Baptist churches like ours are governed according to congregational polity. This means that each church is independent and autonomous. We have no bishop or governing body outside our own congregation. This allows us a great deal of freedom in decision-making, but it also means that when it comes to financial support of the church’s operations, the buck stops here, so to speak. We set our annual budget as a congregation, and as a congregation we are responsible for covering all the expenses and priorities of that budget: personnel and building expenses, ministry efforts, Christian education, and so on.
Each year in the fall we enter stewardship season. As the church leadership develops a draft budget, we hold a pledge drive to meet our budgetary needs. This provides every member of the community an opportunity to exercise the discipline of giving, which is just as much an act of worship and devotion as prayer, singing, and reading the Scriptures.

NSI Collection

— On the second Sunday of each month we collect an offering for Neighborhood Services, Inc., a local social services agency that UBC has supported for more than forty years. We set up a barrel to collect in-kind gifts of canned goods and personal items, as well as a basket to collect monetary donations.

Fellowship Offering

— On Communion Sundays (the first Sunday of each month) we collect an offering to help meet financial needs within the congregation and in the local community.

Although Baptist congregations are independent and autonomous, we have a long tradition of cooperating with other congregations locally, nationally, and internationally to do the work of mission that we cannot do separately. As a member of the American Baptist Churches USA denomination, UBC participates in their mission efforts. We include a donation to ABCUSA in our annual budget, and we collect for the four annual offerings. Click the links below to learn more about these offerings.