John Louk

Our Leadership Board intentionally sets Salem’s direction each year. They shared our goals for 2019 with our annual Church Conference on October 29 and were subsequently approved. Therefore, this is where we are headed next year: First, we want to improve the Discipleship Pathway to engage people more, specifically to worship, connect, serve, and share their faith with others. Second, we want to create and implement an intentional plan for hospitality, serving as Christ's ambassadors to invite, welcome, and connect people into the life of the church. Third, we want to create and implement a strategy for growth of the congregation. The reality is, if we do not grow, we will decline. Fourth, we want to create and implement a strategy for intentional funding of the ministry, including another three-year capital campaign. You might notice that paying our apportionments is no longer one of our goals as it has been in the last several years. This continues to be an expectati...

The book of Exodus tells the story about building the Tabernacle, the sanctuary for God’s presence to dwell. The people whose hearts were stirred and whose spirits were willing brought their offerings for the Tabernacle and all its service. The people kept bringing their offerings every morning until the workers told Moses the people had given more than enough to complete the work the Lord had commanded. So Moses told the people they had given enough. In fact, they needed to stop giving because there was too much. The people had to be restrained from giving more! (Exodus 25, 35, 36) This story exemplifies generous giving to God’s kingdom. Unfortunately, it also shines a glaring light on our unfaithfulness with money. Charitable giving has remained stuck in our country at 2% for nearly fifty years, ever since we started measuring it in the 1970s. That accurately reflects the average giving in The United Methodist Church, too. The problem, of course, is that 2% is a far cry from s...