{"id":1972,"date":"2015-12-30T15:40:29","date_gmt":"2015-12-30T20:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stjohnsonthegreen.org\/?p=1972"},"modified":"2023-01-08T20:17:37","modified_gmt":"2023-01-09T01:17:37","slug":"qa-st-johns-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stjohnsonthegreen.org\/?p=1972","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: Why is St. John’s considering moving?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated 12\/30\/15<\/em><\/p>\n

Q: Is St. John’s Church closing?<\/strong>
\nA: <\/strong>We would like to make one thing clear: ST. JOHN’S PARISH IS NOT CLOSING<\/strong>. The Vestry (our\u00a0governing board) is asking the people of St. John’s\u00a0to determine whether the congregation can afford to stay in its historic, iconic building at 16 Church Street in downtown Waterbury. One possible outcome is that the voting membership will decide\u00a0to move to a different, more affordable, location. If and when that happens, the building at\u00a016 Church Street would indeed cease to be a house of worship for the Episcopal Church.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q: Why can’t St. John’s stay where it is?<\/strong>
\nA: <\/strong>Operating, maintaining, and insuring a large 140-year-old church building like St. John’s is very expensive. The congregation’s financial pledges fall far short of being able to do this. The membership\u00a0has been shrinking and\u00a0aging, which is true of\u00a0all denominations currently. \u00a0It’s very similar to a family living in a house that’s too big, while\u00a0not earning enough money to pay the mortgage, utility bills, and insurance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q: What process will be used to make this decision?<\/strong>
\nA: <\/strong>Although the Episcopal Church in Connecticut has a process for closing churches (click here for more<\/a>), the vestry of St. John’s hopes not to close. \u00a0The process for determining the future of St. John’s will involve discernment on the parish level in collaborative partnership with the Bishop and Standing Committee (governing board) of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut. While each church is governed by Canon Law, we will need to plan for the future through conversations with our lay membership, ordained leadership, and partners in ministry in the diocese.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"010721_outside-square\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Q:\u00a0Are there other options?<\/strong>
\nA:\u00a0<\/strong>Technically, the voting members of St. John’s Parish will be asked to choose from the following options about how best to worship and continue God’s mission in our community:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Continue at our 16 Church Street location until\u00a0all of our financial savings\u00a0(our endowment) is gone.<\/li>\n
  2. Move\u00a0to a new location, by\u00a0appointing a search committee to find an appropriate\u00a0site.<\/li>\n
  3. Merge with another Episcopal Church.<\/li>\n
  4. Permanently close the community known as St. John’s Episcopal Church. \u00a0Members will make individual or family decisions about transferring to another church\u00a0of their own choosing.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The first three options could include a commitment to undertake a major capital campaign to rebuild the parish’s finances for future sustainability.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Q: This seems so\u00a0sudden. \u00a0Is this new?<\/strong>
    \nA: <\/strong>No. \u00a0St. John’s Parish has run a budget deficit for many years. \u00a0We have not been able to afford our building, and balance our budget, for a long time.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Q: Were the\u00a0people of St. John’s\u00a0aware of this problem?<\/strong>
    \nA:\u00a0<\/strong>Yes — or at least, they\u00a0should have been.\u00a0A few\u00a0long-time parishioners\u00a0remember\u00a0discussing\u00a0the budget deficit back\u00a0in the 1960s!!<\/p>\n

    Many people — some still at St. John’s, others who have left the parish —\u00a0recall with great fondness\u00a0the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. \u00a0Membership and staff were growing. \u00a0St. John’s was a livelier and younger place.\u00a0Despite the size, energy, and vision of the congregation, the financial deficit\u00a0never disappeared. \u00a0In October 2002, the Rev. Jim Bradley,\u00a0Rector of St. John’s at the time, wrote in “The Outrider” (the parish newsletter) about the budget deficit and its long-term impact on the parish:<\/p>\n

    One place we must begin is in increasing pledged income. It is time each of us determined how we can more fully support the parish financially. An increase of pledged income of 25% coupled with judicious and wise budgeting could nearly eliminate the expected shortfall. Even that, however, would be only a short-term solution. We are challenged as a parish to create a vision for St. John\u2019s future that would deal with finances for the long run.<\/strong><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Q:\u00a0If St. John’s has had a budget deficit for many years, how could it have stayed in the building? \u00a0Where did the money come from?<\/strong>
    \nA: <\/strong>Some of it came from judicious and wise budgeting, as Rev. Bradley suggested. \u00a0Our budget and staff have been cut significantly over the past five years. \u00a0These cuts have helped us stay at 16 Church Street for about two years longer than we would have otherwise.<\/p>\n

    Some of it came from the sale of property that was gifted to the parish, but no longer needed for our use. \u00a0Over the years, St. John’s sold a rectory, a small apartment building, and wooded acreage that could not be developed.<\/p>\n

    A large amount came from St. John’s great fortune to have a substantial endowment. \u00a0This “savings account” was built up by generations of families and individuals who have been part of St. John’s since its founding in the year 1732. \u00a0At its peak in the year 2000, the endowment was worth about $4 million. \u00a0Today, it’s worth $700,000, with half of that amount restricted for special purposes. \u00a0The other half, about $350,000, can be used for deficit reduction.<\/p>\n

    If we do nothing,\u00a0we have\u00a0enough money in the endowment to sustain the current situation until\u00a0sometime in the year 2017. \u00a0At that point, the church may have no choice but to close.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A few questions and answers about why St. John’s Parish is considering moving from its current building in downtown Waterbury. Read More <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1990,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[214,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-building","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stjohnsonthegreen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stjohnsonthegreen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stjohnsonthegreen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stjohnsonthegreen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stjohnsonthegreen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1972"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stjohnsonthegreen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1972\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11470,"href":"https:\/\/www.stjohnsonthegreen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1972\/revisions\/11470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stjohnsonthegreen.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stjohnsonthegreen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stjohnsonthegreen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stjohnsonthegreen.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}