Written by Marlene Gasdia-Cochrane

Article from the news page of the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ website.

Seven years ago, eighty beachgoers spontaneously formed a human chain to save a family of nine trapped in a rip current. It took everyone working together to bring those individuals, unharmed, back on land.

That’s how the Keynote Speaker for the 5th Annual Meeting of the Southern New England Conference, the Rev. Dr. Courtney Stange-Tregear, introduced the concept of “God Math.”

“They came together and did together what not one of them, truly, could have done on their own. They saved lives, together,” she said. “There was no plan for it. They didn’t know how to do it. They hadn’t taken a course on it . They didn’t have architectural drawings and they didn’t have a savings account and they didn’t have, surely, a line item in their budgets for it.  And yet still, somehow, somehow, they did. They came together and together they saved lives when not one of them working alone could have done it. That sounds to me like some God Math.”

Stange-Tregear, Chief Relationship Officer for the Cornerstone Fund, went on to talk about how the key to God Math is combining “need” and “calling.”

“On that beach, in that ocean, that family had a desperate, critical need. An important, sudden, right-now immediate need. And the people on the beach, thankfully, were uniquely positioned to meet that need. That was their calling,” she said.

She went on to point out that there are needs all around our churches and institutions, and that we are called to meet them in unique ways.

“I maybe heard about this chain story when I was having lunch away from the beach and I maybe would have wanted to be part of that chain but if I wasn’t there, that wasn’t my calling. Needs are specific. Calling is unique. And these things come together. And yet even that isn’t enough,” she said.

“Sometimes we think that we are the only ones in charge of our destiny or our fate. We think that if we work hard enough and we study hard enough and we plan enough that it’s all going to just work out and we forget to make space for God. We forget to make space for God in our story, in our calculations, and in our addition. We forget to make space for a math that we couldn’t imagine working out. We forget to make space for the story going in a different direction than we could have imagined it going,” she said.

Stange-Tregear went on to talk about how the financial ministries of the United Church of Christ are built to carry out God Math. The idea, she said, is enabling churches to take on ambitious, faith-based projects that may seem financially daunting at first glance, but become feasible when viewed through the lens of faith and community support.

Stange-Tregear said many churches have their money invested somewhere, in different institutions, but often don’t know what that money is doing, or where in particular it’s being invested. With the Cornerstone Fund, they know that their investments are working to help other churches carry out mission, while at the same time allowing them to earn a return on their investment.

She shared several examples of “God Math” in action. One such instance was a congregation that took out a $4.6 million loan to renovate an unused hall to provide housing and support services for men in need. Because the project met a clear community need, the county pays the church approximately $1 million per year, effectively covering their loan repayments and the cost of caseworkers.

Another example was a church that invested in a large solar panel installation. Despite the initial cost, the project was largely reimbursed through government incentive programs, and the savings on energy bills allowed the church to pay off their remaining loan in just two years.

During the Q&A session, Stange-Tregear  addressed concerns about the risk associated with such large projects. She assured attendees that the Cornerstone Fund has a robust underwriting process in place to mitigate risk and works with congregations to develop viable and successful plans.

The address concluded with Stange-Tregear  reinforcing the message that the financial ministries are there to support and guide congregations, and encouraged attendees to reach out for assistance or advice. She emphasized that her role and the role of her colleagues is to offer support and guidance to those in need, and encouraged attendees to reach out with any finance, growth, or insurance-related queries.

“When you find yourself in need or having a question or even a hope. Or a wonder of what could be has anything to do with finance or growth or insurance or struggles, know that your financial ministries are here for you,” she said.

“I don’t think God calls us only to sacrifice,” Traeger explained.  “We are not called only to work harder and harder. We are called to find somebody to hold our hand. We are called to find many somebodies to hold hands and build a chain. We are called to lighten the load of one another. To work together. To do together.”

“We really can trust and believe that when we come together, we can all win. We can all benefit. We can all have a place. In God’s house and in God’s math.”