to cover therapy and other costs related to suffering a very bad car accident;
$100 to buy food for Person E, who is grieving the sudden loss of their dad
$2,500 to Person F, to cover sudden legal fees;
$1,600 to Person G, to pay for their Grandmother’s medical treatment and supplies;
$1,000 to Person H, who lost her husband unexpectedly;
$300 for Person I, a local teacher with three boys whose wife recently passed away;
$150 for Person J, who is physically disabled and struggling to make ends meet;
$200 to Person K, a student experiencing homelessness.
For the full year of 2019, we have invested over $34,000 into our neighborhood through the use of our Mission Fund. However, even more impressive is not the amount of money we spent, but the amount of lives we have been able to impact, through God's grace, by living on mission and glorifying Jesus with our time, treasure and talents. We are truly humbled and in awe of what God is doing in our midst.
Thank you to everyone that has been walking alongside us this year. We cannot wait to see what God has in store for us in 2020!
- The Finance Team