Growth & Financial Update

December 30, 2011

Regarding “how” we’re doing:

We have gained 7 new “regular attendees” in 2011, and 9 more regular attendees have become official members in 2011 (a total of 28 membership partners now).  We have approximately 50-55 people who are considered “regular attendees” or members.  While this represents more than 12% growth over last year, and internal giving increases steadily each year (see chart below), this growth rate has not been enough to enable New Hope to be self-supporting yet.  Our average worship attendance remains around 42 (though average attendance of “regulars” increased from 29 in 2010 to 33 in 2011).  We have made several changes and efforts to increase our growth, but this remains an area of concern.

To address growth in 2012, we have the following plans so far:

• We’ve added two small part-time positions.  One is a Director of Ministries and the other is a Technology Assistant.  (The Director of Ministries has already been added; the other position will hopefully be filled early in 2012.)  Both of these positions will pay just a small stipend (about $5,000 each) but will increase excellence in the execution of our ministries AND off-load the Pastor to enable him to spend more time ministering and, especially, to spend more time out in the community building relationships and increasing interest in our church.

• We will re-focus on community awareness events and encourage our people to be inviting others to our church’s worship, Life Groups, service events, and mission trips.  We believe we have something special at New Hope and just need to get the word out.  We are also considering ways to advertise the church, as well as continue to serve in the community.

• One other area that we are considering is adding more children’s ministry.  While we have no children over nursery age, we know that we won’t be able to minister to families with children older than toddlers that might otherwise consider us, without this.  The challenge is that we don’t have the man-power to do much of this, and having no children to prepare anything for currently, makes motivation for it difficult.  However, we are praying for God’s guidance on this.

The summary detail of our financial condition and need for support in 2012 is as follows:

                                    2009 Actual                     2010 Actual             2011 Est.                     2012 Planned

District Grant               $50,000                           $40,000                   $30,000                          $  10,000

Circuit Ablaze              $30,000                           $  6,000                   $        0                          $    2,000

Internal Giving             $24,000 (23%)                 $61,000 (43%)          $80,000 (55%)                 $108,000 (72%)

Other Churches           $         0                           $  6,600                   $11,000                         $    6,000

External Donations      $         0                           $28,000                   $25,500                          $  24,000

                                  104,000                           141,600                   146,500                          $150,000

NOTES:

For 2011:  Internal Giving of $80,000 was $11,000 less than we had budgeted (planned), but God blessed us with additional outside contributions.  Our combined giving from “Other Churches” and “External Donations” was $9,500 more than we had budgeted (planned).  We also under spent our budget by about $3,300 (final figures not in yet). 

For 2012:  The main reason for the increase in total need to $150,000 for 2012 is to add the two small part-time positions talked about above (under “To address Growth in 2012” heading), to help us move forward.

Actually, the total budget in 2012 is higher than $150,000 but we will only spend over this amount, when church growth and resulting internal giving increases.

For a recap of the neat things God has done through New Hope in 2011, including a few photos, click on this 2011 Newsletter Recap link.

To support us financially in 2012, please click on this donation link or on the “Donate” icon at the bottom of any page of our website.