A Word from Joel - June 4, 2025

In a time when so many people are suffering from loneliness, I’m so glad that you belong at Covenant during this exciting time in our church’s history. We had 387 people in worship on Easter Sunday. For perspective, we had 296 in 2024 and 292 in 2023. That’s a 91 percent increase and over 31% gain. What a testament to the health and vitality of our church! Our theme over the past year has been congregational vitality, and we are living it out. God is at work in our midst!

Belonging to Covenant connects you not only to others in our congregation but to our larger church body. The Presbyterian Church (USA) is made up of more than 8,500 congregations with over 1 million members (https://pcusa.org). For over four centuries, Presbyterians have been responding to the call of Jesus Christ, taking the gospel into the world and bearing witness to Christ’s saving love to the ends of the earth.

Being part of this broader community has a cost: it’s the per capita assessment that each member pays annually. This year the cost is $44, and I ask that you contribute your share to pay Covenant’s total assessment of $18,964, so that we don’t have to take that money from this year’s budget. Per capita goes to support the work of the General Assembly, Synod and Presbytery with the great majority of those dollars staying local. Per capita helps support local Presbytery staff and new initiatives, including a new worshipping community supporting immigrants and refugees in the greater Columbus area.
Per capita is about community. It is about committing to connection and support between all members of the Presbyterian Church (USA). It is about joining together and being one body, the body that is Christ's church in the world.

If you have not paid your per capita, please make a check out to Covenant with “Per Capita” in the memo line or go online at https://covenantpcusa.org/give and select fund, “2025 Per Capita.” It would be most helpful to have your contribution by the first of July.
In addition, I wanted to let you know that Covenant changed its budgeting from a fiscal year to the calendar year. We will have a Stewardship Campaign in the Fall for the 2026 budget, but in the meantime, I hope that you will continue your giving from last year’s campaign through the end of 2025.

Your support of our church is what makes everything we do possible. Without you, we can do nothing.

Yours in Christ,
The Stewardship & Budget Commission:
Claudia Herrold (chair), Karl Craven, Frank Croft, Mark Owen, Dana Rudmose, and Tori Vazquez