Digital Bulletin

As part of our commitment to financial transparency, the Ops Team wanted to provide some additional context around the end of our financial fiscal year, which runs from September through August each year.

When we started this past year in September 2025, we had just finished a very challenging financial year. We had used more than half of our savings over the prior year, so another similar year would have required us to make some very difficult financial decisions.

One year later, we are grateful to say that we are in a significantly different position. We ended the year with a budget surplus of nearly $40,000. A significant part of that was due to a very generous one-time gift that we received during the year. While we cannot count on gifts like that in future years, there was another part of our financial story that is particularly encouraging: our regular giving was almost exactly at our budget of $429,200, representing a nearly $40,000 increase over the previous year. God has provided. Again. Through your generosity.

Thank you so much to the many people in our congregation who give faithfully. Your willingness to financially partner in the ministry of Common Ground Northeast allows us to continue ministering to our congregation, supporting our ministry partners, and growing our desire to be a light in our neighborhood. To those who give monthly, an extra measure of thanks for your consistent faithfulness. We are so grateful for the many different ways God provides for the ministry of our church.

Our expenses were approximately $20,000 higher than we had budgeted, with modest overages across a number of different ministry areas. Our faithful giving during the year gave us some flexibility with the very tight budgets we had created to serve our community, support our ministry partners, and continue our internal programming.

The result was that, after a difficult financial year, we were able to rebuild our savings by approximately $40,000. This puts us in a much more fiscally responsible position as we look ahead. It is particularly important because the balloon payment on our mortgage comes due within the next 18 months. Having stronger savings and a healthier pattern of giving puts us in a much stronger position as we approach lenders and renegotiate that loan.

There is another important part of this financial story that we don't want to overlook: our volunteers.

Our ability to manage expenses this year was not simply the result of spending less. It was also made possible by the increasing number of people who have stepped forward to help meet the day-to-day needs of the church. With Jody's transition out of her role last August, this required even more people to engage.

So, thank you to the many people who volunteer throughout the church—leading Children's Ministry, maintaining the building, leading worship, helping with office and administrative work, leading Youth Ministry, serving on Sunday mornings, participating in hospitality, and serving in so many other ways. Without this kind of volunteer engagement, our church would not be recognizable. The ministry of Common Ground Northeast happens because people give not only their money, but also their time, energy, creativity, and gifts. Thank you for engaging.

As we look toward this coming year, we don't want to lose sight of what this past year has shown us: this is a church where people show up for one another. You have given your money, your time, your homes, your skills, your creativity, and your energy to make this community what it is.

We want to continue that together.

Financial giving is one important way we participate in the life and ministry of Common Ground Northeast. If you aren't currently giving, we invite you to consider taking that step. If you already give regularly, we invite you to prayerfully consider whether you might be able to increase your giving this year. And if you're already giving generously, thank you. Truly.

We don't know everything the coming year will hold. But we know the kind of church we want to be: a church that cares for its people, invests in its neighborhood, supports external ministry partners, and remains open to where God is leading us.

Thank you for helping make that possible—not just with your giving, but with all that you bring to this community.

—The Ops Team