The Annual General Meeting, held on 6th June, affirmed that we want to keep going with all our amazing missional work. That includes the expanded Olive Way team (currently approved by Church Council until 31 December 2024) and a new full-time pastor or minister for CYYA (or part time equivalents) for 5 years.

To fund this, we need a dramatic increase in regular giving, and/or donations to a “Current Mission Fund” that can be spent down over a few years (just as the Joan Gilchrist Fund has supported the Olive Way). How much do we need? In the form of increased regular giving, we’d need $40,000 this year as we ramp up, then $60,000 per year in future years (a bit more in the 5th year), to balance the budget across that 5 year period. Our current regular giving is about $225,000, so that’s a big increase.

Can we do it? We hope so, but the AGM decided to pause the CYYA pastor process until we have more confidence. We know that some BUC members are already giving as generously as they can; we celebrate that, and don’t want to pressure anyone! But others may be able to dig deep – who knows what God’s abundance will provide?

The AGM asked the Sustaining our Mission Task Group to work quickly, so that the Congregation can meet again in 2-3 months to make informed decisions about whether and how to proceed with calling a new CYYA pastor/minister.