Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do ... - Christ the King

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Issue # 1 | March – May 2013 Home at last Soon after I arrived in Potsdam in 1997, I discovered a rudimentary website for an Anglican church on the outskirts of Berlin. It required a bus and two trains to get there, but from the very first time, I felt that this was home. Why am I an Anglican Christian? It is a spirituality that is generous and broad enough to speak to gut, as well as to heart and head. A place where spirituality needn’t be grasped merely intellectually or academically, but could be felt viscerally, bodily—and lived out passionately and empathetically. Through history and in practice, Christianity in the Anglican tradition calls us to accept difference, and not to reject it or even to tolerate it. God calls me to struggle with those who love the Lord yet come to different conclusions about faith, ethics and mission. I am called to struggle with them, and here note that “struggling with” means striving alongside, not fighting against. Laying aside being lay When I stopped ignoring God’s call for me to be an ordained minister, it wasn’t that I was being set apart. A few folks at CtK have referred to me in writing as Ian+, prompting to ask quizzically, “Who is this IanPlus?” Super-sized in the eyes of the Lord? No! My having been ordained simply meant I was no longer deemed fit to be a layperson. The vast majority of the Chronicle readership is, however, and for that the church trained me to see gifts in you—gifts of empathy and encouragement, proclaiming and professing, of serving and searching. I am here to support your ministry, not the other way around. Nine young adults are preparing for the sacrament of Confirmation, for the gift of the Holy Spirit to inflame them for their ministry as Christian adults. Let us hold them in our prayers in the coming weeks, that they may not become disillusioned and “lapsed” as I was, but that they be for us an example of growing into God’s service and calling. Perhaps one of them—or one of you—will be deemed unsuitable for the laity. But until then, there is a cross to take up, and a saving Lord to follow. Every blessing —Ian. Inside this issue WHERE WE ARE NOW Treasurer’s report Lifelong formation Search process UTO My Home Parish: Nigeria LOOKING BACK Some pictures Interfaith worship Dec. – Feb. Attendance UP & COMING AGM Lent study groups St. John Passion Regular events Chronicle change of hands Birthdays & Funnies
Issue # 1 | March – May 2013 WHERE WE ARE NOW Where are we? Somewhere between where we were and where we are going. It is not an easy space but one full of promise and opportunity. Let’s listen to God’s voice, really listen, to see where he might be leading us. Lent is the perfect time for this. A time of reflection. Emptying ourselves. Searching for and hopefully coming just a little bit closer to the deep peace offered by Christ. --------------------------------------- Treasurer’s report Submitted by Alice Man We were blessed in many ways last year, but financially it was a very challenging year. There were times when I thought we could not continue without dramatic cuts to our expenditure. The balance sheet shows that we took in € 214,000 and spent € 223,000, resulting in a loss of about € 9,000. We did budget for underfunding of € 8,000 for 2012, hoping that unforeseen generosity would save us. Unfortunately we had to fund the € 9,000 ourselves and this came from our savings, which are pretty meagre. The year would have ended much worse if our appeal to parishioners for assistance in the second half of the year had fallen upon deaf ears. When it became known that we were in need, several parishioners increased their regular donations or made one-off donations of substantial size. Our expenditure has been kept under careful control and regular payments were within the framework of the budget. However, we had to ask the Board of Foreign Parishes to be patient with the repayments of the € 31,000 of which we should have returned € 5,000 last year, and were not able to do so. We also had to reduce the planned Outreach spending to € 3,895 €. The major part of our financial expenditure is personnel and we fortunately have been able to keep our dedicated and efficient staff and pay them promptly every month. Staff costs last year amounted to € 122,019 for the year. This is slightly down from last year as the Hausmeister position became vacant and because we do not have to pay into the American Church Pension scheme for the Interim Rector. The other major source of income is renting out our facilities to groups, such as K.I.D.S.- Kindergarten, Music Together and 12-Step Groups. This amounts to about € 2,500 per month. K.I.D.S. has increased their payments to us and we are keeping records quite closely of their utilities share. The budget for 2013 has been compiled very carefully, and checked by the Finance Committee, consisting of Jane Doebler, Tim Mhagama and Todd Buell. The budget is drawn up with the assistance of the Vestry, where every member is a liaison to one of our activities. They submit the requests for expenditure and these are then incorporated into the budget. We have had to make some cuts, but have taken a leap of faith this year by giving our staff, Simon, Renate, Hans and Mira a small, inflation-related raise. After deductions this will be hardly noticeable in their net income, but we believe they should receive some token appreciation for their dedicated work. A major expenditure in 2013 will be getting a new rector appointed. We will probably have to interview 3 candidates with their spouses, and depending on where they come from, we will have to pay their travel and accommodation costs for the interview weekend. Once a rector has been called, we have to pay his or her moving expenses, so an amount of € 15,000 has been included for these two expenditure items. The budget for 2013 is not a balanced budget, but relies once again on siphoning off some of our savings. Hopefully in 2013 we will only need about € 4,000 of our savings. A great deal of this is due
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Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do ... - Christ the King

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