Our PSD team is endeavoring to get a better understanding of the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the financial resources we will have available to continue our shared ministry throughout the District.  We sent a special survey out this past Tuesday, June 16 to our PSD Senior/Sole pastors. The information we gather from the survey will provide us important information on how the pandemic has affected our PSD congregations and will be very helpful in planning how to best resource our PSD churches and schools. Senior/Sole pastors please take a few minutes to locate the survey in your email and complete it.  All responses to this survey are anonymous.

In a recent survey of Pacific Southwest District congregations, 55% reported a moderate to severe decline in congregational giving through this pandemic period. We asked and found that 57% of the responding congregations did not have an intentional annual stewardship emphasis in place pre-COVID19. We're learning that congregations with a strong culture of stewardship have been better able to weather unpredictable storms, like those we're all experiencing. Join Mission Executive Rev. Dominic Rivkin as he interviews our very own District President, Rev. Dr. Mike Gibson to chat about four key discipleship concepts to lead your congregants in stewardship of all God's gifts, even in anxious and challenging times.  Watch Video

A revised loan forgiveness application for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and a new EZ application for forgiveness of PPP loans was released by the SBA Wednesday, June 17. In addition the SBA released a new interim final rule for determining payroll costs and owner compensation in calculating PPP loan forgiveness under the new 24-week covered period. See this article from The Journal of Accountancy for links to these forms and for more information.

Now available in the Reopening Churches section of the Reopening Resources page of our website, this PDF document includes a compilation of many of the resources provided below, and additional information. Includes AZ, NV and CA guidance for reopening, checklists, sample congregational surveys, sample plans and communications, and more. Navigate to the various resources using the clickable table of content links in the left portion of the document.

 

NEW: Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act passed,

makes forgiveness qualification easier, provides more time to

spend PPP proceeds

The Senate passed HR 7010, the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act, on June 4, 2020, and was signed into law by the President on June 5, 2020. This bill makes a number of changes that could impact when and how organizations spend PPP loan funds. See information from Concordia Plans on this important update, and additional information from National Law Review. These links and more are also available on the Financial/HR Resources page on the PSD Coronavirus area of our website.

The Pacific Southwest District is partnering with LCMS Office of National Mission, the Lutheran Church Extension Fund and a multitude of generous donors to support our church workers by providing Soldiers of the Cross (SOC)-Amplified grants to individuals who are experiencing financial hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For this "amplified" version of the longstanding SOC program, the definition of "church workers" has been expanded to include not only rostered church workers (DCEs, DCOs, educators, pastors, deaconesses, etc.), but also lay workers (teacher assistants, secretaries, maintenance, etc.) who are currently working for an LCMS entity or who recently worked for an LCMS entity and were furloughed due to the pandemic. Read Full Article