Dear friends,

It is quite an honour for me to be confirmed as James Bay United Church Treasurer. I have been working in the background over the last eight weeks learning about our systems, our challenges and our opportunities. One of the most important jobs of the treasurer is to communicate clearly to the congregation(s), connected programs and groups, the broader community, United Church bodies and the CRA what our financial status is, and how we are using our resources to drive our mission.

Toward that end I will be reporting to you weekly, from now until our annual meeting about our finances. My style is to present in bullet-form, and not overload you with too much information in one message.

For Today:

  • Thank you to our interim finance team of Hazel, Franklyn and Alan who for close to two years did a deep dive into our finance systems, identifying significant risks and documenting a credible way forward for us. It is because of their groundwork that I feel confident in my ability to implement many of their recommendations in the coming months.
  • Thank you to our Board Chair Martin Stewart who has helped this year as we transitioned from one bookkeeper to another. With his help and research, we have settled with Cheques and Balances Bookkeeping Services. They are a small local firm who are giving us attentive, customizable, scaleable services.
  • We are almost ready to ‘go live’ with new bookkeeping software which will enable our Ministry and Program team leads to get the financial information they need when they need it. This will be a significant win.

That’s it! Just three quick bullet points per week to keep you informed about your church’s finances.

Stay tuned for next week:

  • How did we do last year?
  • What does the budgeting process look like for 2026?
  • Are we going to be ok? :-)

Gordon Miller, Treasurer
James Bay United Church

Ministries And Programs
JBUC Office