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We want to give you a quick update on our finances because we believe it’s super important to keep things transparent and accurate when it comes all things money around church.
How did 2024 go ‘financially'?
Well, there’s good news and bad news.
The good news:
In 2024, we grew our assets significantly. We finished the renovations at Garden Suburb, and we also purchased our future office on Rosewood Close. In total, HBC now has about $10 million in fixed assets—Amazing! But, as you can imagine, this also means we’ve had to take on some extra costs, like loan repayments, new equipment, signs, maintenance and resources. And that’s on top of costs for the City campus as well. In total, it cost us just under $3 million to run church in 2024.
The bad news:
Our income wasn’t quite what we expected. While we received some really generous donations allowing for outright purchase of the Garden Suburb office, our General Giving came in about 4% lower than last year. Since we’d budgeted with the expectation that giving would increase, that puts us about $200k behind where we thought we’d be at this point.
The Plan
We knew that expanding into the City and Garden Suburb would mean a few years of financial strain before we got back on track with our budget. Our plan, which we discussed with the bank, was to use our savings to cover things until General Giving catches up.
But since 2025 has a lot of fixed expenses, we’re going to make a few changes right away:
Cutting spending: We’re going to reduce costs across the board for programs. We always run things on a tight budget, but this will mean fewer resources, less food at events, and less new equipment.
Switching to interest-only loan repayments: For now, we’ll move to interest-only repayments to help reduce costs, but our goal is to pay down the principal as soon as we’re able.
Using our offset accounts if necessary: If General Giving doesn’t reach where we need it to be, we’ll tap into our offset accounts (about $500k in total for the Garden Suburb and Rosewood office) to cover interest repayments.
The Prayer
We desperately want to see people come to Jesus and be saved, grow and established in him for eternity. That’s why we’re invested in these buildings, and in our staff and programs. Our prayer is that we’d all pull together as a church family and stretch to cover our expenses in 2025 and beyond.
Thanks for being part of this journey with us!
New to Giving?
If you’re a part of our church we think it’s important that everyone partners financially in supporting church. It’s not about the amount, but the heart behind it.
If you want to think about giving as a Christian, check out a short resource on why God loves generosity.
Already Giving?
Praise God!
Maybe this is a moment you can take time to prayerfully look at your income and how you’re using the money God’s given you.
Some of us will be able to increase our giving as our circumstances change. Others can’t, and that’s totally between you and God.
Make it regular
According to our finance team, while 80% of our church members give at least once a year, only about 50% give every month.
While some households are intentional about giving once a year, most people are in a situation where it’s best to give regularly.
Please consider how you can make your giving to church a regular thing.