The mere thought of putting together a church annual report can cause church staff members to feel intimidated and overwhelmed by such a foreign task. Fear not! Completing this exercise is not as challenging as it may seem.
The following article will explain how to create a fun yet thorough annual report for your church. There is also a very useful sample as well as details on What Should Be Included In Your Church Annual Report, Common Components Of An Annual Report For Your Church and lots more.
What Should Be Included In Your Church Annual Report?
Typically, the first question that comes to mind when putting together a report of any kind is, “What important elements should we include?” One major concept to keep in mind when creating the report is that it should be more about inspiration and your ministry and less about the financial aspect of running a church.
Think of it as a casual presentation woven together with uplifting stories, inspiring images, and videos, encouraging data and achievements that will build confidence in the ministry, and a glimpse into the upcoming year that will help your congregation understand your church’s vision for the future.
Common Components Of An Annual Report For Your Church
Inspirational Stories
This is as simple as it sounds. Gather moving stories happening in the church throughout the year that will inspire both current and new attendees. Be sure to include great examples of how God and your church have impacted the lives of people in your community.
Relevant Pictures And/Or Videos
Including images of real people in your ministry is a great opportunity to showcase God, your members, the volunteers in your church, and events that your church has put together. Videos are also a nice touch if your report is digital. Both images and videos offer an excellent opportunity to show people that their contributions are being put to good use.
Statistics And Achievements
This section of the report should be used to present statistics related to attendance, tithes, a building campaign, money given to missions, baptism numbers, and other relevant information. The goal here is to be transparent and have congregants feel like they are truly a part of the process, and not to overload the readers with tons of data. Simple and interesting is the way to go here.
An Overview Of Future Plans
After using the previous sections to touch on stories, highlights, and statistics from the past year, this section should be dedicated to laying out plans for the coming year. Use this part of the annual report to fill your church in on upcoming events, recent developments, and any other exciting information that will build confidence in your ministry and clearly demonstrate your church’s vision for next year and beyond.
Youth Ministry Report
Forestgate Presbyterian Church June 2020 Congregational Meeting
Executive Summary: With the addition of a full-time pastoral staff member, FPC has had the
opportunity to begin to refine the Youth Ministry vision and format. The re-engagement of the Youth Ministry
Team has created consensus and buy-in. We recognize, however, that flexibility is essential, and we remain
poised to continue to improve Youth Ministry and adapt it to developing needs. My hat is off to Jeff Baron who
laid such a solid foundation and engaged in Youth Ministry with unparalleled dedication.
*Note: For clarity, Youth Group refers to our Wednesday Night activities, which is a large bulk, but not
the whole content of Youth Ministry.
Youth Ministry Team
After additional recruitment through the September and October time frames, FPC’s Youth Ministry
Team began meeting in November with me to discuss overall vision and goals for Youth Ministry. Then, in
order to reach these goals, the team has been further discussing the nuts and bolts of “Now what do we do with
the youth to make this vision a reality?” The Youth Ministry Team consists of: Curt Straeter, Bob May, Joel &
Rachel Smith, Bob & Kristen Welch, Jim Homoki, Esther Bobb, Stephanie Chon, Corina Smith, Mindy
Mitchell, and Cindy Schaefer.
Refining the Vision
FPC’s Youth Ministry has been nested under FPC’s mission statement. This overall nesting has
remained the same with some refinement: FPC Youth Ministry seeks to ensure our youth are ministered to
and challenged to minister. The nesting of this vision using FPC’s four E’s is as follows:
1) Exalt the triune God in the hearts of the youth through worship and biblical discussion.
(Deut 6:4-5, 20-25)
2) Encourage the spirit of the youth through fellowship & discipleship.
(Heb. 10:24-25, Titus 2:2-8)
3) Equip the minds of the youth to defend the faith and make God-honoring decisions.
(1 Peter 3:15, 1 Tim 6:3)
4) Engage the world in evangelism with service and serve the needs of the church.
(Matt. 28:18-20, Mk. 8:36, James 2:14-26, Mk. 8:36, 1 Cor. 12)
Refining the Format & Content of Youth Group
The focus for Wednesday Night Youth Group has historically been in two areas, namely apologetics and
discernment, through discussion of events affecting culture and ultimately the youth. These emphases have not
been done away with. As the Youth Ministry Team discussed overall vision and format for Youth Group,
however, we have expanded elements of Youth Group. The two main additions come in the way of added
curriculum and small group implementation. The Wednesday format is as follows: Wednesday, 6:30 –
8:45pm. 1) Worship in song, 2) Prayer together, 3) Lesson & discussion 4) Snacks & fellowship time. On the 4th
Wednesday, the large group lesson time is shorter, and we move into small group discussion.
Small Group Implementation
The YMT endorsed a plan for implementing small groups on Wednesday nights, starting on a monthly
basis. The YG averaged roughly 35 to 40 attendees on any given Wednesday (about half are FPC members,
others are from other churches or simply guests of a YG member). While the large group is stellar, it left room
for smaller groups to interact & discuss with one other and with adult leaders that aren’t their parents. The intent
of the small groups is to allow youth to get to know one another better, even those who are “outside their
circle,” in addition to having a voice from other adults. The adults are not intended to be teachers, but rather
discussion facilitators. We follow much the same format as other nights, but I shorten the large group time and
make it a springboard for the small group discussion. I provide discussion questions to the leaders to help them
guide the group.
The small discussion groups are divided up into Middle School, mixed gender, led by Mindy Mitchell
and Rachel Smith. The Freshmen & Sophomore boys group is led by Bob Welch & Jim Homoki; Freshmen &
Sophomore girls group led by Esther Bobb & Cindy Schaefer; Junior and Senior boys led by Bob May & Joel
Smith; Junior and Senior girls led by Kristen Welch & Stephanie Chon.
YG Curriculum
The YMT endorsed doing a topical study moving through the Westminster Confession of Faith. This
alternates with topical inserts of current events or issues. I make it a priority to make moving through the WCF
both invisible and applicable. It is invisible in the sense that we do not sit down and dissect the Confession’s
language in Chapter 1. Rather, for example, we discuss the nature of Scripture, how we know it is God’s word,
how God uses it to change us, and how we use it in speaking to others. In discussing creation, we don’t simply
discuss the merits of biblical creationism over theistic evolution, but also how we should interact with other true
Christians who disagree. In this way, the WCF study is applicable in the ways of assuring faith, calling to
repentance, comforting in Christ, glorifying God, and defending the faith, even discussing Reformed
distinctives with other Christians who disagree. Essentially, elements of exalt, encourage, equip, and engage are
always in mind.
I generally dovetail another current event or topical discussion off of the WCF topic. For example, in
discussing Creation, we hit on gender. In discussing man’s dominion, we discussed the moral question of
substance use / abuse (e.g. How do we biblically evaluate the use of alcohol, tobacco, or marijuana? What
makes use unethical? What makes use ethical?). After discussing the nature of fallen man, I used a testimony
video of one radically-fallen individual as a springboard for the small group discussion questions that month.
In sum, it is definitely a challenge to use the WCF as a guide in developing engaging topics and
discussions that also have current application. Nevertheless, it has proved incredibly beneficial and eye-opening
for many with regard to how far the application of theology must extend. Theology is not floating in the clouds,
but rather at the friction point of where the rubber meets the road in life.
Personal Discipleship & Counseling
Precious and I meet 1 on 1 with the Forestgate youth, or with their families either in our home or theirs.
This was of course put on hold for COVID-19 restrictions, but we have began again meeting individually or in a
small group in keeping with social restrictions. I typically would meet a male 1 on 1 at a coffee shop, or
sometimes a small group getting together for a game of disc golf. If it is a lady, Precious and I (and Leif) may
meet with them together at a public venue. Often, Precious may do a 1 on 1 with a lady or with a small group.
Through these relationships and interaction, Precious and I have been able to have youth open up to us about
issues in their lives, even serious issues of faith & practice that have resulted in longer counseling relationships.
Lord willing, through the synergism of small groups, personal interaction, and other ministry events, we
hope to be able to develop a more robust discipleship program populated with other adults that is relationshipbased, as opposed to being a cold “sign up to be a discipler” and “sign up to be discipled.”
Service Projects
The youth have been able to participate in a handful of service projects that serve the church & the
community for the cause of Christ’s name this year. Our goal is to conduct an average of one service project per
month:
1) October: Hosted the Reformation Celebration
2) November: Made placemats for the Springs Rescue Mission Thanksgiving Event
3) December: Collected shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child (Samaritan’s Purse)
4) December: Team of 11 packed shoeboxes at Operation Christmas Child in Denver
(Bit of a winter service project hiatus here. We had one scheduled for March but then COVID-19 happened)
5) May: Yardwork at the Seders’
6) Ongoing: Support of our sponsored child, Jederson Peralta, through Compassion International. The
youth are faithful in writing letters to Jederson and in raising the monthly support required.
Special Events & Retreats
Smaller Events
We had what I believe was our first YG Christmas Party; a great time of fun and socializing. I continue
to plan special events that allow the youth to do something with one another that encourages fellowship in
Christ and fun at the same time. We began a monthly movie night on a Saturday evening, and Precious hosted a
“Galentines” in February for the ladies. I look forward to more summer events as permissible, such as rafting,
hiking, escape room, board game night, bowling, BBQ at the Welches’ ranch, etc.
Bigger Events
The YMT endorsed a two-fold plan of action for Summer mission trips & retreats at the outset. 1) Send
a High School group to RYM Colorado in June, and 2) Middle Schoolers to be able to participate in Village 7’s
local retreat / mission trip in June. We found out, however, that there just wasn’t the interest needed for RYM,
and it was cancelled due to COVID-19 anyway, even along with the Middle School opportunity.
I will instead try to plan for retreat weekends that are shorter and more cost-effective. I liaised with
Drew Lintz at Village 7 and still think it is beneficial to be able to latch onto some of V7’s opportunities as far
as mission trips & retreats, for which he is also on board.
Ministry During COVID-19
Ministry activities took a different shape during COVID-19, and Youth Ministry was no exception. We
remain in touch with the Youth via personal contact and through weekly meetings on Zoom. We have a shorter
devotional time, a time of prayer, and usually a game or activity—it was quite amusing to see all the crazy
things they brought for show and tell, what they dug out of the house for the scavenger hunt, and the
combinations of food people ate for the “Show us Your Fridge Challenge!” (think of things like candy-covered
spaghetti Buddy ate in the movie “Elf,” except these combos were much worse). We look forward to being able
to gather back together in person soon!
Closing Thoughts
It has been an incredible privilege and blessing to be able to step into this role as an Assistant Pastor.
While I know that all of our youth have sin issues like everyone else, I am continually floored by the
engagement they have with their faith. It encourages and challenges me to hear someone ask, “Hey, can we talk
about suicide next? I went through that struggle, and know others might be struggling too.” Or, “How should I
interact with this 2 year old girl I babysit and her parents? They are letting her decide to be a boy.”
I look forward to continuing to improve on our Youth Ministry in conjunction with the Youth Ministry
Team. May they be ministered to and minister to others in and outside of the church. May they be sent from
Forestgate with a breastplate given by Christ, a sword in hand, a shield in place, a helmet donned, and a belt
cinched tightly, ready to carry the hope of the gospel to others with their feet shod (Eph. 6), after all, “How
beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Rom 10:15).
For His Glory,
Curt Straeter