Jan, 2003

Godt Nyttår!
By Magne A. Hatlevik

The end of my first year as Congregation Council President is almost here. The Council of 2002 had its last meeting of the year on December 10. Many things were discussed and we set a date of the next Congregation annual meeting to Sunday February 2, 2003. The meeting will start after the Norwegian service that day at about 12:30pm. I want to urge all voting members of Mindekirken to participate at this meeting. Issues that concern you as a member of Mindekirken will be presented and voted on.

I would like to comment a bit about the Stewardship drive of 2002 that we had this November. The numbers are in and I have been able to compare them to the results of the Stewardship drive of 2001.

The 2001 results showed actual contributions to the general funds of Mindekirken at $112,570 for the prior year (Nov 2000 – Oct 2001) and the estimate of giving for 2002 was $115,089 with 160 active giving units. This was an increase of 2.24%. For the reader’s information, a giving unit is a member or associate member family. The 2002 results show actual contributions to the general fund of Mindekirken at $116,624 for the prior year (Nov 2001 – Oct 2002) and the estimate of giving for 2003 is $132,736 with 171 active giving units. This is an increase of 13.82%.

An interesting point in this comparison is that the actual contributions in 2002 (Nov 2001 – Oct 2002) are greater than the estimate of 2002 by $1,535 with 11 giving units added sometime during that year. A conclusion from the Stewardship drives could be that every year giving estimates have increased and more impressively we have met or surpassed our estimates. Furthermore, the key to greater success is addition of active giving units.

At the time I am writing this, it is almost Christmas 2002 and everyone is in a festive mood and filled with generosity. I understand that there has been a great response to our call for financial help in the last months. Hopefully it is enough to pull the Mindekirken general fund out of the red. In any case I want to give a special thanks to everyone that has been so generous with gifts to Mindekirken in the last year. Thank you, Happy New Year and God bless you all!

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