Our Beloved Community Building Up in Love

We worship and serve a God who calls us to build a beloved community rooted in love, justice, and grace. This year, we reflect on what it means to be a part of this community in the present and prayerfully consider the future we want to build together.

Ephesians 4 tells us that “to each one of us grace has been given grace as Christ apportioned it” (verse 7) and “Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (verses 11-13). We are equipped with blessings, resources, leaders, guidance, and grace from God to build His kingdom here on earth.

Our church is not the building at the corner of Park and 5th – our church is our community. The worship, fellowship, ministry, and service of Caldwell are done by our people. The community we have and the work we do require investments from all our people – time, talents, resources, and love. As we prepare for a new year in this beloved community, we ask you to prayerfully consider all that God has given you and what you can offer back to God in service of the kingdom.

A "narrated slideshow" video version of this 2025 Stewardship Campaign message is also available. (9.5 min)

Beloved

“Beloved” is one of the most powerful words in scripture. It proclaims our place with God. It is how the earliest Christians described Jesus. And, in Christ, we are the beloved - seen, embraced and gathered to offer love to others. How does that feel? Where else in your life do you feel “beloved” as you do here? How is God calling us to welcome others as “beloved” here in 2025 and beyond?

The sum of us and what we contribute. Our expression of what we believe God wants in the world. Our response to God. Our responsibility to bring to life according to what we want to make of it. The author of Ephesians declares that we are the beneficiaries of God’s “glorious grace, with which the Lord has blessed us in the Beloved.” As recipients of that grace, we pledge to make Caldwell a blessing to all.

A pledge is a statement of hope, a down payment for the loving grace of God we can never afford, a material claim that we have enough and want others to have enough, too - enough to eat, a place to sleep, enough dignity and justice, enough community, enough purpose, enough love and self-love that reflect God's love for us.

A pledge is added to others to allow church leaders to build a budget for 2025 - to retain excellent staff and ministerial leadership; to see to it that our buildings are shared with the city as God's property, not ours; to help ensure Caldwell can bear witness through the highs and lows of life.

A budget demonstrates values, what an individual or organization really cares about.

When our previous Associate Pastor, Gail, was on the payroll for five years, her benefits were covered by her husband's employment, costing us zero.

The Presbytery's Board of Pensions made a historic shift, effective January 1st, 2025, resulting in each church paying significantly more for the benefits of Pastors and their families.

Gail started working at Caldwell while still in Seminary, and was a wonderful pastor and leader for our community. To attract and hire a new, experienced pastor skilled in congregational care, promoting social justice, leading worship, and communications, we will have to offer a competitive financial compensation package.

Our outstanding Interim Associate Pastor, Dot, is Part-Time Status. In addition to the decreased expenses, this means an unfortunate decrease in Pastoral hours devoted to Congregational Care, Leading Worship, and Ministry.

Easter's Home

As Easter’s Home is completed in 2025, we will continue to make preparations to welcome our 21 new neighbors. Partnering with Roof Above, following the housing-first, permanent supportive housing model of addressing homelessness, we seek to not only directly provide housing to 21 Charlotte neighbors and residents, but also serve as an example for other congregations and communities around our region and nation.

Easter's Home will operate with its own independent budget, with no financial connection to the church's operating annual budget.

Your pledge and support of Caldwell Presbyterian Church in 2025 will enable our congregation to prepare to welcome and embrace our new neighbors in Easter's Home in all the appropriate ways.

We have built a home - 21 in fact. Next, we will build community. The physical construction and preparation of Easter's home, "brick by brick," will be mirrored by how we create a place of belonging, comfort, meaning and purpose for our neighbors as they settle in alongside our church family.

As we look toward 2025, we are called to build upon the legacy of love, justice, and radical hospitality that defines OUR beloved community. The work of Christ, which we have embraced in serving our members and neighbors, can only continue with your generous financial support.

With every pledge, we lay another brick in the foundation of God’s vision for us. Your contribution helps us welcome new leadership in the form of an associate pastor who will walk with us as we live out the Gospel in a world yearning for love and justice.