Convention Journal - Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh

Explanatory Notes for 2006 Budget
1. Budget Excess (Deficit) is the amount of income collected over expenses. In 2004 the Budget Excess of
$88,265 was transferred to the Budget Reserve Fund. $50,000 of these funds was transferred into the 2005
budget for Calvary lawsuit legal expenses. The balance remains in the Budget Reserve Fund.
2. The position of Congregational Developer for Church Plants has increased to allow the developer to spend
more time supporting parishes desiring to plant new congregations. The developer and the New Church
funds, which provide multi­year support to enable the founding of new congregations, go hand­in­hand to
help fulfill the diocesan mission of church growth.
3. Mission Center funds, a program begun in 1991, were originally designed to provide major redevelopment
grants for a period of five years. Most of the parishes in this category have moved off diocesan aid; the
remaining parish will be reduced yearly.
4. Partnership funds represent diocesan support for congregations in partnerships where a resource
congregation partners with a struggling congregation in order to strengthen it. Normally, the rector of the
resource congregation chooses the clergy leader of the partner congregation. In addition, the resource
congregation gives money, leadership and other support for a period of three to five years.
5. New Initiative grants are designed to help a parish begin a new work in ministry or mission, often by hiring
a new staff person. These grants of $2,000 ­ $8,000 are given for a period of 1­3 years, normally in
decreasing annual amounts.
6. Urban Outpost funds are to sustain strategic work in impoverished communities. Attendance at worship
must be increasing and involvement of parishioners in outreach efforts must be deepening for this funding
to be approved in successive years.
7. Happening is a Christian experience that seeks to bring young persons to a fuller personal knowledge of
and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and to a deeper level of commitment and apostleship. It is
designed for high school youth during a two­day gathering. Youth in 9 th through 12 th grade in all parishes
of the diocese are invited to participate.
8. Sheldon Calvary Camp, located on Lake Erie in Conneaut, Ohio, owned by the diocese and managed by an
independent board, offers a variety of summer camping programs.
9. The diocese has sponsored a Ministry Leadership Workshop Day in March for the past 3 years. The
workshop has grown to include sessions on communications, archives, finance, personnel, church
development, and marketing. Many of the speakers and trainers volunteer their time as a service to the
diocese. Attendance has been about 200 clergy and lay leaders in the diocese each year. (Next year’s event
will be March 4, 2006 at Trinity, Washington.)
10. An annual leadership overnight is held each spring for members of the Board of Trustees, Standing
Committee, and Diocesan Council to give the leadership of the diocese an opportunity to share major
aspects of their common life and ministry. While participants pay their own expenses, the budgeted funds
are utilized for supplies and speakers.
11. A Misconduct Manual for the diocese is updated regularly, reprinted and distributed to parishes within the
diocese. Funds also pay for materials utilized in the training classes including handouts, certificates and
videotapes.
12. The Diocesan Curate is to assist the Cathedral in hosting diocesan events and in strengthening our diocesan
mission with the poor and homeless.
13. Network Support funds are set aside by the diocese for programs and information that benefit more than
one congregation.
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