Monthly Minute with Pastor Andrew

Hello to all the Monthly Minute readers of West Hempfield Presbyterian Church!

As we plan for 2025, we reflect on 2024.

2024 has been a good year for the WHPC. 

Many difficult decisions were made in 2023, and we had to live out those decisions in 2024, which did bring some challenges. However, that hard work has already begun to show the signs of new life and budding fruit.

While we know church attendance trends here at WHPC and across the nation have been going down for decades, in 2024 we saw an upturn—not massive, but noticeable both in the feel on Sunday mornings and in our records. Average weekly attendance in 2022 had been 37, for 2023 it was 43, and for 2024 it has been 46.

Also of note, only one withdrawal from church savings was made in 2024, and thanks to a generous donor unknowingly giving at the same time, we were able to transfer the money right back into our savings one month later and still meet all of our financial commitments. Meaning, we met our goal of keeping expenses in line with our income for the year.

Additionally, thanks to generous donations and fundraising, we completed our AC Fund project by collecting (outside the budget) funds equivalent to the cost of the sanctuary AC units, effectively paying ourselves back for that 2023 purchase.

One more thing I’d like to celebrate from 2024 is a grant the church received—for reusable physical supplies for Outreach events (defined by the grant as church events that are for/invite the community). We have been able to purchase new signs, banners, and personalized table coverings to promote the church at events. We were able to buy new technology such as a computer, webcamera, and a Cricut machine with a wide variety of attachments and supplies that have been used to create gifts and crafts, cutting costs for VBS, Sunday School, and more. We were even able to create a mobile digital sign, currently in the lobby, that could go anywhere — from playing videos for Bible lessons at VBS to advertising church events at the Car Cruise.

The last two years, and particularly 2024, have shown WHPC’s faithfulness and God’s blessings in the midst of challenging times.

We’ve adapted and made changes, while holding firmly to the things that matter most. We have been faithful and generous stewards of our resources and preached the Good New of God’s Love in Jesus Christ through our words and actions.

2025 is bound to bring its own challenges, and we will meet them with (to highlight a Presbyterian phrase from our ordination liturgy) “energy, intelligence, imagination, and love” and with God by our side. We will hold fast to what is true and remain open to adapting and trying new things where needed and appropriate.

Blessings,   Rev. Andrew Wirt