2025 Narrative Budget

Editor’s Note: At our congregational meeting in February, the Session presented our 2025 budget and the pastors’ proposed Terms of Call (compensation packages), which are a covenant between the pastor, the congregation, and the presbytery that must be renewed each year. The Terms of Call were unanimously approved by the congregation.

The information presented in this newsletter is the “Narrative Budget”, the story of how our ministry and mission impacted the community in 2024 and our aspirations for 2025. Further details on our budget and the pastors’ Terms of Call are available from the office upon request.

Ministry & Mission Budget Allocation

Every year, the session tries to give the gathered community a picture of the work of Binghamton United Presbyterian Church. The Session has chosen the charts and brief descriptions to reflect the priorities that guide our decisions about finances, the building, the staff, and the community. This year as we are continuing to reflect on our mission statement, we have divided the expenses into “Walking Humbly With God”, which reflects our worship and congregational life, and “Acting Justly and Loving Kindness”, which reflects our mission and hospitality programs.

It has been suggested elsewhere that providing breakouts of the specific administrative categories under which bills are paid, like “property” and “personnel,” would help to understand the cost of our ministry. If you would like to see those breakouts, they can be found in the detailed budget report, available upon request.

The budget and mission priorities are established by the Session and presented to the congregation each year on the day that you all vote to reaffirm your relationship with the pastors by approving their Terms of Call. We always ask if there are any questions about the presentation or the priorities. This year we have another question: Do you believe that these are still the priorities for the congregation in the next ten years? Are you willing to support the mission of this church with regular donations, once a year or more often?

Walking Humbly With God

The vital center of our life as a congregation is the Sunday morning worship service, where our work begins and is nurtured in the love and worship of God. We witness to Christ’s enduring love for everyone by:

Welcoming people of all ages and cultures, celebrating and affirming LGBTQIA+ families and neurodivergent individuals.
Sharing the Word in a range of styles and experiences, accommodating special needs.
Praying for each other in good times and hard times, growing together in faith.
Encouraging children to participate in the conduct and leadership of worship.
Maintaining a presence and witness at Binghamton University through the Interfaith Council.
Supporting Christian formation at home with monthly education packets sent to families with children.
Offering monthly service projects and craft activities accessible to all ages and abilities.
Practical preaching focused on understanding and living the gospel.
Featuring varied and inclusive music, with instruments from organ and piano to shakuhachi and drums.
Providing a “Pray Ground” for children which offers age-appropriate activities within the worshiping community.
Offering a no-rehearsal Christmas pageant and hymn sing on the fourth Sunday of Advent.
Expanding the ministry of presence to ensure no one is left behind.
Supporting those in struggle and difficulty with our prayer ministry and card ministry.
Gathering as a family of faith, building a community to glorify God.
Welcoming new people and saying goodbye to old friends.

Acting Justly and Loving Kindness

Anyone and everyone are welcome here. Every day we learn more about how to be God’s people to provide a safe place for people to gather, to grow together, and to build each other up. We work together to participate in missions that strive to transform our communities through alliances and outreach to people at risk in our society. We support PC(USA) mission programs and offerings. In 2025 we will support and expand the following programs and ideas:

We partner with the Binghamton City School District to offer a chance to start again for adults who did not finish high school at the usual time and the alternative high school for students that need a different learning environment.
We support a case manager in the “Walk with Me” program in partnership with Family Enrichment Network, helping people returning from incarceration.
We provide a venue for training programs for community activists in the housing crisis and the work of anti-racism in Broome County.
We participate with VINES, CHOW, and the Food Bank of the Southern Tier to ensure everyone has access to nourishment.
We foster a community coming from all walks of life, to serve and share a meal around tables every Tuesday evening.
Our Community Pantry provides a “client choice” shopping experience every Wednesday, serving an average of 50 families each week. In addition to food items, our pantry offers hygiene products, linens and blankets, towels, small appliances, and kitchen utensils such as dishes, pots and pans, and flatware to anyone in need.
We belong to “Healthy Choice” and “Healthy Hunger Prevention” programs from the New York State Health Department and the Food Bank of the Southern Tier. We also have “emergency” food bags available with protein snacks for the food-insecure.
We maintain a small clothing closet, offering adult and baby diapers, socks, underwear, outerwear, knit hats, mittens, and scarves.
Once a week we have a case manager available to coordinate outside assistance services and counseling.
We partner with “Good Neighbors” and Addiction Center of Broome County to provide and stock an outside pantry for the local community.
We partner with Addiction Center of Broome County to host a 42-bed emergency shelter, provide a sharps box for safe disposal of needles, and maintain a Narcan supply for treating overdoses.
We allow shelter clients and other housing-insecure people to use the church mailing address to establish stability as they seek housing, employment, access to medical care, and face other challenges.
We support community cultural programs such as Tri-Cities Opera, LUMA, Porchfest, the American Guild of Organists, and the NAACP MLK Day and Juneteenth celebrations.
We support the Whuti-Srogboe congregation in Ghana, sending gifts each year and listening to the stories of their school and congregation.
We support Transnational Friends (Tri-Cities NY and Nairobi) in funding menstrual hygiene products for schoolgirls in low-income communities in Nairobi.
The Wednesday Sewing Group offers time for fellowship while creating quilts, hats, scarves, mittens, etc. to give away.
We support the work of Salvavision and the Tucson Samaritans with immigrants at the Mexican border, and have a “Corner of Hope” in the sanctuary to educate and inform community members.

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