Dear Union Friends, 

As Union’s “Generosity Team” planned this year’s stewardship campaign, we kept coming back to the theme we used last year: “Loving Our Neighbors, No Exceptions.”

“Loving Our Neighbors, No Exceptions” so beautifully and succinctly conveys what Union is all about. 

What sets Union apart is not our commitment to the idea of the greatest commandment, it’s our commitment to profoundly living it out. Time and time again, the people of our church break down barriers and go the extra mile. Our church exists to “make the Christ Spirit dominant in our lives and in all human relations,” and our actions bear this out.

Our Stewardship Emphasis this fall has two purposes. Both give us an opportunity to love our neighbors without exception today and into the future.

The first purpose of this year’s Stewardship Emphasis is to ask you to make a 2023 Annual Budget Pledge by November 13. Our commitment to financially support the mission and ministry of Union Congregational UCC is a tangible way we live the Bond of Union. Our giving means loving our neighbors in every situation, because we understand that God’s love radiates out from us and makes a difference. When we give of our time, resources, and talents, we lean into the possibilities of what God may do through us.

It is important to note that our church’s financial needs continue to grow as we strive to put flesh on God’s love. With an aging building and rising costs of wages and health insurance, one of the goals of this year’s Annual Budget Pledge Campaign is to receive a 3-5% overall increase in pledging to offset increasing economic costs. We know that some may not be able to pledge any increase at all, while others may have the means to make a more substantial increase, and so we simply ask you to prayerfully consider how you can financially support Union’s mission to love our neighbors as God loves, without exception.

The second purpose of this year’s Stewardship Emphasis is to encourage your participation in a Capital Campaign Feasibility Study. Through listening sessions, surveys, and interviews, the Feasibility Study will help to determine whether 2023 will provide us with another opportunity to love our neighbors through a Capital Campaign. The enclosed brochure outlines the proposed capital projects in need of funding. Through the listening sessions listed in the brochure, surveys, and interviews, we will be given opportunities to respond and to ask questions. This initiative will also bring clarity to what a capital campaign is and how it works.

Know that your generosity matters, and that it is through your pledges and your participation in the Feasibility Study that Union will be able to continue our bold, faithful, transformative work of loving our neighbors without exception.

In Joyful Hope, 

Rev. Bridget Flad Daniels Senior Pastor

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