Extra Funds for Parish Outreach

An unexpected budget surplus means every parish in the Diocese of Missouri will soon be receiving a check for $1,000.

At its February 19 meeting, Diocesan Council approved sharing unused funds from the 2021 budget with all congregations, Deaconess Anne House and Rockwell House Episcopal Campus Ministry.

Desiree Brattin, Canon for Finance and Administration for the Diocese, says this is not a standard practice. The Diocese ended up with extra funds in 2021 due to special COVID incentives and because so many parishes stepped up to pay their full commitments to the Diocese. So the extra funds will be shared by all.

The $1,000 checks will be mailed Wednesday, March 30. The funds are intended to be used for community outreach projects. Parishes will be required to report how they spent their money at the 2022 Diocesan Convention.

A note from the Bishop:

So you have a check. Now what? How does your community convert a check into a Christ-centered story of transformation? Here are some practical pieces of sharing the Good News of God's abundance with our neighbors:

• These funds must be used for community outreach and may not be used for regular operating funds of the community of faith.
• All funds should be used by Diocesan Convention in November 2022.
• Reports on how these funds were used are due by October 31, 2022, to Director of Communications Janis Greenbaum.
• Be creative in how you use the funds. Here are some suggestions to get you thinking creatively on how you might engage with your check:
  - Greater impact. These funds can be used as a matching grant to have a greater impact (think the parable of the talents).
  - Seeding ministry. These funds could become seeding funds for a new ministry outreach project.
  - Collaboration. These funds may be pooled together with other congregations or within the convocation, to have a greater impact on joint ministry.
• Be creative in how you tell the story of how these funds made a difference in the lives of your community of faith and for the people impacted. Consider the following when telling your story:
  - What is unique about how we used our funds?
  _ How can we best display the innovation and creativity of our community?
  - How can we share the needs in our community through the story we tell?
  - Does this story highlight the Good News we live as a community?
  - How might telling this story be an opportunity for evangelism?
  - Do we want to create a video, a written story, a picture journey, an evangelism/outreach brochure, a banner at Convention 2022, etc. to best tell our story?

Congratulations! You are on your way. Overwhelm the world with your $1,000 bit of good.