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Vestry approves allocating 10% of undesignated bequests to outreach, with an amendment
Last week, the vestry voted on the Outreach Committee's proposal for the church to tithe (give 10%) of all undesignated bequests left to the parish to outreach. The motion was approved, with an amendment.
The original motion was as follows:
That a tithe (10%) of all undesignated gifts bequests to the parish, including the Strong bequest and the proceeds from the sale of the Mission St. property, be designated for outreach.
The motion that passed was:
That a tithe (10%) of all undesignated gifts bequests to the parish, including the Strong bequest and the proceeds from the sale of the Mission St. property, be designated for outreach ministry to be determined by the congregation as a whole and in which the congregation is involved.
This amendment was made for two reasons:
(1) to clarify the intentions of the original proposal, which was that the money be set aside for a parish-wide project (or projects) that the entire parish would decide, not that the money would be given to the outreach committee.
(2) to restrict the use of the funds to ministries of St. John's, not giving the funds away to outside organizations.
The narrative attached to the original motion included the following statement:
"This will require the Outreach Committee, the vestry and the congregation to work together to decide on and implement projects for the betterment of our community, or to contribute to already existing organizations working toward the same goal."
In the vestry discernment on this proposal at the end of October and subsequent discussion at last week's meeting, there was a lot of concern about "checkbook charity" (just giving money to something without being involved in the actual ministry or program). Many felt that we already give plenty of money away to outside organizations through our Helpful Shop grants, and would rather see the parish come together to minister to those most in need in our community, in a project that would unite us around a common purpose or goal.
The motion passed 6-4, with 1 abstention, so it was not a landslide "yes" by any means. However, the sentiment among the vestry was not as divided as the numbers make it appear.
Overall, the vestry was supportive of the idea of using our money to do the work God calls us to do in ministering to the sick, the hungry, the friendless, and the needy. I do not believe that votes against this proposal were votes against the general concept. As we crafted the amendment to the motion, the general sentiment was that we were trying to find the right way of saying what we wanted to say. If this particular motion hadn't passed, I believe we would have made a different motion with some further changes and passed that one.
My impression was that we all - those who voted for the proposal and those who voted against it -- realized that there is a lot left unclear in this proposal about how this will be lived out. What will the process look like by which the parish will decide how to use these funds? Which ministry or ministries will we fund? Some did not want to support the proposal without those specifics in place but agreed with the overall idea. Others felt we should focus on getting our own house in order (through paying staff equitably and fixing our buildings, for example) before giving money to others. Others agreed with the proposal but did not agree with making it "retroactive" -- that is, with applying it to the Strong and Sanders funds, which were given before this policy was in place.
There was a suggestion to separate the matter of creating a policy from the matter of deciding whether to tithe 10% of the funds we already have (Strong and Sanders), but ultimately the Vestry decided to keep the original wording of the motion, which does include the Strong and Sanders funds.
The Vestry heard a lot of feedback on this proposal, through discussions on Realm, direct emails, and one-on-one conversations. I was glad to see so many people engaging in the conversation in a positive and healthy dialogue.
One concern that we heard from many people was an objection to this Vestry setting policy for future Vestries. We discussed this carefully, ultimately reminding ourselves that future Vestries would be free to change the policy if they no longer wanted to follow it. Making a policy does not set it in stone forever, but it keeps in place a mechanism whereby we will at least be required to think about and consider the concept of giving 10% of our funds to ministries that serve those outside our congregation when we come into additional funds. If a future Vestry decides to change the policy, fine, but this Vestry wanted them to at least have to think about it and make a conscious decision not to do it rather than allowing it to go unconsidered.
We also tripped over different understandings of the word "outreach." What exactly is "outreach"? Is it only things that happen outside of St. John's? Is it everything we do? Philosophical and intellectual Episcopalians that we are, we dissected the word every which way as we mulled this over. The bottom line, and the intention of the writers of the original proposal, was that we express a commitment to serving the poor, the marginalized, the vulnerable, the weak, the sick. Yes, those kinds of people can be found both within our congregation and outside of it, but we do want to be intentional about making sure that we are caring for and reaching out to the wider community, not just ourselves, thus the term "outreach." It's not a perfect term, and perhaps we'll come up with something better in the process we'll use to decide how to use this money.
Basically, the intent of this proposal was to hold us accountable to living according to the teachings of Jesus in the area of our finances. Remember that Jesus said to "sell all that you have and give the money to the poor," so in comparison to that, 10% is but a small and sensible amount.
I know that there are many in the parish who would not have voted for this decision themselves, but I ask that we all put our hearts into the process of living it out. I look forward to seeing how the Holy Spirit will guide us to spend these funds, and hope that this process will give everyone in the parish an opportunity to experience the joy of giving, the joy of letting go, the joy of helping others.
In His Service,
The Reverend Tracy J. Wells Miller
Rector
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