Welcome to the Finance Recap of 2023! God taught us, inspired us, protected us, and as always was faithful to us.

As we prepare for the celebration of 75 years being HILLCREST CHURCH, we look back with gratefulness at all He has done for us.

PRIMARY FUND (General Fund)

Our revenues in the first nine months of 2023 came in slow but steady. Though we had a base of commitment in our church family, we weren’t in a place to feel confident that we were going to reach our budget goal for the year. With this reality as a final indicator for his decision, our Executive Pastor, Glenn, decided to resign his position in August.

As the final months of the year played out, along with the decreased expenses and assistance of our solar project, we are happy to report that we ended the year with a healthy surplus, and in a good position to start 2024 strong. God continues to guide us in decision making and teaching us through the process of prayer and leaning on Him! We are so grateful.

Our giving has remained strong from the final months of 2023 right through this report! We are trending at 2019 levels and we hear reports of love and commitment from many of you. Our goal with our 2024 budget is to focus on replenishing our Emergency Fund and bring it back to a healthier place.

Thank you for all the encouragement you send our way as we do our best to serve the Lord in all we do.

MISSIONS FUND

Our Missions Fund has offered steady commitment to our Missions Partners over the years as well has been a source of funding for the local outreaches we do as a church.

We have continued to see a lower amount of giving directed towards our Missions Fund and have started conversations of stewardship in this area. We hear a desire in our church to uphold our children, youth, and young adults and we want to find ways we can support these young people in our city! We have Missions Partners that already prioritize this group and we’re looking for ways to support them more in 2024.

Community Care Fund

As a subcategory of our Missions, and working as our “Benevolence” Fund, our Community Care focuses on our Furniture Ministry, as well as Palliative gift-bags, and small community benevolence as needed.

Our Furniture Ministry is very popular and there is always more need in our city than we can provide… but we feel so honored to be able to assist our community how we can in this very practical way.

With the generous support of our donors, we were able to give more to our community than we hoped for. Your donations showed God’s love to many people who have never stepped foot in a church and were very grateful for the help.

CAPITAL FUND

Our Capital planning is on schedule, but we always need to keep this fund on your radar as it’s easy to forget that we have a large building to maintain!

The giving in 2023 remained steady for us to complete a couple upgrades we had anticipated, and any remaining amounts went to our savings for future projects.

In 2023 we were able to finally give our kitchen a renovation, as well as upgrade some lighting in our Worship Centre.

You can find out more details on the building projects in our Facilities Director report.

– Sharon Lieske, Finance Director

*The 2023 Financial Review prepared by our accountants at Dart Bryant LLP Calgary, AB is available for office viewing upon request. Contact Sharon Lieske, Finance Director at the church office to book an appointment. Thank you for your faithful giving.