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1993 was a harrowing year for Xenos Fellowship, but God was able to bear solid spiritual fruit through it all. While in the midst of a struggle to adjust to organizational change and to purchase a facility, the church was rocked by a full-scale division. Several hundred people elected to leave the church for a variety of reasons, mostly during the summer months. This group represented up to 20% of the attendance of our entire church, most of whom are still in Christian fellowship at other area churches. We wish these brothers and sisters in the Lord well.
For those of us who have elected to remain, the Lord has treated us to some important answers to prayer through the success of the ministry, especially during the last half of the year.
Xenos had the honor of cooperating with hundreds of other churches in the Billy Graham Crusade in September. Xenos elders had been intimately involved in the early efforts to bring Graham to Columbus, and by God's grace we were able to become the number one church in central Ohio in terms of volunteer participation.
We also saw the church recover from a dreadfully low level of income during the first half of the year to finish the year in the black. The last quarter of 1993 was the second best quarter on record in terms of giving, in spite of the fact that a large portion of the church had just departed. Spending cuts were also helpful in finishing the year in good financial shape.
Workers and leaders in Xenos have voted to adopt a Servant Covenant which expresses our commitment to the Lord and to each other as his servants. The covenant helped the leadership of the church clarify their vision for ministry in the future: The formation of a mature, highly qualified and committed force of Christian lay workers. This vision has fostered increased unity and motivation.
In the field of ministry to the poor, Xenos has been enabled to continue expanding, receiving several local and national awards for our work. A Xenos elder had an important book released nationally, and another book placed in contract for release in 1994. Finally, a new influx of first time visitors have arrived, and scores of people have met Christ personally.
The weekly task of dividing the Word of God through scores of grounding groups, classes, children's ministries and discipling groups has gone forward faithfully, furthering the training of hundreds of young Christians. At the same time, scores of home fellowship groups have continued caring for their members with fellowship, prayer, and teaching.
In another important development, Xenos introduced a voluntary pledge program and a fiscal support team during 1993. These measures show good promise for correcting the perennial problems with giving in the fellowship for the future. Those families who pledged during 1993 were remarkably strong in their support of the church. The fiscal support team is composed of those who qualify as committed supporters of the church. The 150 families involved also had the opportunity to decide by vote where the fellowship will expand in discretionary spending. The fiscal support team retreat, normally scheduled for early December, this year was held in January because of problems securing a facility. The retreat, which was hailed by those who attended as one of the great experiences in recent years, resulted in budgetary decision for 1994 which are reflected in this report. Our overall goals were as follows: 1)Growth in giving during 1994 of 1% over 1993 levels, and, 2)Expansion of the fiscal support team from an average attendance of about 200 to at least 400 next year.
In this year's annual report, we will go over the past year along with the basic goals and mission for the coming year. The report is organized into divisions. Each division has provided a summary of budgetary information as well as a staffing summary, as requested by the Fiscal Support Team. Since so many positions in the church are part time, we have converted the staffing levels into full time equivalents. This means that the part time staff hours have been added up and divided by 40, to reflect 40 hour per week positions.
The mission of Xenos Christian Fellowship's Evangelism Division is to serve God by administrating an effective witness for Christ in Greater Columbus, other cities in the United States, and to unreached people groups throughout the world. This mission contributes to the mission of Xenos Christian Fellowship in that it encourages people to respond to God's love through loving service toward Him and all people by:
| Department | 1993 Actual | 1994 Budget |
| Division Coordinator | $28,376 | $36,750 |
| Student Outreach | $67,554 | $77,286 |
| Adult Seeker's Meetings | $41,976 | $52,217 |
| Adult Outreach Projects | $195 | $400 |
| Domestic Missions | $5,699 | $7,508 |
| World Missions | $116,074* | $28,220 |
| Totals | $259,874 | $202,381 |
| Supervisory | Other | |
| Full Time Equivalents | 2.98 | 1.85 |
| 1994 Budget | $117,159 | $31,760 |
| Average | $39,315 | $17,167 |
*Includes off-budget support of Southeast Asia Team
Student outreach continues to be a major focus within Xenos. Last year we saw improvement in our outreach efforts to non-Christians at the Junior & Sr. High levels. The Campus ministry decreased numerically, mainly due to the work force becoming more defined & committed to a college ministry on Campus.
Adult outreach became a welcomed focus this year with the advent of the Conversation & Cuisine ministry team and the week long Greater Columbus Billy Graham Crusade. Several Home groups incorporated the Conversation & Cuisine strategy in their outreach efforts and bore much fruit as scores of guests participated in the outreach dinners. Xenos mobilized hundreds for volunteer evangelistic service at the Filly Graham Crusade. This was a higher level of participation than any other church in Central Ohio.
World Missions set out to gain firm directions for our two field teams. This was accomplished as the Southeast Asia team was sent to the field early in the Fall and the Brazil team charted a new ministry direction with the Worldteam missions agency. Their goal is to return to the field later this year.
This division will again prioritize student outreach. This year we will work on having our students take more ownership in evangelism and follow up. We also will spend more time equipping and training our Campus workers for outreach & discipleship effectiveness by providing 6 month study groups. In Adult Outreach, we will implement the operation of a new booth at our Adult Seekers meetings which will empower proven workers to personally welcome first-time guests. We also hope to bring several other home groups on board with the Conversation & Cuisine team. In World Missions we hope to establish a more defined direction for our ministries and then begin mobilizing the church toward that end. Finally, since we now have the man power to devote more time to our Domestic churches, we will provide a church council retreat for our Cleveland, Cincinnati, & Dayton churches.
The mission of Xenos Christian Fellowship's Pastoral Division is to assist Xenos members in drawing close to God by providing an environment suitable for long term growth and service to their families. This mission is accomplished by providing:
Surveys show that members of home groups are happy with their groups, but some leaders need more vision for their home group ministry. We have responded to this problem by instituting a quarterly Home Group Enhancement Meeting. Attendance has been growing and feedback has been very positive.
The counseling department scaled down according to the plan adopted in 1992. Katei Downs is our only pastoral counselor and we now offer shorter term counseling. We are happy with the preliminary results of this biblically based counseling that focuses on here and now issues in the clients' lives. The cost of counseling is now down to $32 per session. We continue to offer short-term pre- marital counseling with Bev Delashmutt at $20 per session.
OASIS started providing child care for a third Sunday Seekers Meeting this year. We still need more staff but we are happy that we could approach nearly 100% success in the staffing challenge. OASIS also provided the additional child care at a fraction of the anticipated cost. The program has provided more services to the parents than in the past. For example, parents can now get a bulletin that lets them know what is happening in their children's classroom that day
Calumet Christian School has been through a year of crises. The principal was terminated and the school experienced much distress at this time. Cindy Grover has filled in very well while a search committee has forwarded four final applicants for the principal position. The school has been through financial crises and other maladies, but has begun a solid recovery.
We plan to increase supervision of home churches in 1994 and to continue the same high level of supervision for other home groups. We expect to add many home groups in 1994 due to the number of grounding groups that will end this year. We have added staff to meet the group formation and support challenge. We are prepared to provide additional supervision for some groups by having volunteers with extensive home group leadership experience personally oversee a small number of other home groups. We expect that the new vision for Xenos and the monthly leaders' meetings will provide increased vision to Xenos home group leaders.
We plan to promote Katey's biblically based short-term counseling service. We also plan to offer a few mini-courses on counseling.
Pray for the OASIS staffing needs that will continue to be a difficult issue until we can get in a bigger facility and do fewer Seekers Meetings. Pray also for the curriculum writers in OASIS. We are starting to write our own curriculum and it is a major undertaking.
Calumet Christian School is glad to report a successful beginning to the 1994-1995 enrollment We are already within four students of the current enrollment. It is our goal to fill up many more seats before the fall. A middle school committee has recently produced some exciting plans for strengthening the middle school educational and spiritual program. One goal of reducing tuition costs to parents has already been met. The school is also close to producing three-year financial plans that may keep the cost to parents at current levels. The school's cost to Xenos is decreasing. In 1994, C.C.S. is budgeted to receive the least amount of subsidy dollars from Xenos since 1988. Plans are being developed to create a school board. This goal is likely to be attained in 1995. The administrative organization, which was recommended by Independent School Management, is scheduled for this year and will resume after a new principal is in place.
The mission of the Equipping Division is to provide the educational resources necessary for Xenos members to understand and apply biblical truth and to the ministry of Xenos Christian Fellowship. This mission is accomplished by:
| Department | 1993 Actual | 1994 Budget |
| Ministry Networking | $62,023 | $45,510 |
| Academic Resources | $49,103 | $63,566 |
| Media Concepts | $36,939 | $38,675 |
| Resource Center | $49,103 | $63,566 |
| Totals | $197,168 | $211,317 |
| Supervisory | Other | |
| Full Time Equivalents | 2.55 | 3.9 |
| 1994 Budget | $92,124 | $69,134 |
| Average | $36,127 | $17,727 |
Ministry NetWorking Completed NetWorking Seminars for groups on the waiting list from the 1992 lottery. In all they were able to graduate 450 people which represents a 95% completion rate. 67% of all graduates were successfully matched with ministries that are consistent with participant's burdens, gifting and personality.
Academic Resources completed the first "cluster" of grounding groups, while also finishing the writing of the Grounding Group curriculum. We offered "Welcome to Xenos" class twice, and we returned to a full range of adult education offerings.
Media Concepts Formed a volunteer staff of writers and technical personnel for Media Concepts projects, and raised substantially the quality of regular publications. We also produced promotional materials for many Xenos ministries.
The Resource Center successfully completed the transition to the new location. We also transitioned to partial volunteer staff to compliment regular paid staff. We were able to continue acquisition of new books, periodicals, audio and video tapes.
NetWorking plans to offer Seminars for graduates of the 50 Grounding Groups that will be finished in 1994. They also plan to complete a follow up study of NetWorking Seminar graduates from August '92 through December '93.
Academic Resources hopes to see 1000 Xenos members participating in adult education offerings, and to begin 6 new grounding groups with new Xenos members. We will be seeking a national publisher for the Grounding Group curriculum. We hope to expand the number of adult education classes to 6 per quarter.
Media Concepts plans to package and market three Central Meeting tape series. They also want to complete the ministry description sheets for the Information Booth, and Oversee the final revisions and edits for the Grounding Group curriculum.
The Resource Center plans to do the following: raise membership to 600, sell $22,500 worth of tapes, keep current on key periodicals at the center and transition to an increasingly volunteer staff.
The mission of Xenos Christian Fellowship's Operations Division is to facilitate the ministries conducted by the other Xenos Christian Fellowship Divisions. This mission is accomplished by providing the other Divisions with timely, accurate financial and statistical data, a mechanism ensuring effective inter-divisional communication, objective periodic evaluation of program effectiveness, human resources support, clean and comfortable facilities, and professional administrative support.
| Department | 1993 Actual | 1994 Budget |
| Operations Coordinator | - | 24,600 |
| Office Administration | 130,983 | 147,006 |
| Data Processing | 25,071 | 28,508 |
| Finance | 72,243 | 89,021 |
| Human Resources | 6,288 | 8,100 |
| Sound & Light | 41,282 | 45,949 |
| Facilities Maintenance | 283,560 | 314,423 |
| Total | $559,427 | $657,607 |
| Supervisory | Other | |
| Full Time Equivalents | 3.35 | 7 |
| 1994 Budget | 95,723 | 128,654 |
| Average | $28,574 | $18,379 |
The primary accomplishment for the Operations Division for 1993 was managing expenditures to ensure a positive fellowship cash flow for the year. The Operations Division itself completed the year $66,000 or 10% below budget. Additionally, the Division was able to meet all of its internal reporting deadlines (e.g. monthly financial statements, budgets, etc.) With the addition of Ken Keener as part-time Human Resources Director we made significant improvements in the areas of personnel policy and management.
In addition to meeting ongoing goals such as providing timely, monthly financial statements, the Operations Division will initiate several new projects and programs during 1994. The Human Resources department will finalize a human resource policy manual and will take the lead in implementing a ministry assessment program. We will also form Process Review Teams and conduct analyses of the major fellowship processes. We will consolidate purchasing for all Xenos departments and affiliates under Office Administration so as to improve control and take advantage of volume discounts. We will begin recording selected Seekers Meeting teachings digitally to improve the quality of master tapes and to allow for computer editing of the teachings. This will result in market quality tapes of our teachings. We will convert to a more user-friendly database and we will enhance our database design to better reflect our new ministry structures. This is important for organized ministry in numerous areas.
The mission of the Service Division of Xenos Christian Fellowship is to serve God by providing practical service to the Xenos, non-Christian and broader Christian communities. It contributes to the mission and vision of Xenos by encouraging its servants to respond to God's love through loving sacrifice toward him and all people. This mission is accomplished by:
| Department | 1993 Actual | 1994 Budget |
| Coordinator | $12,219 | $9,320 |
| Community Service | $86 | $5,500 |
| W.T. Bible Study | $13,522 | $22,322 |
| U. C. Subsidy | $71,987 | $66,801 |
| Urban Concern | $223,085 | $204,710 |
| Internal Service | $1,315 | $9,100 |
| External Relations | $8,643 | $10,820 |
| Totals | $330,857 | $328,573 |
| Supervisory | Other | |
| Full Time Equivalents | 2.6 | 5.5 |
| 1994 Budget | $97,564 | $117,818 |
| Average | $37,525 | $21,421 |
By the end of the year, most of the Primary Goals in this Division had been met. We ended the year under budget in spending by about 8%. Urban Concern was able to procure the funds necessary to accomplish most of its goals such as expanding the after school program and providing for significant growth in the Windsor Terrace Bible Study. These and other goals were accomplished in award winning fashion. The External Relations Department completed 11 projects; including participation in the Greater Columbus Billy Graham Crusade, the Veritas Forum, and the Fuller Small Group Seminar. On the negative side, we had to close up 2 ministry teams due to the loss of senior leadership.
This year the Service Division will again strive to accomplish its goals within budget. We hope to accredit a total of five new ministry teams (two in the Internal Service Department, one in the External Relations Department, and two in the Community Service Department). We will work with Urban Concern to further Xenos' strategy for community development through such projects as renovation of a Laundromat and another house obtained during 1993. These will allow substantial expansion of the after school program and the Windsor Terrace Bible Study. The External Relations Department has set a goal to complete an additional four projects. And, thanks to the budgetary increase the Fiscal Support Team voted in, we plan to add new Directors to the paid staff of the Internal and Community Service Departments.
Together, these goals will constitute a major step forward during 1994. The basic meat and potatoes of ministry at Xenos--reaching the lost with the Gospel, and raising up disciples of Jesus Christ in a wholesome community--will move forward substantially under this plan. Once we know the mission of the church for the coming year, it remains for us as members to come before the Lord to ask for the direction and power for each of us to play our part in that mission.
We also want to live out our part in the mission of the church in a way that honors God
because of its tone. Our tone and demeanor should be characterized by the love of Christ:
A love expressed through our unity with one another, our eagerness to lift others up in
humility, our firmness and discernment in the face of evil and falsehood, and our
commitment to the principle of personal sacrifice in the name of Christ. Pray with us that
God will empower us to accomplish this great and glorious mission his way.
