Looking back
We spent most of 2021 under COVID restrictions. While we had less restrictions in the summer, we didn’t really start getting back on track until early fall and then we suddenly had to pivot to another set of restrictions. In the midst of that many in our church family experienced loss, confusion, division. There has been so much pain. And yet, we have seen God at work in many ways.
Staff
One of the most notable things for us as a staff last year was Pastor Steve’s heart surgery and sabbatical. This required significant adjustments for many of us and we are glad that he was able to return to serve the Lord in his preaching and leading at Hillcrest.
Over 2021 we had 3 staff resign. All for good reasons. We miss each of them and the contributions they made. One of Children’s Pastors resigned at the end of summer. We made some adjustments in other areas and have put some projects and activities on pause as we wait to see what the Lord has for us next.
Youth Ministry has been especially impacted by resignations. Our part-time youth pastor resigned in the summer to take up full-time work elsewhere. We were able to transfer another part-time person in to help out in Youth Ministry, but that person resigned in the fall to pursue full-time studies. We are seeking the Lord for how to make sure we have the right number of people committed to the Youth Ministry that God has given us to do.
Even with these struggles, our staff has continued to keep our focus on Jesus and to stay faithful to the work He has given us to do.
Finances
We are thankful to the Lord for his provision through the ongoing faithfulness and generosity of our members and wider church family. Many of our congregation have experienced financial difficulty and yet you continue to support the Lord’s work at Hillcrest. Thank you.
We presented a balanced budget to the board for 2022 and so far the giving and spending has been overall in line with what we anticipated. One way we were able to balance the budget is by some of the pastors and staff taking a temporary payroll cut. As reported above, we had several resignations last year. I asked for a hiring freeze and the rest of the staff have been able to make adjustments to our work so that we have been able to get by in this season. It has not been easy, but we endure as we stay the course even as we look for new opportunities to fulfill our mission.
The challenge will be to make sure that our staffing, giving, and work are aligned in ways that allow us to move forward on our strategic planning. We need your support to make that happen. To all those who are helping out: thank you for your prayers, your wisdom, your giving, and your service.
Strategic Planning
All of these changes: COVID, Pastor Steve’s surgery and sabbatical, staff resignations, new financial realities—all of them have meant that we are constantly making, checking, and adjusting our decisions. As staff and leaders we are constantly relying on special direction and insight from the Lord even as we use the wisdom and strengths that he has provided to our staff and church family.
One of the ways that we see Lord’s direction is by watching the way He has worked in our midst in the past. This year we are remembering the original group that started gathering together 75 years ago. In 2024, as the Lord tarries, we will celebrate our official anniversary of the decision to officially incorporate as a church.
At last year’s AGM we presented and the members affirmed a new way of articulating our mission:
Making disciples of Jesus Christ and giving everyone in our area opportunity to have a personal relationship with Him.
You can find more details on our mission here.
At this year’s AGM, I will be explaining and exploring our strategic planning. We don’t have a strategic plan, rather we do strategic planning. Looking to the Lord, we have an ongoing discussion among the Lead Pastors, the Ministry Council, and the staff as to where we see the Lord taking us in this season. As this discussion takes shape and becomes more firm, we call it strategic planning.
Strategic planning is a way for us to keep record of God’s direction in our midst. We plan and prepare, confident that the Lord is building His church. Strategic planning is one way that we are making sure that our church family is aligned in serving Him in all that He is doing in, through, and among us.
For the next while there are two main elements to our strategic planning. First, that we will learn what it is to become not just a community church but also a church of neighborhoods. Hillcrest has a long reputation as a community church, but we have a sense that the Lord also wants us to learn better how to minister to our neighbors. When we say neighborhoods, we’re not just talking about the area around the church building. We’re talking about the neighborhoods wherever our church family lives.
The other major development in our strategic planning is to make sure that we are better integrating worship, discipleship, and outreach in our Sunday Morning and Weekly Ministries. This means that we are developing a vocabulary around what those terms mean for us in this season and we’ll show that in more detail during the AGM. But if you’ve been listening closely, you’ll have already heard much of this presented in Pastor Steve’s sermons.
For the next while we want to give special attention to what discipleship means for us in this season. To be clear, all three of these elements are integrated. Disciples of Jesus will worship in Spirit and Truth and will know what it is to invite others into a personal relationship with Him.
What’s next?
As we look back on the last couple of years, many are wanting things to go back to normal. But there is no going back. Instead, we want to seek the Lord for what’s next. Our history will help to inform that. So too our commitment to our mission.
In the months and years ahead we want to be good stewards of our legacy and of the ongoing work of God in our midst. That’s why we do strategic planning: we manage our expectations of what it means to minister within our means even as we maintain the direction set for us as we build momentum for what is next.
As we go into the summer, we’ll be changing things up a bit as we give our staff and volunteers a chance to recover from the last couple of years as we get ready for all the good things the Lord has for us in the fall.
In His service,
Pastor Glenn
"Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way"
(2 Thessalonians 3:16).
If you have any comments or questions about this report, please click the button below.