Last Church Standing
Pastor Beryl will be officiating at a wedding this Saturday, but this is her week “off” and the Sunday service will be lay-led. Instead of her usual word in the newsletter, I am sharing the text composed for our Mission Support grant. It lays out SouthWest’s current situation in a pretty stark way.
Our Mission statement was crafted some years ago when we still had SouthWest Mission. I believe the sense of community it talks about it still alive and well at SouthWest United; what we lack is resources.
The grant application asks that we provide the following:
-the context in which your ministry is situated
-why you are applying for a grant
- how long you anticipate needing such a grant
- a financial plan for decreasing the grant
- effect on the ministry if request is not granted
- if your application is successful, how your organization will recognize the financial support provided by The United Church of Canada within your organization and the broader community
I hope, in reading the text below, you will find that we have addressed all of these points.
-Amy
Mission statement:
At SouthWest, our sense of community is inspired by our Christian faith. We partner with individuals and organizations to address issues like food security, poverty, education and wellness. Our programs and activities encourage and inspire all of us to realize our potential as uniquely gifted individuals in our families and neighbourhoods.
Our Context
SouthWest United Church is the last remaining English United Church in Verdun. The only other UCC congregation located in the borough is the Montreal Korean United Church. As we are located at the western edge of Verdun, a portion of our membership has always come from LaSalle, another community with no remaining United Church. There are no United Churches left in all of the South-west borough either, apart from Centenary United, a congregation which no longer has a building of its own.
In 2007, when Crawford Park United and Verdun United churches amalgamated to create SouthWest Pastoral Charge, the VUC church was sold and we were able to invest a tidy sum. It is due to having that principal to draw on that SouthWest United has been able to continue its ministry into 2022. Even in the first year, SouthWest never raised enough in offerings to cover salaries and upkeep of the building.
For twelve years (2007-2019) we had our office in, and ran SouthWest Mission out of, Verdun Elementary School. We were instrumental in starting the Breakfast Club program which continues to this day and which we still support. The Mission also established a clothing room where students could find whatever they needed, from a pair of socks to a clean shirt to snowpants or boots. Over the years, the Mission’s services expanded to provide meals and food programs to the entire community, and became a gathering place for many groups. We received occasional grants from the United Church and other sources to help run these programs, but the existence of the Mission always depended on funding from the church.
By 2018 the writing was on the wall and we were looking at various cost-cutting measures. The 3 possibilites as we saw it were: to cut salaries, to close the Mission, and to sell the church property. We realized at the time that all three would be necessary eventually. In 2019, we cut our full-time minister (David Lefneski) to half time. As a result, he had little time to devote to the Mission; soon afterward the decision was taken to close the Mission, which was costing us $1100 a month in rent alone. Our office was moved into the SouthWest church building at 1445 Clemenceau. We also had a change of leadership at that time, going from a part-time Ordained Minister to a part-time Designated Lay Minister. This was more of a happy accident than a cost-saving move, as Pastor Beryl Barraclough was our first choice anyway when Rev. David left.
In the fall of 2019, even with reduced energy and resources, our congregation was enthusiastic about starting new projects: a Sunday school, bingo, a concert series… but then of course Covid happened. For the two years - and counting - of the pandemic, we have managed to continue worshipping, whether in person or online, but our ability to reach out into the community has been severely limited. Covid prevented us from holding an Annual Congregational meeting in 2020 or 2021 (our core people are elderly and many would have been incapable of attending an online meeting). Various federal programs helped us in 2020 and 2021, but we were still obliged to draw on our investments in those two years. Had we been able to meet two years ago, we would probably have held a vote then on selling the property. As it is, we voted on May 1st at our first congregational meeting in three years, and the following motion was adopted: “that the Board of Trustees make arrangements to share or sell the church property to generate funds to continue the ministry of this church in the South West sector of Montreal."
Reason for Application
Ours is an aging congregation which finds itself land rich and cash poor. On paper, we have assets of about 1.3 million dollars. Our bank account tells a different story. We anticipate not being able to meet our payroll by sometime in the fall of this year.
It is because our available funds have dwindled to almost nothing that we are applying for Mission Support at this time. Our monthly income in 2021, including offerings and rents received, stood at about $3250. Our monthly expenses, on the other hand, ran to about $9000. We are examining all our options, including selling the property, but we anticipate needing funds before any sale can go through. That is why we are turning to you at this time, in the hope that you can help us bridge the gap to the next phase of the life of our congregation.
At this point we have tightened our belts so much that we can barely take care of our own pastoral care list, let alone look for new pastoral relationships. If the financial pressure were taken off for a couple of years we might even be able to think about ways to rejuvenate our ministry in this part of the world. As mentioned, we now have a mandate from the congregation to sell the building if necessary. With your help, we hope that might not be necessary for several years.
Time frame
We would hopefully only need Mission Support for two or three years.
Plan for Decreasing the Grant
In the short term, and if Covid will allow, we are eager to look for new community partnerships in the form of local organizations wanting to rent our space. Although we have a small office in the building now, the pandemic has taught us that both our minister and our office coordinator can work from home 90% of the time. At a time when there is a shortage of real estate either for purchase or rental, we have a building that is practically unused six days of the week. We have spoken to our local borough council and they are aware of the plight of SouthWest United and eager to help facilitate partnerships. We believe that if Regional Council would agree to make up the difference between our current income and expenses for one year, we could increase our income significantly through rentals and require less help the following year.
It is difficult to imagine how we could make up the whole difference through rentals alone however. In recent years, pre-pandemic, we were drawing $50000 from our investments each year. That amount was decreased in 2020 and 2021 because of government support to businesses during Covid.
We do not have an infinite number of options to improve our financial picture, but we are looking at all of them. One possibility is asking the city to divide our lot in two in order that we might sell the manse and keep the church afloat for some years on that revenue. Another of course is to sell the whole property as is and to find rental space to continue our ministry elsewhere. Our church attendance is not high, but we have become a family, with relationships in some cases going back 60 years or more.
Effect of not receiving support
Unfortunately, not having been able to meet since 2019, we are coming to you at a point where things have already become quite desperate. Without Mission Support, we fear we might have to disband as a congregation because we can no longer pay the bills.
Recognition
Despite its small size, SouthWest United has a significant online presence. Our professionally designed website, at southwestunited.net, has a Blog with new content posted every week. Likewise, our Facebook page, with over 400 followers, features new content at least weekly. Our Friday newsletter goes out by email to 244 people every week, and the same list receives our pre-recorded services every Sunday. Since Covid, we have a presence on YouTube as we post all of our services there.
If we receive Mission Support, all of these platforms could be employed to recognize and express our gratitude to the United Church of Canada. We are producing fewer written materials than in the past, but certainly bulletins, paper newsletters and letterhead could all feature acknowledgements of this funding.
We sincerely hope that Conseil regional Nakonha:ka Regional Council will see the value in keeping a United Church presence in the South-west sector of Montreal. Whether in our current building or not, the SouthWest United community hopes to be that presence for years to come.