Your Part
Share Yourself and Your Story
You are uniquely qualified to bring the piece of the world in which you live to us here at WPMF. Whether that be through sharing your story in church, providing your expertise on a committee or teaching us about ways you have experienced and interacted positively with the needs of the world, whether that be in your personal life or through your work.
Provide Thoughtful Input at Meetings of the Congregation
We welcome and need your participation whenever we hold a meeting to discuss the finances of the church. The budget meeting, held in the middle of December, is where we discuss and act on the proposed budget for the upcoming year. We also use this time to present the proposed core missions for the upcoming year. Church leadership has spent several months preparing this budget for our next year’s spending and giving, so please join us.
We also hold a mid-year check-in where we present a summary of our giving vs our spending/budget. This generally happens in July. Your participation in both of these meetings is important to the deacons who are managing the finances of the church. The church may receive financial updates at other times in the year but this generally happens when the financial status is ‘less than rosy’.
Help Shape the Missions Giving of WPMF
Every year the deacons decide what organizations will be proposed as core organizations for the upcoming year. The deacons also make decisions about financial support to various Mennonite Church organizations. We welcome your help as we make those decisions.
So how can you do that effectively, you ask? There are several ways:
- Sharing with the congregation experiences with or stories about one of the organizations that we currently support (Allegheny Conference or one of the core missions or Mennonite organizations we support). This helps us build connections, makes us more aware of our place in the world and helps us break down barriers between this congregation and the people of the world. This is where we need your help. We need to hear stories and meet the people that we support.
- Maybe you look at our current core missions and wonder if WPMF might support another organization that you have direct experience with. If you would like to make that suggestion, consider why you think your organization represents the core values of WPMF and why you think it would be supported by the congregation. Then be prepared to present this information to the deacons along with a description of their work and a contact person within the organization. You may also be asked to talk to the congregation about this organization and their work. The deacons would be happy to take your suggestion into consideration in the months prior to our preparations for presenting the core missions at the annual budget meeting. Suggestions made during the annual budget meeting will be held for consideration for the following annual budget meeting. That said, it is also important to hear from folks about our current core missions as we do not want more than four core missions each year.
- Maybe you want to make a suggestion about the Mennonite organizations that we support. Please let the deacons know what you are thinking (sometime well before our annual budget meeting).
Become a Deacon
Finances are not all the deacons do but if you are really interested in all things financial, you might consider becoming a deacon. This will give you the chance to see the inside of this process and help them make good use of the resources that have been given to the church. See a current deacon or a member of the Human Resources Committee (HRC) for more information about what is involved in being a deacon.
