· Web viewBy February I had discovered the teachings of Marshal Rosenberg and started reading and watching Youtube videos of his trainings in Nonviolent Communication. This was

South Walpole United Methodist ChurchAnnual Report 2015 – page 1 of 23

South Walpole United Methodist Church

2015 YEAR END REPORTTo supplement the

November 30, 2015 Church Conference Booklet

New England Annual Conference Central Massachusetts South Walpole UMCResident Bishop District Superintendent Pastor

Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar Rev. Rene Perez Rev. Dr. Sarah Mount Elewononi


Table of Contents

Pastor’s Report..............................................................................................................................3

Membership Report......................................................................................................................3

Lay Leader’s Report.....................................................................................................................6

Discovering the Possibilities and the Shift Network....................................................................7

Shift Network Update.............................................................................................................12

Hospitality..............................................................................................................................12

Staff Parish Relations Committee...............................................................................................13

Worship Committee....................................................................................................................13

Christian Education

Adult Bible Study...................................................................................................................14

Kingdom Kids........................................................................................................................14

Outreach......................................................................................................................................15

Animal Ministries.................................................................................................................15

Missions......................................................................................................................................16

Men’s Club with Financial Report..............................................................................................16

Trustee Project Report

Trustee Financial Reports 2015

Financial Secretary Reports 2015

Family Fun Fest – Church Mice Fair Financial Report 2015

2015 General Church Financial Report......................................................................................17

2016 Budget


Pastor’s Report

The year started off with my official graduation from Boston University School of Theology. I participated in the graduation ceremonies at BU on the weekend of May 16-17 but I completed all of the requirements for the PhD the previous Christmas Eve. My diploma is dated January 25, 2015. So I started the year with my energies refocused on leading this congregation towards greater health and growth.

Most of my energy was involved with the Shift network and worship, which you can read about below. It was an exciting year, but also one full of challenges. Shifting habits and mindsets is never easy.

Because of the conflicts that started rising up at the end of 2014, I began searching for some more support and training about how to deal with it in a way that would have a more satisfactory outcome. By February I had discovered the teachings of Marshal Rosenberg and started reading and watching Youtube videos of his trainings in Nonviolent Communication. This was the area where I focused my own learning and professional development – a whole new mind-set which will take a lot of practice to develop. But I am hopeful that it will help me to better navigate the work of pastor.

During this year I have also been able to renew my personal prayer life. Thanks to learning about the Pray-As-You-Go podcast, I have developed a new daily prayer routine (that got lost when Grace was born!). It is so grounding and comforting to hear God speaking to me on a regular basis again.

Outside of work with the local church I taught a course on evangelism for the Metro Boston Hope District Lay Servants in the spring. In the early fall I used my Ph.D. to teach the Worship Course of Study to a group of Local Pastors.

As a half-time pastor I use the other “half” of my time to be mom to Grace and Salem. The first half of the year Grace and Salem were each in pre-school 3 mornings a week. In September Grace started ½ day Kindergarten and Salem was enrolled in the pre-school 5 mornings a week, giving me 2 ½ hours each morning to devote to church work. This means that the habits of working in the wee hours of the morning which I developed during my dissertation have continued.

Respectively submitted,

Rev. Dr. Sarah Mount Elewononi, pastor

Membership Report

Though a brief membership report was outlined during our Church Conference of November 30 and we paused to remember those who had died and celebrate our newest members, I’d like to acknowledge the significance of these changes to our congregation. The first loss was of former


lay leader, lay speaker and youth leader, Bruce DeWitte. Bruce was in Local Pastor’s school in 2010 – several months before we knew I’d be coming to South Walpole. As it turned out, he got appointed to West Brookfield just as I came here so I didn’t get to know him and Sue very much. We arranged one Sunday for a pulpit switch – so that Bruce and Sue could worship among South Walpole and I found out just how loved they were in West Brookfield. Eventually the cancer returned such that he had to give up his local pastor’s license and he resumed his place among our membership. But he was usually too sick (and our pews were too uncomfortable) for him to join us much. During his last days at the hospital I was able to visit a couple of times, once with Marge Dean. He died on 11 January and I was excused from teaching licensing school to conduct his funeral on January 15 at our church. It was good to have so many clergy colleagues join with the people of our Congregation and the DeWitte family to celebrate Bruce’s life and ministry.

The deaths of Cecilia and Steele Lightbody were entirely different, but no less significant. Steele often showed up while I was visiting his sister Robertina Cole. Steele was raised in our church during the time that their family was orphaned (both parents died of cancer due to the asbestos factory). He became a Member of South Walpole in 1936 but he withdrew his membership in 1967. Cecilia was still a professing member, but had developed dementia and did not come to worship. We made sure to sing Christmas carols in their highly decorated front lawn a few years.

I only learned of Cecilia’s death (August 9) after the fact, when I responded a different request made by her daughter-in-law, Mary Jane Lightbody in September. At that same time I learned that Steele was not doing well and was at the V. A. Though I wanted to visit, I did not manage to get there before Steele died October 2. The family did not request any funeral or memorial services for either of them. I later learned from Mary Jane that Steele was still so closed to religion at the end of his life, that as she comforted him and began to say the 23 Psalm he stopped her, mid-sentence. She also mentioned how Steele made disparaging comments about religion at the time of Robertina’s funeral.

Reflecting on Steele’s life as I was working with the Vertical Habits series that fall I had an important realization. American Churches in the 20th Century did not make room for people like Steele to lament. Not only had Steele been an orphan, he was on active duty in the Pacific theater during World War II. Yet when he came home Sunday worship was a time to put on your nice cloths, and

smile and hear nice things about God and go home again. Without permission to be real about the suffering and pain in this life and our very real encounters of evil, church becomes something phony to Steele. I am confident that Steel Lightbody has a place among the communion of Saints and his life continues to bless us by encouraging us to include prayers of lament and permission to emote in our time together as the people of God.

The official report of members we lose by death doesn’t always capture everyone we minister to at the time of death. Danielle Nathan had stepped down from teaching Sunday school so she could tend to her ailing father during the last months of his life. This was hard work and she


appreciated the support we gave her through our prayers and words of encouragement. Bernie MacNeil died on March 5th, and I conducted his funeral at the Kraw-Kornak funeral home in Norwood on March 11.

On October 10, I offered my time and our sanctuary to conduct the funeral of Kristin Jensen. Kristin’s sister, nephews and extended family have been life-long friends of mine through Camp Farthest Out. Kristin had no church community and no money so her sister reached out to me to help with the funeral.

On the positive side of membership, God sent some new people our way who became Professing Members. Early in January Shannon and Paul Hunchard came to worship. Jack Broughton, who is Paul’s age, was so friendly that Paul and Shannon felt right at home. They joined our Kingdom Kids right away.

On Palm Sunday Anne and Cadence Phillips came to worship. Anne’s father is a retired United Methodist pastor and her mother’s work has been directing various Methodist youth camps in multiple Annual Conferences. Anne had taken a break from church for a few years, but now that Cadence was three she decided to give our church a try. Cadence loved the Palm procession and Grace and Salem were happy to have a new friend their age.

After joining the discipleship class I offered in the summer, Anne and Shannon became Professing Members and we added Cadence and Paul to our Baptized member list.

Belonging to the community is more than just those who officially become Professing members, however. The Larsons came along just as the Sunday School team was reducing from 3 to 1 and Meg’s desire for a Christian Education program prompted me to ask Beth if she’d like to try Kingdom Kids. Meg, Eric and Alex got us going and were with us for the rest of the school year of 2014-15. But Eric wasn’t satisfied with our church and they ended up worshipping at a larger church with a lot more kids the next year. Carol Horta is another person who was blessed by our congregation for a season though she never became a member. She came to us at the time that her husband, who had been supper committed to the Catholic Church, all of a sudden started attending the Seventh Day Adventist church in Foxboro. Carol had grown up Protestant and had quietly supported her family’s participation in the Catholic Church, but the sudden change was unsettling for her, and she wanted some time to reflect and pray. So she joined us for worship, and Bible Study for several months. Eventually she felt read to join her husband, thankful that we had provided a safe harbor to do the soulful work she needed to do.


When God directs our paths it may be for just a time, and it may not show up in our official records – but that doesn’t diminish the gifts God gives us in one another during the time we are together.

In the fall the Alan Douglas, his wife Christine Latchkey and daughter Maya began to join us for worship. Maya has joined the Kingdom Kids and is a joyful addition.

Pastor Sarah

Lay Leader’s Report

One could say that 2015 was a year of “shifting” priorities. The year started off on a good note with hiring someone for our brand-new position: Minister of Outreach Minister. Pastor Sarah envisioned a person who would do much more that the administrative duties to take care of “us”. Instead of typing letters and printing the bulletin, Pastor Sarah was hoping that our Outreach Minister would be somebody who would work more towards connecting our church to the surrounding communities. Perhaps looking for opportunities to provide a service or fill a need that was missing locally. It could mean volunteering at a food pantry, providing clothes or making meals for those who had the need. Kathy Montal answered the call to be our Outreach Minister. She produced a few press releases about activities in our congregation, learned the ins and outs of our congregation and joined the Shift team. Unfortunately by summer her family’s financial situation required her to take a full time job elsewhere.

On Saturday, March 28 we had a Lenten retreat with Rev. Rick McKinley, our Conference Director of Congregational Development as he led us in the “Discovering the Possibilities” workshop. About 25 people from the church came and the conversation and discovering was well worth it. The main result of the workshop was our church deciding to put together a team and have our church join others in the New England Conference who were part of the Shift Network. The best description is probably right from our conference website: “Shift Network is a year-long process of training and coaching for local churches that focuses on five areas of faith development: Worship, Hospitality, Discipleship, Service, and Generosity. This coaching and training process helps congregations identify the five "shifts" they need to make to be vital, effective, and fruitful. Face-to-face training and phone coaching sessions are led by the Rev. Rick McKinley.”

With the end of the year comes the realization that two wonderful church members will be leaving us as they move about an hour away. Both have served on church committees, have contributed in many ways to our Mice Fair, and attended many if not all the church functions during their time here. Marge and Penny Dean have been such a great part of our congregation for several years, and while we are sad they are leaving, we are excited for them as they begin a new chapter in their lives. They’ve promised to come visit from time to time, and we will hold them to that promise.

I am looking forward to seeing where the Shift Network takes our congregation, working with Pastor Sarah, the congregation, and all of the committees in 2016.


God Bless South Walpole UMC,

Steve DiMattei, Lay Leader

Discovering the Possibilities and the Shift Network

Rev. Rick McKinley helped us to discovering a great deal about ourselves during the Lenten Retreat, “Discovering the Possibilities”, which lasted for 6.5 hours. First Rev. McKinley came to our Ash Wednesday service and met with a leadership team, giving us some work to prepare. We gathered a sample of worship bulletins and statistics and interviewed people in our community including the Boyden School Principal and a member of the Rec Department Staff.

Other work was done at the retreat including interviewing one another, posting key events of our congregation on a “journey wall,” exploring our “vital signs” such as worship attendance trends, professions of faith in recent years, and taking the “real discipleship” survey.

Rick ended the time together by presenting information about the demographic of the communities around our church and what that could mean for new ministry. People between 25-34 years old make up the second fastest growing age group in our immediate area. A significant segment of the local population are called “Generational Soup”: multi-generational families living under one roof who believe religion is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. When Rick read the description of what these neighbors are looking for in a church it gave me goosebumps! I never felt so called to be here in this appointment “for just such a time as this.” From the demographic report: “This group tends to be denominationally loyal, provided there are enough program choices and stewardship options.” I sure hope we can find ways to reach some of these folks and draw them in.

Finally, Rev. McKinley invited our congregation to participate in the Shift Network which was just forming.

After the retreat, Rev. McKinley prepared a summary report about us. A copy will be included with this Annual Report for historical insight into who we are at this time in the life of this congregation.

To join the Shift Network, Rev. McKinley asked for a team of about 5 people to attend 5 workshops held in Concord, NH in the course of 1 year. The team that assembled included Dianne Langer, Heather Centauro, Beth Wiley, Kathy Montal (our new minister of outreach) and me (The men of the church were invited). Due to a scheduling conflict, I could not attend the introductory training on April 18. The other five-hour trainings in 2015 were on May 30, August 22, November 14 and the final one is scheduled for February 27. Most of the team made most of the meetings, though by August Kathy Montal left us for a full time job. The cost to us was $1,800 with the promise of half being returned if we attend all five of the trainings.

Shift 1 This shift presented to us in May was from fellowship to hospitality. After the ideas for this section were presented our teams were given time at the workshop to begin drafting two


SMART goals for our specific congregations in this area. We then had three months to perfect and implement the goals with one coaching call designed for the different teams to listen to and support one another. This is what we developed.

Goal 1

Specific: Train our regular worship participants in simple intentional practices of hospitality. Members of the Shift team will meet with existing small groups/committees and hold one or two special meetings until everyone in our congregation has had the training. Before we start the training we will make up a brochure with some simple tips of how to welcome people – i.e. in the first ten minutes after worship intentionally talk to someone you don’t know well.

Measurable: In 3 months – train those people who attend worship regularly.

In 6 months – follow-up survey to see if people have started doing these practices and if they have questions or feedback.

At the end of a year – check to see if the church is still doing the practices.

Achievable: To achieve this goal we need people to train and the support of the congregation

need to create brochure/training and need persons to go to meetings of each church group

Relevant: Getting congregation members to intentionally focus on someone else

Timely: One year

Goal 2

Specific: Part of Christian Hospitality is sharing our faith. But before members of our congregation will feel comfortable talking about God at work in our lives to people outside of the church we need practice telling one another about God at work in our lives. We will give people in the congregation practice talking about God in their lives in informal small group settings such as living rooms and back yards, making sure at least one person who has more experience is present for each gathering.

Measurable: In 3 months – Offer five sessions at church members house’s to witness

Achievable: We can encourage people to attend the groups, listen to others sharing and be willing to discuss their own experiences of God.

Relevant: Getting congregation to get comfortable speaking about God

Timely: Three months

Results

We were able to carry out the first goal the best of all. Members of the team developed a hospitality brochure and got time on the agendas of existing groups to present the ideas. We saw regular members get better at looking for and reaching out to new people when they came to


worship. Some of these people even came back. But even with this goal we did not complete the measurement process at the 6 month mark – with our focus spread to two other shifts.

One way we worked on the second goal was to schedule a movie night. People were invited to the Centauro’ home to watch and discuss a movie about death and heaven. This is as far as we got.

Shift 2 August 22 came very soon – and we had not had enough time to fully implement, let alone evaluate the first shift. This is especially true because most committees and the Bible Study stop meeting in the summer. Also, Kathy had resigned at this point. The next shift is from Worship as an Event to Worship as a Lifestyle

Starting at the end of 2014 there were anonymous complaints coming through the SPRC, partially about worship being too long. When I thought about worship as an event – like a Patriot’s Game, it occurred to me that perhaps, for those complaining, worship isn’t even an event. When someone goes to an event they get wrapped up into it. They stop thinking about time and focus on the drama at hand. No one stops to look at their watch near the climax of a good movie to notice that it’s going 5-10 minutes longer than average. Perhaps there are two shifts needed here, from worship as an obligation to an event, and then from worship as an event to a lifestyle. How can worship become an experience of encountering God together, and how can we help people to continue encountering God throughout each day of the week?

Again, the team came up with two goals:

Goal 1 Hold a liturgist training for the people who already serve as liturgists and any others who are interested.

Specific – Make use of Dean Calusdian’s offer to be of service to us in gratitude for sharing our church with his Summer Stage program. We will invite him to lead a two-hour training at the church on a Wednesday evening sometime in late October or November. The training will help people grow in the skills involved in public speaking including leading prayers and reading the scripture well. We expect 10-12 members to go through the training. The whole congregation will benefit.

Measurable – We will be able to count how many people have been through the training. In six months we’ll see about asking Dean to give the training again.

Achievable – We need Dean to agree to a specific evening (Pastor Sarah’s already had a conversation with him and he’s already said weeknight evenings are possible).

Relevant – Our worship will be improved as people develop their public speaking skills, become more confident, read so people can hear and in a way that helps people listen.

Timely – We’d like this to take place before December.

Goal 2 The Amen Corner (working title). In the Black Church there is a group of lay people called the “amen corner” who give feedback during worship to let the leaders know if their


message is getting through or not. Our Amen Corner is an attempt to foster similar communication before and after the worship service.

Specific – Create a weekly means of congregational feedback that does the work of the Amen Corner in the Black Church. Pastor Sarah has a hard time knowing how people are hearing the scripture at the heart of each worship service. What thoughts, feelings or questions does a particular scripture evoke? Knowing the thoughts of actual congregation members could help Pastor Sarah build much more relevant sermons for them. Of all the angles one could choose for preaching what would connect best with this congregation?

To help Pastor Sarah get at these questions a small group will meet at the start of each week, to give her better direction for her sermon the following Sunday. The group will consist of different members of the congregation each week. One member/family will sign up as the host each Monday evening between 7:30-8:30. The host will invite 2 other people from the church (being encouraged to think of diversity of gender, age and background). Pastor Sarah will send the scripture passage to these people ahead of time so that they can read it before the meeting. At the meeting she will lead a brief lectio and ask some other questions designed facilitate engagement with this portion of God’s word. The conversation would guide Pastor Sarah’s sermon preparation process. We will start this process on Monday October 26.

Measurable – we are going to try it out a few weeks before announcing it to the congregation. We hope it will become something that reaches most of the members of the congregation over time.

Achievable – We need people willing to host a small group in their home and someone to help coordinate (sign people up) and keep track of who still needs to participate.

Relevant – Pastor Sarah’s sermons will be addressing actual concerns, perceptions of congregation members rather than the concerns and perceptions she guesses people have.

Timely – We will try it out for a few weeks and then hope it will become an ongoing practice.

Results: Goal 1: We are still planning an evening of training with Dean Calusdian to give some pointers on public speaking to the liturgists sometime in the coming year.

Goal 2 was attempted a couple of times – Beth Wiley and the Cantauros each hosted one at their homes. I also tried attending a portion of the Bible Study to get their reflections on the scripture for the coming Sunday. There was some useful feedback – but these events were not sustainable on a weekly basis and the anonymous complaints about worship and my sermons persisted. I then tried to help people prepare for worship in a similar way to what I’d been doing with Kingdom Kids. For several weeks I created a one page sheet with the scripture lesson for the coming Sunday and a couple of basic questions for people to answer. I e-mail this to the congregation – these have resulted in little or no feedback as well.

Shift 3 The last shift we started working on this year was from membership to discipleship. I actually tried to “prime the pump” for this one early in the year through the Bible Buddies program during Lent, my July/August newsletter article describing the difference between


members of a congregation and disciples of Jesus Christ, a discipleship/new member class over the summer which was open to current members as well and a fall sermon series called “Vertical Habits.”

By this stage in the Shift process the team had weakened. Kathy was no longer with us, the presentations, given by United Methodists from Florida and Arkansas, who didn’t understand New England church culture didn’t sit well, the pace was too fast to really implement the first two shifts and our small congregation just didn’t seem to have enough people to do all the things involved with our goals. These goals for discipleship reflect our situation.

Goal 1 Since asking existing members to become part of new small groups seems like asking too much we will help our existing committees function more like small groups.

a. At a Church Council meeting (January 20 or February 7) share with the leaders of the existing committees a process that each committee could use each time they meet to function more like a small group.

b. The process would include a time for each person to “check in” with something good and bad that happened in their day/week or answering the question “where did you see/feel God today” and praying for one another, the chairperson leading a short devotional perhaps with a worship song/hymn. Opening the business meeting asking for God’s guidance. After the business dismiss everyone with a prayer.

c. Asking each committee to plan and initiate one service project a year which they invite the rest of the congregation to participate in.

What we need to do to get ready: Make a one page handout. Put together a box of devotional booklets (Sarah has lots) the leaders can choose from as needed and a good place to keep them.

Goal 2 Set up several Lenten Book Clubs d. Intentionally having them meet at different times of the week and either in homes or

neutral places like Panera or Starbucks (public library?). e. Each book club will read one book during Lent. f. Pick a variety of books at the exploring, beginning, and growing levels of

discipleship. An attempt will be made to offer books on several of the six categories (etc. worship, open to Jesus, obeying Jesus, service)

g. Parishioners will be given Phil’s Affinity Exercise (p. 9 of his new booklet) to self-assess which level they are at and we will advertise the book clubs indicating whether each one is at an exploring, beginning or growing level.

Timing: Put assessment tool in the January/February newsletter and on the website. Announce general idea in newsletter. Lent starts February 10. Pick book list, find “host” for each group by January 31.

Question: Are Bible Study members likely to do both? Do we ask them to suspend Bible Study – or do a special bible book club (such as Anne Roberts Exploring the Bible)Results: We did give this a try at several meetings. They started to feel more prayerful. Some leaders have continued to at least begin or end with a song. But the shift is not complete.


We have one more shift at the start of next year. Time will tell whether all this effort can create lasting, healthy change.

Pastor Sarah

Shift Network Update

God does not always answer our prayers in the way we think that He will.

Five of us (Pastor Sarah, Heather Centauro, Dianne Langer, Beth Wiley and Kathy (our new church secretary)) started the journey to New Hampshire to join in the Shift Network to focus on four shifts – fellowship to hospitality, worship: event to lifestyle, membership to discipleship and self to other: service & generosity. We were all excited to receive training inspired by God’s message. However that is not what we found. The leader of the Shift Network provided us with only lectures for six hours with materials that were not user friendly. In fact, the leader seemed judgmental in many ways and even told us that he was not compassionate. Where was the Holy Spirit?

These training sessions in New Hampshire were followed by our team making goals and then discussing those goals with the coaches of the Shift program on conference calls. However when our goals were shared during these calls, the coaches did not offer constructive criticism but rather just told us that either the goals were beautiful or that they could feel the Spirit. But once again, where was the Holy Spirit?

However the Holy Spirit was with us during the fellowship time and goal making sessions with our team. Even though Kathy left the group halfway through since she found another job, we actively worked together and came up with some great ideas to use at our church. We took some of these ideas and have already made them a reality; and with the grace of God and the Holy Spirit, we will continue this work.

Heather Centauro

Hospitality

Hospitality has moved to the forefront of the mindset at South Walpole United Methodist Church. Little by little, our church is growing, and on any given day new faces are apt to show up. We are doing our best to create a friendly and welcoming environment.

One of the ways we do this is by having a greeter. We have learned that it is important to have someone at the door to greet guests as soon as they walk in and point them in the right direction. But the greeting does not stop with “hello” and “the sanctuary is right up the stairs.” New guests are also introduced to other church members and escorted upstairs. Once there, the members get the guests seated, give them bulletins and explain a little about the service and how to use the bulletins and hymnals. When new guests come in alone, members have gone to sit with them so that they are not by themselves. Sometimes we change our “regular” seats in order to continue to make people feel at home each week by sharing their pew.


During the church service, the liturgist now indicates which hymnal to use by calling it black or red instead of naming it so it will be easier for guests to choose the right one. The liturgist also uses directives such as “found in your bulletin” or “please read responsively” so that everyone will be able to follow along easily.

When we stand to pass the peace, many parishioners go out of their way to go over and greet the new people and help to make them feel welcome. We are a small congregation but we are friendly!

Guests are also encouraged to join everyone downstairs after the service for coffee hour. During that time, we try to introduce them to more people and find things they may have in common. We also explain about the prayer letters and about things that might be of interest to them personally such as childcare, bible study and mission work.

Lourine McKeown

Staff Parish Relations Committee

The SPRC set up Shepherds for each of our four paid positions (Pastor, Sexton, Music Minister and Outreach Minister). These Shepherds are responsible to regularly meet with there assigned staff member and provide a portal for our employees in the case of questions or concerns. We hired Kathy Montal and found that she had the gifts to become our new Minister of Outreach. She started in February and worked for us until August, when family needs led her to take a full time job elsewhere. We then decided to go without that position.

Also during the year we hired a consultant from NEUMC to help gain skills in conflict resolution. One of our biggest challenges has been dealing with anonymous feedback. Barbara Lemmel of the NEUMC helped us better understand conflict management and encourage our member to come forward to voice their concerns. During the year we also address salaries, crafted a maternity leave policy and worked on electronic communication.

Rob Belcher, SPRC Chair

Worship Committee

Worship was focused on lifting up discipleship in several different ways. During the winter we developed the Bible Buddies, program. In coordination with the Tuesday evening Bible study the congregation was invited to participate in an 8 week program of reading the Gospel of Mark together.

The worship series for Lent was called Empty Promises – contrasting the promises the world makes with the sure promises of God. This led into the Easter series about Living the Resurrection a theme initiated by Mary Moser.

Over the summer we encouraged people to read Gary Chapman’s book the Five Love Languages and we offered a worship series lifting up each one. This was followed by a five week


experiment in weekly communion. This was my attempt to be faithful to the mandate that we “move toward weekly communion” adopted by General Conference in 2004. I had to teach this to my Local Pastor class on worship in the fall, and realized I had done nothing up to now to move South Walpole in that direction. Still focused on limiting the number of minutes we give to worship to an hour or less, and unwilling to give up other important parts of the service, the congregation Mary and I were not ready to make communion a part of their practice more than once a month.

In the fall worship was organized around a program called Vertical Habits – to help people grow in their practice of prayer. Each week lifted up a different type of prayer: Praise (Love You), Confession (Sorry), Lament (Why!?), Illumination (I’m Listening), Petition (Help), Thanksgiving (Thank You), Dedication (What Can I Do?), Benediction (Bless You). The bulletins featured guides to praying this way for the coming week.

The year ended (or began) with our second time of Extended Advent, beginning right after All Saint’s Day and lasting 7 Sundays to help us better prepare room in our hearts for Christ. We explored the symbolism of Chrismons, adding a new one each week.

Christian Education

Adult Bible Study

This is our 5th year in the current bible study program. In that time we have read and discussed 7 books of the Old Testament and 18 books of the New Testament. This year to date we read and discussed the book of Isaiah, James and Timothy. The discussions have always been interesting and often very lively.

I believe our study has brought to us greater insight into the word of God and has also improved our practice of daily bible reading and daily Prayer.

Our Bible study group has grown this year with God’s Help Two new members have joined us but one of our long time members, Marge Dean, has moved away. We also pray that more will join us for coffee and conversation. The attendance at our Tuesday night class ranges from 9 to 13 students. We really have a strong and dedicated group. This year our last class will be June 7th and will resume in early September.

In Christ,

Bob Lomus

Kingdom Kids

Kingdom Kids continued to use curriculum that I developed to help the kids (and parents) better connect to worship the coming Sunday. We included dance (devotion in motion) and walked the labyrinth to hear the scripture, then explore how God’s word connects to our lives. I created handouts with the scripture, pictures, explanations and questions.


On March 8 the staff from Camp Aldersgate came, at Pastor Sarah’s invitation, to talk with our three families about all the programs they offered in the summer.

In the spring we took part in the “Flat Wesley” project of the United Methodist Church, welcoming John and Charles and learning about works of mercy and works of piety.

When we resumed in the fall we explored and practiced the Vertical Habits and explored the meaning of the Chrismon symbols as we discussed real life faith and life issues.

Pastor Sarah

Outreach

We continued to pay for an ad in the Foxboro Reporter and Pastor Sarah contributed five articles to its Religion page over the course of the year. The highlights of Outreach included taking our regular turn at Breaking Bread, our second annual Clean-up day in May and two weekends of celebrating the South Walpole Community Pre-school’s 50th Anniversary: the Walpole Day parade on May 16 and an Anniversary Celebration at the church on May 30 from 10-2. On December 18 we hosted a neighborhood Christmas Caroling party.

Animal MinistriesOur Animal Ministry has been a church mission for about 18 years. It is an extension of

Christ’s call to do God’s work in the world -- to be in service to those that suffer. It has been the ministry’s goal to help make people aware of animal issues-humane treatment,

the importance of spay & neuter programs, vivisection issues and homeless animals. This ministry is supported by our General Conference-- In 2004 it approved the following resolution:

“We support regulations that protect the life and health of animals,including those ensuring the humane treatment of pets and other

domestic animals, animals used in research, and the painlessslaughtering of meat animals, fish and fowl. We encourage the

preservation of all animal species including those threatened withextinction.” (Paragraph 160C, animal life, Social Principles.)

Our mission supports the Blessing of the Animals service in October (in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, who loved animals) and a drive for shelter donations at Christmas that has become a year round effort for many church members.

Kindness to God’s creatures is a service acceptable to Him. Dianne and Keith Langer

Animal Ministries Volunteers

Missions

The church held several fund raisers and some members of our church joined with those of Union Congregational Church on another mission trip to Salem Economic Ministries in July.


We also continued with local mission work including serving some of the meals at Breaking Bread, and delivering our yearly Thanksgiving meal to shut-ins

United Methodist Men’s Club 2015

I’ve been writing these reports for several years now, and so in 2015 I felt it was time to change things around a bit. Actually, the change in the make-up of the Men’s Club has been going on for about 2-3 years. While we still are mainly a group of United Methodist men that meet once a month September through May to enjoy good Christian fellowship and good food, United Methodist children and United Methodist women have been a common site at our breakfasts. Mary Wallan has been joining her son Joe for our breakfast for a few years now. Marge Ruggles comes with Dave Ruggles to our breakfasts, as do Grace and Salem Elewononi with their dad Joe. Brandon Centauro joins his dad as our youngest unofficial member. We also have a woman as our Music Minister, so while the situations for each of them joining us are all different, it really doesn’t matter as they all have been welcomed into the group and are now just “one of the guys”. The women and children have bumped up our numbers from 8-10 attendees to closer to 12-15.

We typically hold our election for President at the October or November breakfast and we break for the summer by providing an all church breakfast on Mother’s Day in May. We charge the nominal fee of $3 for our breakfasts (first time visitors are free), which covers the costs of the food. We don’t charge for the all church breakfast in May, and we don’t take any money from the general budget. The menu may be limited, but we have plenty of good Christian fellowship to offer to new and old members alike.

Respectfully Submitted,Stephen DiMattei

Men’s Club President Elect

Men’s Club Financial Report

Account # 03-33-0000457804

Opening Balance 12/05/14 $564.75

Total Deposits $57.00

Withdrawals $0.00

Ending Balance 12/05/15 $621.75

Trustee Financial Reports 2015

Financial Secretary Reports 2015


Family Fun Fest - Church Mice Fair Financial Report 2015

2015 General Church Financial Report

INCOME 2015 Estimate Actual

MEMBER/CONSTITUENT SUPPORT TOTALS

PLEDGES (#31 units) $46,500.00 $48,640.00

Current year $48,285.00

Prior Year $240.00

Next Year $115.00

NON PLEDGING BUT IDENTIFIED (#14 units) $13,820.00 $20,914.99

General $13,000.00 $7,506.00

Ed Barrows $50.00

2016 Advance $7,000.00

Tithe Tax Refund $490.00

Offertory Envelopes $19.00

Flowers Reimbursed $861.00

For Collations $500.00For Crafts $500.00

Nativity Set $639.99

"Slush Fund" (snow removal) $516.00

Love Gifts $845.00

Pastor Sarah's Graduation $155.00

Ash Wednesday $67.00

Maundy Thursday $70.00 $92.00

Easter $750.00 $654.00

Chrismas Current Year $1,020.00

UNIDENTIFIED (plate) $950.00 $995.00

INTEREST & DIVIDENDS $20,815.00 $18,558.73

Interest $176.21


Dividends $6,000.00 $5,946.24

Kerr Fund $14,000.00 $12,115.28

200th Anniversary Foundation $815.00

Property Insurance Div $321.00

BUILDING USE FEES $24,330.00 $23,889.60

Community Pre-School $13,500.00 $13,110.00

Copier Costs recovered $1,084.60

AA $720.00 $780.00

Alanon $50.00

Koinonia Assemblies of God $8,400.00 $7,150.00

Summer Stage $1,670.00 $1,670.00

Daaboul $40.00 $45.00

FUNDRAISERS AND OTHER $5,000.00 $6,532.70Mice Fair $5,000.00 $4,882.21

2014 Mice Fair $10.00

Prayer t-shirts $159.49

Mission t-shirts $121.00

DeWitte Collation $45.00

Cookout Hot Dogs $5.00

Insufficent Funds $15.00

Maine Mission Trip $1,105.00

Paint Rebate $35.00

Food Money Return $155.00

SPECIAL SUNDAYS and BENEVOLENT GIVING $6,049.70

$3,877.70

Human Relations Day $93.00

One Great Hour of Sharing $352.00

Native American Sunday $115.00

Peace with Justice Sunday $91.00


Christian Education Sunday $20.00

World Communion Sunday $75.00

UM Student Day $125.00

Redbird Mission - Celebration Pennies $469.70

UMCOR Nepal $65.00

Bishop's Coffee/Tea $100.00

Imagine No Malaria $200.00

United Methodist not through Conference $1,667.00

Pastor's Discretionary Fund $1,247.00

Thanksgiving Meals on Wheels $420.00

Non-UM Benevolences $505.00

Breaking Bread $450.00

Food Pantry $55.00

TOTAL INCOME $111,415.00 $123,408.72

Trustees transfer to general budget $228.00

UM Foundation of NE Transfer to General Budget $2,000.00

TOTAL INCOME/RECEIPTS $125,636.72

EXPENSES

MISSION SHARES $20,125.00 $20,304.64

Ministerial Support $8,680.00 $8,680.00

New England Missions $3,018.00 $3,018.00

Pastor's Pension $5,016.00 $5,195.64

World Missions $3,411.00 $3,411.00

BENEVOLENCES

MONEY THAT GOES TO NEAC $1,536.00

Human Relations Day $93.00


One Great Hour of Sharing $352.00

Native American Sunday $115.00

Peace with Justice Sunday $91.00

Christian Education Sunday $20.00

World Communion Sunday $75.00

UM Student Day $125.00

Redbird Mission - Celebration Pennies $300.00

UMCOR Emergency Donations $65.00

Coffee/Tea Prayer Partners $100.00

Imagine No Malaria $200.00

MONEY THAT GOES DIRECTLY TO UMC CAUSES $3,700.67

Pastor's Discretionary Fund $1,483.41

Thanksgiving Meals on Wheels $717.26

Salem Maine Mission Trip $1,500.00

MONEY THAT GOES TO NON-UM CAUSES $369.63

Breaking Bread $314.63

Walpole Food Pantry $55.00

PASTOR

BASE COMPENSATION $27,550.00 $27,550.00

Cash Salary $24,150.00 $24,150.00

Pension Contribution $3,400.00 $3,400.00

PARSONAGE RELATED EXPENSES $3,605.00 $4,283.59

Telephone T $270.00 $246.70

Electricity T $560.00 $590.11

Gas T $2,000.00 $2,886.72

Water/Sewer T $525.00 $485.68

Maintenance T $250.00 $74.38

ACCOUNTABLE REIMBURSEMENT TO PASTOR $3,500.00 $3,292.57


OTHER CHURCH STAFF $30,036.40 $23,212.90

Minister of Outreach $6,000.00 $2,784.38

Sexton $10,050.00 $6,572.70

Substitute Sexton $135.00

Organist $11,550.00 $10,375.00

Substitute Organist $500.00

FICA $2,111.40 $1,548.78

Worker's Comp $325.00 $452.04

Love Gifts to Staff $845.00

LOCAL CHURCH PROGRAM $3,414.00 $5,672.83

NURTURE $3,995.45

Devotional Materials $335.00

Leadership Training $1,300.00 $2,149.61

Lay Member to Annual Conf. $300.00 $204.61

Mission Trip $600.00

School of Cong Devl. $400.00

Trustees Workshop $145.00

Shift $1,800.00

Christian Education $300.00 $167.22

Children $150.00 $167.22

Adults $150.00

Worship $339.00 $1,678.62

Altar Supplies $109.00 $234.63

Other Worship Items $200.00 $22.54

Reimbursed Flowers $1,006.00

Unreimbursed Flowers $30.00 $17.97

DeWitte Funeral $415.45

Love Gifts (non staff) $200.00

OUTREACH $940.00 $1,677.38

Website Domain $20.00


Ads. $320.00 $352.60

Walpole Day $100.00 $40.00

Water & Lables $200.00 $57.05

Other $100.00

Mission Tshirts $320.33

Refreshments for Summer Stage $71.24

Outdoor Nativity Set $200.00 $639.99

Christmas Carol Party $196.17

OPERATING EXPENSES $26,480.00 $26,255.79

Computer $105.00

Copier $1,500.00 $2,868.72

Supplies $850.00 $837.48

Postage $750.00 $884.80

Special Bulletins and Letterhead $140.63

Baptism, Wedding & Funerals $50.00 $29.77

Trustees Bookkeeping T $146.48

Financial Supplies $200.00 $293.94

Bank Service Charges $30.00

Mice Fair Expenses $700.00 $1,104.33

Internet $710.00 $804.39

Office Telephone $270.00 $298.02

Water/Sewer T $1,200.00 $1,016.93

Gas T $5,500.00 $3,323.27

Electric T $4,500.00 $4,319.86

Snow Plowing T $3,100.00 $2,795.00

Trash Pickup T $1,450.00 $1,381.25

Building Inspection T $40.00

Elevator Inspection T $500.00 $512.50

Fire Exiting Inspection T $300.00 $258.32

Sexton Supplies T $900.00 $940.40

Building Maintenance and Repairs T $2,500.00 $2,198.32


Landscape Maintenance T $1,726.38

Renovations T

Piano Tuning T $1,500.00 $200.00

PROPERTY INSURANCE $6,500.00 $5,156.00

CAPITAL EXPENDITURES AND MAJOR EQUIPMENT $3,800.00 $3,256.07

Parsonage Windows $1,000.00

Education Wing Renovations T $1,695.07

Education Wing Windows T $2,800.00 $1,561.00

TOTAL EXPENSES $125,010.40 $124,590.69

TOTAL MONEY AVAILABLE LESS EXPENSES -$13,595.40 $1,046.03

Documents

· Web viewBy February I had discovered the teachings of Marshal Rosenberg and started reading and watching Youtube videos of his trainings in Nonviolent Communication. This was