What is our goal?
This campaign will focus on several key projects anchored in our prayerful hope of what Christ the King will become over the next several years. You are invited to actively participate in this three-year ministry campaign with your financial support.
“While you have the light, believe the light, so that you may become children of the light."
Primary Focus Areas
Maintaining a Second Called and Rostered Pastor
Core Values: Christ-Centered Worship; Fostering Faith; Embracing All God’s Children
Plan: funding the Associate Pastor position for the next five years, giving CtK time to integrate the position into the operating budget long-term
Cost: $300,000
Why: Maintaining a second pastor benefits the entire congregation and our community partners ensuring ongoing ministries.
Investing in Youth
Core Values: Side by Side in Service, Fostering Faith
Plan: to study the changing needs of today’s youth, create a ministry plan that addresses their needs,and fund the staffing needed to implement the plan.
Cost: $200,000
Why: In a world where identities are formed by social media and societal pressures, we have a tremendous opportunity and responsibility to nurture the spiritual growth of our youth while strengthening connections among families, church members and the broad Christ the King community.
Maintaining our Property
Core Value: Embrace All God’s Children, Living Lightly in God’s Creation
Projects: Heating and cooling units; resurfacing of parking lot, refreshing space
Cost: $400,000
Why: Maintaining our property is crucial to continue to be a welcoming place for all and to continue to grow into a resource for the entire community.
Technology and Accessibility Upgrades
Core Value: Embrace All God’s Children, Living Lightly in God’s Creation
Projects: replace and upgrade technology
Cost: $107,000
Why: Upgrading technology increases access to all people, allowing CtK to grow more vibrant ministries for both in person and online communities, including improved energy efficiency enhanced functionality; this will position CtK to take advantage of continued technological advances.
Community Partners with Youth
Core Value: Side by Side in Service
Project: 3 new buses
Cost: $52,000 (with CPY also raising $52,000)
Why: Transportation is the vital link between the asset of CPY for elementary and middle school children and their schools and home; without buses, there are no students learning, growing, and being mentored in a safe and nurturing environment for the sake of their development and the health of our community.
Extending our Reach: Additional Projects
In addition to the primary focus areas of the ministry campaign shared in detail in the brochure, the ministry campaign encompasses several additional needs (outlined below) to further live out our mission.
| Community Program Support | Initial Goal | Stretch Goal | About |
|---|---|---|---|
| Planting More Hope | $32,000 | As part of the St. Paul Area Synod, we invest in the future of the church by supporting young adults who will serve as future leaders of the church, both as rostered ministers as well as engaged lay leaders. | |
| Rain Garden | $32,000 | $10,000 | A true community benefit with multi-level partnerships with Rice Creek Watershed, Ramsey County, Highview Middle School, CPY and Marigold Preschool, a rain garden reduces runoff, fooding, improves water quality, and provides habitats for pollinators and wildlife. |
| Risk Assessment | $50,000 | $30,000 | In order to provide a welcoming and hospitable environment, enhancement of safety and security is vital. |
| Global Missions | $50,000 | $75,000 | CtK has established and fostered relationships with global partners to grow our resource commitment to serve all people. |
| Local Missions | $50,000 | $75,000 | Long-standing community partners are co-workers in our baptismal promises to live among God’s people and strive for justice and peace. |
| Outreach | $10,000 | $15,000 | Broaden our care and love for our neighbors and the ability to share the gospel. |
| Cultural Competency | $50,000 | Living in a culturally rich and diverse metro area requires us to expand our mutual understanding, to welcome and be good neighbors to all. | |
| Ministry Birth to Age 3 | $10,000 | $20,000 | Supporting families in the joys and challenges of parenting in faith during a child’s early years lays a foundation of support and community for years to come. |
| Feeding Neighbors | $30,000 | $20,000 | Offering a monthly community meal brings people together, fosters social connection, creates a sense of belonging and promotes overall well-being, which can lead to meaningful conversations and stronger relationships. |
| EIA Tranpsortation | $12,500 | $5,000 | To offer rides and support to individuals without access to transportation to attend worship and events. |
| Community Church | $50,000 | $40,000 | The gift of our building and its grounds lend itself to being a resource to the community for concerts, art shows, cultural festivals, yoga classes and more. |
| Community Program Subtotal | $376,500 | $290,000 |
Building and Grounds Support
| Community Program Support | Initial Goal | Stretch Goal | About |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sanctuary Upgrades | $10,000 | $20,000 |
Updating our space will accommodate the diverse physical/visual / auditory needs among those who lead worship from the front and those who participate from the pews |
| Front Office | $20,000 |
A welcoming and inviting office supports the need for community and congregation members to be received hospitably while also increasing functionality for staff. |
|
| Narthex | $11,000 |
Creating and maintaining a welcoming space seeks to foster connection between and meet the evolving needs of both ministries and community programming. |
|
| Nursery Refresh | $4,500 |
As households with small children continue to enter the building, an age-appropriate space with well-kept toys, supplies and updated safety measures pay attention to the needs of the youngest among us |
|
| Outdoor Hospitality | $3,500 | $50,000 |
Extending welcome and care beyond the walls of our church building will acknowledge and affirm the presence of neighbors who use our property on a daily basis as they walk their dogs, play basketball, ride their bikes, practice parking, pick up students after school, or travel to catch a bus on Silver Lake Road at all hours of the day. |
| Garden Lighting | $10,000 |
Enable better accessibility of our grounds to support increasing use of this outdoor space. |
|
| Care for Creation | $50,000 |
God created an amazing environment for life to thrive. We can be good stewards of creation by offsetting the human-made footprint on CtK's property, sustaining life for all. |
|
| AED Replacement | $15,000 |
Given the significant number of people who attend worship, Boy Scouts, CPY and community events inside CtK, an AED could be the difference between life and death in case of sudden cardiac arrest. |
|
| Building & Grounds Subtotal: | $59,000 | $135,000 |
Preparing to Respond
Before filling out your pledge card, please read through the document linked below. It will help you make a decision that is grounded in faith.
You can setup one-time, weekly, monthly, or annual payments using the button below.
Frequently Asked Questions
About the Campaign
Q: Why are we doing a ministry campaign?
A: The ministry campaign is a response to prayerful discussions and thoughtful discovery, including the recent cottage meetings that many participated in. It is an example of our mission in action as we envision how Christ the King (CtK) will expand the ways we demonstrate our love for God and God’s people. This campaign challenges us to venture courageously beyond our annual stewardship efforts to explore new thinking, stronger relationships and greater impact within and beyond the walls of CtK.
Q. What are the goals?
A. There are several key projects anchored in our prayerful hope of what CtK will become over the next several years. It includes a focus on growing our youth ministry, securing a second pastor long term, supporting our Community Partners with Youth (CPY) program, property care, and technology and accessibility, along with several smaller scale projects. Through these efforts, our ultimate goal is to be a beacon of hope through care, connection and belonging so that every person we touch feels more supported, understood and known as a result of this work.
Q. What is the timeline?
A. This campaign is a multi-year project kicking off this spring of 2025 with several weeks of focused engagement with the CtK faith community. The ministry campaign has a three-year giving period to allow individuals or a family to plan for their most generous gift. There will be opportunities to engage in discussion and learning throughout the extended campaign period. CtK members can expect to receive more information throughout March and April, with plans to confirm our individual giving commitments on Sunday May 11, 2025. The three-year giving period will end in April of 2028.
Budget & Financial Planning
Q: How does giving differ between CtK’s annual operating budget and the ministry campaign?
A: Our annual stewardship efforts every fall enable CtK to maintain a budget that sustains the basic financial needs of our church across community & global outreach, infrastructure, technology and staff. The ministry campaign is a separate financial effort that goes beyond our annual operating budget to achieve bigger goals that position us for growth and greater impact in the future. Contributing financially to the ministry campaign is a separate commitment from giving to the annual operating budget.
Q: How will funds be allocated to the ministry campaign projects?
A: Initial budgets have been developed for each project based on input from members of the congregation who submitted proposals that were then discussed and agreed upon by the broader faith community at our Campaign Summit in Oct 2024. To achieve our goals, we strive to raise roughly $1.5M with a stretch goal of $2M over a three-year period. You can reference the Additional Projects document for more details.
Q: How will the ministry campaign projects be supported beyond the three-year campaign?
A: We are in the early stages of this campaign and are stepping boldly into new ventures of faith, trusting in God’s guidance even when the path is not fully clear. While we cannot predict what our faith community will look like in one year or three years, our goal would be to integrate ongoing financial support for these projects into our annual operating budget over time. We remain open to learning and evolving as a congregation and community, trusting what God has in store for us.
Q. How will funding be prioritized if we don’t meet our $1.5M goal?
A. If we don’t meet our goal, funding will be prioritized to support the most critical needs. The finance team will work with the Council to determine how the funds should be allocated to align with the order of priorities approved by the congregation last fall.
Giving Logistics & Guidance
Q. How can I give to the ministry campaign?
A. The goal of the ministry campaign is to enable you to give your best gift, and there are several different ways you can contribute financially. You can give through traditional methods of cash or electronic contributions. You can also explore ways to make your gift greater while costing less than you may expect through creative avenues such as retirement plans, stocks and tax deductions. You can learn more by reading the “Creative Ways to Give” materials.
Q. Who should I contact to learn more about this?
A: If you’d like to learn more about a particular way to make your gift, you can contact your financial advisor, accountant, or our consultant, Rev. Jana Swenson, CFRE at jana@janaswenson.org.
Q. What if my financial situation changes over the course of the three-year campaign?
A. Your pledge to the campaign is not binding. If your circumstances change you can alter or cancel your pledge.
Q. Can I earmark my gift for one of the projects?
A. No, this ministry campaign is an opportunity to practice our conviction that all that we have is from a bounteous God and we are invited to freely share these gifts first given to us.
Campaign Related Blog Posts
CREATIVE WAYS TO GIVE
Are you 70 1⁄2 or older? You can use your qualified retirement plan to give.
SCENARIO: Kurt & Betty are in their early 70s and want to make a significant gift to CtK. They’ve accumulated $800,000 in their qualified retirement plans, and must now take their required minimum distributions despite the fact that they don’t currently need the entirety of their RMD to support their lifestyle.
OUTCOME: Kurt and Betty request a $25,000 qualified charitable distribution (QCD) from their IRA and direct it to their congregation, avoiding the payment of income tax on this portion of their withdrawal. They also name CtK as the death beneficiary of the remaining retirement funds, leaving other assets with lesser tax consequences to heirs.
Do you have appreciated stock? Make a larger gift than you might imagine with it.
SCENARIO: Bob & Mary are in their late 50s with two young adult children who they’ve already put through college. They both want to increase their 2025 commitment to CtK.
OUTCOME: Bob & Mary decide to gift $10,000 of appreciated stock to CtK. Since the stock was inherited at cost basis of $4,000, the Smiths will avoid paying $900 in taxes on the $6,000 of capital gains. The Smiths also qualify for a charitable tax deduction and have an income tax savings of $2,800. After both tax benefits, the net cost of the gift to the Smiths is only $6,300.
Do you itemize your tax return? Increase your gift impact without increasing your gift amount when you itemize your tax deductions.
SCENARIO: James & Beverly are in their 40s with two school-age children, and they want to make their best gift from their regular income to CtK in 2025. Before taking a closer look, they’re imagining a one-time gift of $7,500.
OUTCOME: James & Beverly consult with their accountant and confirm that a larger gift will make them eligible to itemize their deductions this year. They decide instead to give a $10,000 gift, take the charitable income tax deduction, and at their income tax rate, the net cost of the gift to them will be only $7,200.
Do you have accounts you are not utilizing? Replace or even increase your income with certain gifts.
SCENARIO: Carlos & Rosa are both 79 years old. They want to make a significant gift to CtK, but would like to avoid reducing their current income. They have a $50,000 CD maturing, and though they’ve never needed the principal, they like the idea of receiving a guaranteed income. If renewed at the current 1% rate for another 24 months, they’ll receive $500. However, if they gift the $50,000:
OUTCOME 1: $25,000 could establish a charitable gift annuity that, at their respective ages, provides a guaranteed, fixed payment for both lives of 6% or $1,500 per year - 3 times the CD return. They can take a charitable income tax deduction for their gift, and receive a portion of the annuity’s income tax free. After the second death, the church receives the charitable gift annuity’s remainder value.
OUTCOME 2: $25,000 could be given as their response to CtK’s Ministry campaign, and they are eligible for a charitable deduction, effectively reducing the gift’s costs.
Making the Most of Cash Gifts
MAKING THE MOST OF CASH GIFTS
Below are some practical ways to stretch your budget to make room for a gift to CtK:
As we become more aware of our spending each week, we can choose to minimize expenses. Consider the following:
• Starbucks: $6.25 Skip one a week for three years and make a pledge of $912
• Vacation: $3,000 Stay home one year and make a pledge of $3,000
• Lunch out: $15.00 Brown bag it twice a week for three years and pledge $4,680
This involves postponing a planned expenditure such as a new car, sailboat, vacation home, and applying the same monthly payments toward the capital campaign.
Many families learn to budget their money for short-term heavy expenditures, for example while their children attend college. The same philosophy applies when budgeting money to support a campaign.
An income tax refund or portion of an inheritance recently received are examples of gifts of unexpected cash.
Many people have incremental salary increases, or bonuses which they include as part of their gift.
One man postponed his retirement and gave away a portion of the income. Another woman worked a seasonal job and donated what she earned.
More Information
At no cost or obligation, you can receive more information, a personalized illustration, and a confidential consultation to help you make an informed decision. Contact: Jana Swenson
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