...a welcoming spiritual community

Pledging and Stewardship

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. (Henry David Thoreau)

Introduction

Pledge Campaign 2004-2005

Our mission and work in supporting the spiritual growth and outreach of our community is supported almost entirely by your generous annual pledges. Our programs for the coming year will exceed the pledges we received last year and to support our growth, please consider whether you are able to increase your pledge for the coming year.

In the last year, many of us made substantial pledges to the church:

• 10 families pledged between $4,000 and $12,000.
• 22 families pledged between $2,400 and $3,999.
• 39 families pledged between $1,200 and $2,399.
• 18 families pledged between $1,000 and $1,199.

While not all members are in the financial position to make such pledges, we do ask all those who are capable of such levels of generosity to join these eighty-nine families in their support of North Parish. If each of us gives our “fair share”, we are certain that together we can achieve our dreams and that our church will continue to be the vibrant community that we know it to be.

With thanks to each of you for your generosity,

The North Parish Finance Committee

“The Challenge”

Seventeen families at North Parish have combined to pledge over $90,000 to kick off this year’s campaign and are challenging all members to respond. The challenge to the rest of the Parish is to double that amount in pledges which would bring in an additional $180,000 to support our mission in the coming year. Over the next several weeks, canvassers will be calling on all members for their financial support and everyone is urged to participate to the best of their capabilities. This is an exciting time in the history of North Parish and our generosity is the foundation on which our goals and dreams will be realized. If anyone is interested in helping out with this year’s campaign, please contact finance committee chairman, Keith Wentzel at 978-689-8926. Remember: Give till you smile!

Letter from the Minister

Our Pledge Drive provides the financial foundation of everything we do at North Parish. In turn, the foundation of the pledge drive is the commitment, good will, joy and generosity of every member and friend. A Pledge Drive is about ownership: ownership of the congregation and its mission by all of its members and friends.

We have much to celebrate. In the past five years we have done great things together to build our foundation and act on our Mission. We’ve created a long range plan, grown our congregation by about a third, expanded core staff hours, achieved the mid-point of UUA salary guidelines for staff, successfully transitioned to two services, added two new support positions, rented Old Center Hall, initiated a Preservation and New Space Project and begun planning for a Capital Campaign. We have expanded our incredible music program, developed an exciting new model of children’s religious education programming, turned OWL and COA into annual youth programs, become a Welcoming Congregation and begun new outreach projects such as Stand and Deliver, Women’s Build, Partaker’s Prison Ministry, the Fair Trade Coffee project and possibly now Jericho Road.

Of course, a Pledge Drive means money, and money and giving are topics that can inspire anxiety and discomfort. This is probably why Jesus talked about money three times more than prayer! Fortunately, money and giving can just as easily be topics that inspire reflection on our spiritual growth and what it means to be part of a community, and I encourage you to have these conversations at home and in your small groups. As part of a community, those who are able are asked to “make up” for those hit hard by unemployment or other challenges— those who would like to give more generously but cannot do so this year, although they may be able to do so in the future.

In practical terms, most of our money goes to support staff salaries; in old churches, another chunk goes to upkeep of the building itself. Yet as my colleague the Rev. Phyllis O’Connell has written, “When I pledge, I am not giving to the annual budget. I do not give to the budget any more than I go to the symphony to watch the chairs and the music stands being set up for the musicians. Of course the stands and the chairs have to be put in place. Without them, there would be no concert, no music, no art, no beauty, no sound that transports us beyond time and space.” Our Pledge Drive is about creating and hearing the North Parish symphony.

I would not ask of others something I do not ask of myself, so I will tell you that charitable giving has made a difference in my life. A friend planted the idea of tithing in my consciousness years ago, and slowly, over years, I worked up to that practice. This year my husband and I have followed the example of the Amiralian family, establishing a separate charity account which we fill up and empty out each month. Between fifty and sixty percent of my overall tithe, or $4,000, will go to North Parish this year.

I invite you to join me in supporting The North Parish mission and community, as you are able and as you are led to do by the level of commitment, good will, joy and generosity you feel in your heart for the church. I thank each of you for your support.

In faith, Lee

Welcoming Congregation

North Parish is a Welcoming Congregation, consistent with the guidelines of the Unitarian Universalist Association. We actively welcome lesbian, gay. bisexual, transgender, and intersex people as full participants in the life of the church. For more information, see our Welcoming Congregation page, or contact our Interweave chapter.