This past Sunday (June 2) we gathered in the Great Hall to hear the annual “State of the Church” report from the Session teams. It has been a busy year since we gathered last June for that report, and there is more on the agenda for 2024. Some of the highlights include:
- Christian Formation changed its name from Christian Education to reflect more accurately their mission to nurture faith and faithfulness across lifetimes. Six youth attended the Montreat Youth Conference last summer and six will go there this summer. Five confirmands were welcomed into membership of the church. Rachel was welcomed on board with new ideas and resources.
- Congregational Care provided meals, visits, transportation, prayer shawls, cards, and support across the year. Support groups for those who are grieving and those serving as caregivers for family members have continued. Presbyterian Women offers study, fellowship, and good fun to women of the church.
- Facilities have been busy with the painting of the sanctuary, repair of the flat roof over the choir room, routine maintenance, and a battle with a pesky woodpecker.
- Fellowship continues to provide diverse opportunities throughout the year including Together on Wednesday dinners, a car show, receptions, potlucks, hymn sing, ice skating, kickball, and the annual Chili Cookoff and Dessert Extravaganza.
- Outreach distributed over $80,000 of budgeted funds in mission in addition to special offerings. The budget for 2024 is $88,000. Opportunities for hands-on work included serving meals at Trinity Soup Kitchen, refugee resettlement assistance, Hispanic food deliveries, Rebuilding Augusta projects, and ongoing collections of food, paper projects, clothing, and plastic. Fairtrade coffee, tea, and chocolate continue to be popular, and Glorious Gifts was again successful in providing alternatives for Christmas gifts.
- Personnel welcomed Rachel on board as Associate Pastor, offered pay increases to staff, and celebrated Lou Dolive’s 15 years as bell choir director.
- Preschool had a busy year with a host of new children arriving and several staffing changes. Enrollment for next year is already ahead of previous years! A new train is planned to replace the much-loved but aging train on the playground.
- Stewardship & Finance reported an unprecedented budget surplus of $106,000 in 2023, substantially due to savings from the associate pastor position being vacant for ten months last year. The surplus was allocated among various projects submitted by the teams and approved by Session. The Endowment has grown to over $290,000, and the Memorial Fund is supporting the purchase of music shelving for the choir room.
- Technology is the newest Session team, formed to coordinate and care for the wide range of techno-logical services that Covenant now needs and utilizes including WIFI, the website platform, staff computers, and a new tech cart to facilitate virtual programming.
- Worship planned around the sanctuary painting and organ repairs, and has purchased a new piano and music shelving for the choir room. Taizé services in Lent and live streaming of Sunday worship services continue to be highly valued.
- The Ad hoc Signage Team has worked diligently through the last year in the design and location of signs for the exterior and interior of the church facilities. It is a much bigger project than first imagined! Look for the signs to be installed this summer.
As a Matthew 25 congregation, we are exploring new options to address congregational vitality, systemic poverty, and structural racism. We are grateful for all those who have played a part in the growth and work of this past year and look forward to the opportunities and challenges of the year to come. Please join us, for we are the church together – and only together!
– John Peterson
