financial support lacking

In 2010 we were short by a little over $21,000 or about 15% of our required annual support amount of $142,000. This is the greatest shortfall we have experienced since 2001.

The chart at the right tracks our donor support over the past 10 years. The red vertical bar is our financial support package for each year, and the blue bar shows our actual income for that year. (Click to enlarge.) In 6 of the last 10 years our donor income was lower than our required support, 3 years our income exceeded required support, and 1 year (2009) our income was equal to our required support.

Our current deficit posture is due to (1) the relentless strengthening of the Japanese yen against the dollar, (2) the loss of our yen-generated income, and (3) decreasing donations from our US supporting churches. The first item in that list is the most significant.

(1) Over the past four years, the Japanese yen has increased against the dollar (both US$ and CA$) by 35%. In July 2011 alone, the yen increased by 5% against the dollar! See the chart at the right (click to enlarge). There seems to be little inflation in Japan. But the strong Japanese currency makes the country expensive for people like us whose funds are sourced outside Japan.

(2) From fall/2007 through spring/2010 we received the dollar equivalent of about $1800 per month (received in yen) for Dale's part-time theological education ministry and our part-time interim pastoral ministry in Tokyo. This amounted to about $20,000 per year for that period of time. During our home assignment we are no longer engaged in these ministries. Furthermore, when we return to Japan in Nov/2011, we will not likely take up these same ministries. We do not anticipate a large amount of yen-generated income in the next few years.

(3) Since late 2008 we have seen a steady decrease in donations from our US supporting churches. This downward trend is most noticable in 4th quarter donations over the past four years: see the chart at the right (click to enlarge).

So we have been in a financial support lacking posture during the last half of this home assignment year. We even opted not to take salary for one month in order to help strengthen our support account.

This, along with strong donor income in November has increased our support account balance to the minimal level required for returning to Japan. So we will be leaving the US for Japan on Jan 1, 2012, hoping that our donor income will hold once we return.

Thank you for praying!

December 12, 2011