From the Board Secretary, on behalf of the whole Board of Management
Following the recent announcement and newsletter update regarding a change to NLUC’s Funeral Policy, the Board received some questions and concerns from a few congregants. The Board has reviewed the concerns expressed and recognized that we did not provide enough details regarding this change. We trust that providing some additional details and background to this new policy will be helpful to everyone, and hopefully address the concerns we have heard.
NLUC’s funeral ministry has a long history with our congregation. The Board definitely discussed and prayed through this decision at length over several months, knowing that introducing some fees is a significant change to a long-standing practice.
The rationale behind charging fees is to cover (at cost only) two areas where we have direct expenses: personnel honorariums (musicians, A/V, ministry personnel, etc.) and purchased food.
One of the most recent changes to our past practices, and our current expenses, is the need to purchase food from external suppliers (primarily the sandwich trays). The Funeral Tea teams made the shift to purchasing food post-pandemic, primarily due to health and safety reasons/regulations. It was also determined by the teams that making food offsite in people’s homes was no longer viable for a variety of reasons.
The shift to fees does bring NLUC in line with the practice of the vast majority of congregations, both in the United Church and outside of it. However, the Board intentionally chose only to set fees to cover direct expenses at cost (whereas many congregations also charge facility use, reception fees, etc.). This policy shift is not intended to make funerals a source of income for NLUC.
The Board still regards the provision of funerals as an important and sacred service of our church, and our Funeral Teas remain a special ministry of NLUC.
We continue to rely on the gracious and Spirit-led participation of our dedicated volunteer teams, who lovingly provide hospitality, coordination, and service as part of the Funeral Tea teams. There are no fees identified for facility use, ushering, set up and take down, decor, coffee and tea, or service. This is all accomplished by our wonderful and caring volunteers. Loved by God, we respond in love!
Finally, while revising the Funeral policy, it was also very important to Rev. Sam and the whole Board that there would be pastoral discretion to waive fees for families experiencing financial hardship. The information and communication regarding the fees include this important consideration, so that no one is excluded because of cost.
We appreciate the considerate questions and concerns we received. We are thankful for our caring congregation and the continued commitment to our Funeral ministry. We hope that these additional details help to better explain the update to the policy.
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NLUC