Stewardship and Finances

FAITHFUL FINANCES

Just exactly what is the “General Fund”???? Well, first of all, “general” is… well… “general” and… kinda boring… so we are renaming the General Fund, the “Common Good” Fund.

And for those of you who are not into “numbers” like us financial/accountant types…we are going to transform numbers into an exciting and enlivening picture of our ministries and missional expressions of our church! We will communicate to you the value of our ministries and the changes occurring in personal lives through those ministries! You will SEE and HEAR the buzz around Newlonsburg…

Many folks ask, “Give me one good reason why I should give?” Well…we are going to give you lots of good reasons to give to the “Common Good”!! And for those of you who really do like numbers, don’t worry…here they are…

Common Good Fund Summary

*March Income is high due to the receipt of lump-sum payments for 2008 pledges – but we like this look!!

Prayerfully submitted,

Tara Bird, Chair
Stewardship & Finance

First Fruits…First Fruit… First Fruits…First Fruits...

First Fruits contributions are NOT just the same old per capita with a new name. Redstone Presbytery has ONE budget for all administrative AND mission expenses. That one budget is an expression of our convictions that the Church is not the Church if it is not engaged in mission; and engaging in mission necessarily brings administrative costs if we are to use our mission dollars wisely.

NPC’s support of that one Budget mirrors the Biblical practice of tithing First Fruits. A First Fruits offering is:

• An offering of THANKS in response to God’s blessings!
• First Fruits means FIRST, not what’s left!
• First Fruits means BEST, not just what you can get by with!

Session determines the amount of NPC’s First Fruits offering to the Presbytery, just as each of you decides your First Fruits offering to Newlonsburg. This year, session budgeted $12.50 per member as our First Fruits offering to the Presbytery. For a family of 4, that would be $50.

Our First Fruits offering is a disciplined expression of gratitude – not the payment of another bill – to God for the abundance of life itself. We need to learn how to say “Thank You’ to God, instead of, “Oh yeah, here’s what I owe you, Lord.” The God we worship is not a Heavenly Bookkeeper balancing accounts!

We have received $2,500 towards our First Fruits commitment of $10,000. We are ¼ of the way there!! Thank you Newlonsburg!

Endowment Funds

NPC now has two Endowment funds. The first is managed by NPC’s Endowment Committee. The second is administered by the Presbyterian Foundation. Both begin to provide dividends to NPC three years after being established.

The Legacy Fund, an Endowment of NPC
LEGACY FUND UPDATE
Last year the Endowment Committee moved forward with the congregation’s help to
establish our Legacy Fund. We passed several milestones by having a legal review of our
policy, established a brokerage account with T. D. Ameritrade and started our Birthday
Fund that kicked off in August . . . April of 2007 was designated as month one of a three
year period that will grow our asset base and then the Fund will begin to pay out a
dividend each year to the Church General Fund to support the annual budget as designated
by Session.

We received 51 gifts last year that totaled $4,984 that will be added to the $55, 141
currently in our brokerage account. Most of the 51 gifts came from The Birthday Fund.

THANK YOU NEWLONSBURG.

-The Endowment Committee

NPC Endowment Fund
The Church has received a generous offer from our anonymous Church family that funded this endowment for us through the Presbyterian Foundation. We concluded a successful fundraiser on 4/15/07 and added $25,235 to our endowment with the Presbyterian Foundation. Thanks to all who gave.

The fund began paying a quarterly dividend to us in the first quarter of 2006 and will continue the income stream forever.

Contact Ken White or any member of the Endowment Committee for more information or to make a gift to either fund. Your contributions, large or small, will help these income streams grow.