President's Report: God Continues to Bless UCC in Unexpected Ways!

In the midst of significant financial pressures, God continues to provide for the mission of this conference. After our three strongest tithe years in the history of the conference, from 2023 to 2025, we are seeing a 3% tithe increase through June 2026. We continue to praise God for the faithfulness of our church members throughout our territory! 

We have all felt the challenges of significant inflation, increased employee costs, and the impact of the Washington Salary Threshold — a Washington State law that requires exempt employees to be paid a factor times the minimum wage — over the last few years. In the past, that meant personnel reductions in both the office and our pastoral workforce. We believe that further reductions may radically impact our ability to serve our churches and pursue the mission of this conference. In fact, we are determined to look at every other option possible to avoid negatively impacting the mission of the conference in the future. 

However, even with the recent reductions in staffing in 2025, projections for 2027 and beyond reveal greater expenses than our projected tithe increases can cover. So, in partnership with our Executive Committee, we have been addressing these challenges through a multi-pronged “What’s Next?” strategy to both increase financial support and wisely reduce costs. 

Over the past year and a half, we have communicated with you about the challenges that we face, along with some of the options and next steps we have considered. Now we want to communicate with you where we feel God is leading. 

We are actively working on a strategy to increase tithe in the conference by 10% more than our normal increases over the next three years, and we have just begun this journey in 2026 with a conference-wide stewardship emphasis. 

We have appealed to the state of Washington for clarity on the Washington Salary Threshold law and may finally be seeing a path forward to some relief from the worst impact of that law on our employment costs. 

We are also joining many other conferences in sharing with the North Pacific Union and North American Division leadership our financial challenges and appealing for financial assistance with rising insurance costs. We are also calling for significant church restructuring to allow more of our tithe dollars to remain in the local field where they are given. 

In addition, we are exploring the financial benefits of downsizing our conference office building and establishing an operational endowment fund to provide ongoing support for the overall conference budget. With the support of the Conference Executive Committee, we have posted the property on some commercial real estate websites to determine if there is any interest and to establish a real price. Of course, any decision to sell would only be made by a vote of the whole constituency in session while considering a complete strategy for moving forward. Please keep in mind, the only reason we would consider this step is if in doing so it would further Christ’s mission through the churches, schools, and entities of Upper Columbia Conference. 

We are continuing to explore all options available to us that will help us reach a balanced budget, while continuing to share the good news of Christ’s soon return with our territory and the world. 

Lastly, we see evidence of God guiding us each step of the way through these financial challenges. And at the same time, we see His mission moving forward to reach men and women, and boys and girls throughout our territory through Serve One More. 

During the first two quarters of 2026 we have experienced the highest baptismal growth in the last decade in our conference. We are confident that God is leading us toward even more exciting growth to come, especially as we commit to joining with our world church in the General Conference 2027 “All Things New” outreach initiative. The goal is to proclaim to the world that Jesus makes All Things New through a worldwide evangelistic emphasis celebrating 2,000 years since Jesus began his public ministry and was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan river. 

There are some questions yet unanswered as we look toward the future, but we do know that Jesus Christ remains the CEO of UCC and He will continue to lead and guide us to fulfill the mission He has given to us. 

May God richly bless you as, together, we look upwards, keep our eyes on the Lord Jesus, and participate in His mission to Serve One More. 

This President's Report summarizes actions from the August 4, 2026, Executive Committee meeting.