Dear Ladue Chapel Family,
What extraordinary times these are. We find ourselves nearing a year of living under COVID 19 conditions. Much of this time has been frustrating and wearying. We miss being the Body of Christ physically present together. We miss worship in the sanctuary, coffee hour in the Gathering Place, Sunday School classes, fellowship events and so much more. We are anxious to gather once more in all these ways and disappointed that has yet to happen.
However, in the midst of these limitations God’s Spirit is moving among us. We continue to worship together remotely on Sunday mornings and have coffee hour over Zoom. Our Deacons and Stephen’s Ministers continue to care for our congregation. We continue to collect food for those who need it. Our Elders and committees continue to lead and brainstorm and work to help us grow into who God is calling us to be together. We continue to be faithful.
One of the ways we have continued to be faithful is the efforts of our Finance Committee which has been diligently working on understanding our finances. We have learned that for the past several years we have been operating with a significant annual deficit that had not been fully understood due to variety of factors. Because of the hard work of the committee and people in the finance office we now have a clear understanding of the situation and can proceed appropriately. As we move forward we will need to encourage good stewardship from the entire congregation, consider how to effectively use our endowment, and carefully analyze our budget to make the most of the resources we have.
We are hoping you will join us for a congregation-wide webinar on Sunday, the 28th of February at 5 PM so we can share a more detailed picture of who we are in this time. In the days following the webinar we will offer a series of smaller round-table zooms so you can get to know Doug and to discuss any questions you may have.
As we look to our future together in Christ there is much to celebrate. We are blessed with a congregation that passionately loves this church. We have welcomed several talented people to our administrative and financial staff. Our deeply committed program staff continues to serve with faithfulness. There is much anticipation and enthusiasm as we envision returning to the traditions we love and creating new ways for us to be faithful together. We, your pastors, are honored to serve beside you and are excited for all that is to come.
