Last Sunday after worship Pointe of Grace’s council, led by treasurer Gloria Xefos, provided an update of the congregation’s financial situation. The news was not good.

  As of August 31, Pointe of Grace had about $30,000 unrestricted cash in our bank accounts – cash apart from what is allocated to designated funds.

  On average, we are running a $3300 deficit every month.

  The biggest part of our spending is payroll at 53% of the monthly budget. Administration (which includes our mortgage and our insurance) is 35%. Utilities take up 10% of the budget. Only 2% is available for ministries not supported by designated funds. (Packs for Kids has a designated fund. Money in that fund cannot be used for anything other than Packs for Kids.)

  Our spending is not sustainable – if we continue to run a monthly deficit of $3300, then after December we will not be able to pay all our bills. If we run out of money, Pointe of Grace will have to close. Closing our doors would not only impact members, it would also affect the preschool, the Boy Scout troop we sponsor, the AA groups who meet here, and other community groups that use our building.

  Council is proposing some solutions which will mitigate our budget issues.

Short term fix:

  • Transfer the $18,731 in our Operational Reserve designated fund to the general fund. Making this transfer would buy us some time to implement longer-term changes. It would be up to the council and congregation to make the best use of that time.

Medium term fixes:

  • Find another faith community looking for a space to worship and able to help with the facility operating expenses, much like the Unity Church does now.
  • Reduce staff hours to cut payroll expenses. Doing this would probably involve cutting the pastor's hours, since her compensation is the largest part of payroll. If the pastor's hours are reduced the congregation will need to take more responsibility for Pointe of Grace’s ministries.
  • With the $44,000 mortgage paydown we made this month we may be able to re-amortize our mortgage with Thrivent Financial to reduce our monthly mortgage payments.

Longer term fixes:

  • Sell the cell tower lease. Doing this would provide an infusion of cash (perhaps as much as $400,000) but would also mean the loss of about $1900 per month of rental income.
  • Sell the north portion of the property where the kitchen garden area, far parking lot, and cell tower are located to a real estate developer. We have a rough estimate from about a year ago of the value of that part of our property at about 1.2 million dollars. This amount would allow us to pay off the mortgage, reducing our monthly expenses by $3400, and give us resources to re-envision our ministry in the Mukilteo community.

  Implementing some of these changes will require a congregational vote. Pastor Pam has called a congregational meeting for Sunday, October 27 at 11 a.m. to decide which changes to implement. Based on those decisions the council will then present a 2025 budget to the congregation at our November 17 congregational meeting.

  The presentation materials from the financial update are available online on the members-only secure drive. If you do not have access you may request it from the church office. Between now and October 27 please offer any additional ideas you may have to council members. We have hard decisions to make, but I believe that somehow God will continue to work through the people of Pointe of Grace to love and serve our neighbors in Mukilteo.

Jeff Mach, Council President