Annual Reports
22/01/15 05:27
The annual report of our congregation is a big deal to me. I work hard to make it informative, attractive and a document that we are proud to place in the permanent records of the church. I read the annual reports of other congregations to learn about their ministries and to garner ideas about how we might be more effective in the work that we do.
I’m also a bit compulsive about our annual report. There are some members of our congregation who don’t believe that we need the expense of printing our reports in color. There are others who don’t really care much about the reports one way or another. They pick up a copy, read some of the articles - check out their particular interest and move on.
This year, with the urging of faithful members of the congregation, we produced our annual report so that it was ready for circulation a week before the annual meeting of the congregation. This gave members an opportunity to read the reports and be more aware of their contents before they get to the meeting. It was a good idea and about half of our total print run is now in circulation.
It also means that I have already found some mistakes in the report. One major mistake required reprinting some pages in the report. We now have some reports (those that were printed before the mistake was discovered) that have a supplemental page. There are also other reports, including the one on our web site and electronic versions, that have been corrected. About 50 copies of the fully corrected report will be available for the annual meeting.
We try very hard to avoid mistakes. Three sets of eyes read the reports multiple times looking for specific types of mistakes. But we are human and humans make mistakes. And we are a church - we are in the business of forgiveness.
Still, there is a vision inside of me of producing a mistake-free report and I am my own harshest critic when we fall short of that goal. To be clear. The report is the work of a lot of people. Me taking the report personally is as irrational as expecting it to be free of mistakes. I know all of that in my head. Part of my way of being a pastor, however, is loving the church so much that sometimes I take things way too personally. It is one of those things that I am working on. It is one of the reasons I need confession every week. I’m not prone to the kind of big, visible, career-ending sins that create scandal in the church. I seem to be more caught up in the small, irritating sins that require constant attention and small corrections in my course each week.
I don’t know if the average person in the pew would notice this or not, but our usual print runs in our office are run on standard copier paper which is a 20# paper with brightness factor of about 90. It has a slightly rough surface which makes it feed nicely in the copier and produces a readable document. For important documents, such as our worship bulletins, we produce a large-print edition that is roughly 1 1/2 times larger than the normal copies. It works well for general communication.
However, for our annual reports, i want something that is even easier to read. Instead of using the stock paper that the church buys, I personally purchase a premium 28# paper with a brightness factor of 96 and a smooth finish. I have been told by some people that they can’t tell the difference, but to my eye it provides crisper text, sharper graphics, and a better feel in the hand. (I told you I’m a bit obsessive about the annual report, didn’t I?)
The premium paper allows us to use a slightly smaller font size without sacrificing readability. This is important because the reports take a lot of pages. It is also important because we do not produce a large print version of the reports. Those who do not have access to e-readers but who have vision challenges have to use a magnifying glass to read. The toner spreads on the less expensive paper making it appear fuzzy when magnified. On the premium paper, lines are crisper and the text looks much better under magnification.
Sometimes things that are so small that they go unnoticed by the majority of the people can be important to a few people. And sometimes those few find themselves on the fringes of the community because their concern isn’t shared by the majority. Sharp, clear, easy-to read text and pictures that are easy to see are important in communicating the work of the church to the whole church. Sometimes I can’t tell the difference between my obsessiveness and my desire to make everyone feel welcomed and embraced by the community.
We strive very hard to build a community that recognizes and honors all people, not just those who find themselves in the majority. Young readers, struggling to decode their first words, adults with learning disabilities or other challenges that require special assistance with reading, persons with vision disabilities or simply the normal process of aging - all of these people are key parts of our church community. All of these people have a right to feel like the annual reports are for them and about them. And when, in decades to come, some other compulsive person like me comes around and reads those reports, I pray that they will see the people who sometimes feel like they are on the margins.
I keep a couple of vertical files on the shelf next to my desk that contain the 20 most recent annual reports of the congregation. I know how to access previous versions of the reports as well. I look at them from time to time to learn more of the story of our congregation. Paging through them I can see that we are making progress. Ours isn’t a static community, but one that is growing and changing. That is good to know.
I hope the next couple of decades reveal continuing growth and a community where all people, even those who find themselves on the margins, are welcomed, embraced, and served by the church.
To take a look at this year’s report, follow this link: 2014 Annual Report.
I’m also a bit compulsive about our annual report. There are some members of our congregation who don’t believe that we need the expense of printing our reports in color. There are others who don’t really care much about the reports one way or another. They pick up a copy, read some of the articles - check out their particular interest and move on.
This year, with the urging of faithful members of the congregation, we produced our annual report so that it was ready for circulation a week before the annual meeting of the congregation. This gave members an opportunity to read the reports and be more aware of their contents before they get to the meeting. It was a good idea and about half of our total print run is now in circulation.
It also means that I have already found some mistakes in the report. One major mistake required reprinting some pages in the report. We now have some reports (those that were printed before the mistake was discovered) that have a supplemental page. There are also other reports, including the one on our web site and electronic versions, that have been corrected. About 50 copies of the fully corrected report will be available for the annual meeting.
We try very hard to avoid mistakes. Three sets of eyes read the reports multiple times looking for specific types of mistakes. But we are human and humans make mistakes. And we are a church - we are in the business of forgiveness.
Still, there is a vision inside of me of producing a mistake-free report and I am my own harshest critic when we fall short of that goal. To be clear. The report is the work of a lot of people. Me taking the report personally is as irrational as expecting it to be free of mistakes. I know all of that in my head. Part of my way of being a pastor, however, is loving the church so much that sometimes I take things way too personally. It is one of those things that I am working on. It is one of the reasons I need confession every week. I’m not prone to the kind of big, visible, career-ending sins that create scandal in the church. I seem to be more caught up in the small, irritating sins that require constant attention and small corrections in my course each week.
I don’t know if the average person in the pew would notice this or not, but our usual print runs in our office are run on standard copier paper which is a 20# paper with brightness factor of about 90. It has a slightly rough surface which makes it feed nicely in the copier and produces a readable document. For important documents, such as our worship bulletins, we produce a large-print edition that is roughly 1 1/2 times larger than the normal copies. It works well for general communication.
However, for our annual reports, i want something that is even easier to read. Instead of using the stock paper that the church buys, I personally purchase a premium 28# paper with a brightness factor of 96 and a smooth finish. I have been told by some people that they can’t tell the difference, but to my eye it provides crisper text, sharper graphics, and a better feel in the hand. (I told you I’m a bit obsessive about the annual report, didn’t I?)
The premium paper allows us to use a slightly smaller font size without sacrificing readability. This is important because the reports take a lot of pages. It is also important because we do not produce a large print version of the reports. Those who do not have access to e-readers but who have vision challenges have to use a magnifying glass to read. The toner spreads on the less expensive paper making it appear fuzzy when magnified. On the premium paper, lines are crisper and the text looks much better under magnification.
Sometimes things that are so small that they go unnoticed by the majority of the people can be important to a few people. And sometimes those few find themselves on the fringes of the community because their concern isn’t shared by the majority. Sharp, clear, easy-to read text and pictures that are easy to see are important in communicating the work of the church to the whole church. Sometimes I can’t tell the difference between my obsessiveness and my desire to make everyone feel welcomed and embraced by the community.
We strive very hard to build a community that recognizes and honors all people, not just those who find themselves in the majority. Young readers, struggling to decode their first words, adults with learning disabilities or other challenges that require special assistance with reading, persons with vision disabilities or simply the normal process of aging - all of these people are key parts of our church community. All of these people have a right to feel like the annual reports are for them and about them. And when, in decades to come, some other compulsive person like me comes around and reads those reports, I pray that they will see the people who sometimes feel like they are on the margins.
I keep a couple of vertical files on the shelf next to my desk that contain the 20 most recent annual reports of the congregation. I know how to access previous versions of the reports as well. I look at them from time to time to learn more of the story of our congregation. Paging through them I can see that we are making progress. Ours isn’t a static community, but one that is growing and changing. That is good to know.
I hope the next couple of decades reveal continuing growth and a community where all people, even those who find themselves on the margins, are welcomed, embraced, and served by the church.
To take a look at this year’s report, follow this link: 2014 Annual Report.