Goals and Giving

Our goals for 2014 were shared at Salem's annual Church Conference on November 19. They come directly from the prescriptions we received at our Healthy Church Initiative consultation in September. This next year we will:

 1. Hold a season of prayer and day of visioning to receive, articulate, and work toward a clear, compelling, shared vision for the future (then design a plan to implement the vision);

 2. Develop a discipleship pathway for all ages;

 3. Create a permission-giving culture for participation and process for developing ministry teams in the life of Salem, identifying one-time and short-term service options, providing opportunities to identify and share their gifts, and moving from an informational to invitational culture;

 4. Design a comprehensive, lay caring and accountability system to meet the needs of all who are a part of Salem as well as a system to connect new guests fully into the life for the congregation;

 5. Plan and hold a minimum of 3 "bridge events" outside the building to reach out to our community.

 These are very important objectives for us this next year, however, it was noted that “mission” is missing. Our presiding elder, Rev. Craig Peters, indicated that the Healthy Church Initiative challenges a congregation to work on its weaknesses, not its strengths. Mission wasn’t one of our consultation objectives because Salem already does a great job with mission. It is one of our strengths. Therefore, we just need to keep doing what we do.

 Of course, this is a unique time for Salem. We are in the midst of our capital campaign and building project. Our leaders (27 responses) gave first and in advance of the congregation-at-large to our Salem Rising appeal. We gave and pledged $253,400 over the next three years for our building fund and $125,620 for annual giving in 2014. Fantastic! 

 On December 15 we celebrated the total amount from the entire congregation for our Salem Rising appeal. More than 90 (individuals, couples, and families) gave and pledged $391,229 for our building fund and $207,288 for annual giving next year. Commitments are still being given too. God is good! We are hoping to break ground this coming spring.

 Obviously, the capital campaign and building project are important. Still, even in the midst of a necessary focus on our infrastructure, we will continue to grow in our mission. First, we are putting apportionments back to 100% in next year’s budget. This has been a difficult journey since the flood, but we have been working each year at this. It has always been the plan to get back to paying our apportionments in full, and we hope this next year we will accomplish that, even while we are building a new addition to our facility.

 In December our mission focus (Christmas is not your birthday) is the local shelters. It’s fantastic that we support places that offer refuge to people while we are celebrating the birth of Jesus whose parents couldn’t find such a place at a critical time in their lives. We are receiving an offering on the last Sunday as well as tangible goods (shampoo, toothpaste, etc.) throughout the month.

 Furthermore, Bishop Julius Trimble is inviting every congregation in Iowa to take a step of faith by giving half of our Christmas Eve offering to Imagine No Malaria. Our congregation set a goal of giving $20,000 over three years to help. The United Methodist Church has now raised almost $60 million of the $75 million goal to fully eradicate malaria in the world.

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