Dear Members and Friends of IBCZ,I Timothy 5:18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The labourer deserves his wages.”One of the saddest sermons I think I ever heard was preached on the above by the minster of the new church we attended and became members of when moving home about 3 years after Carol and I were married.Suffice to say the minister, who is now in glory, had 4 sons all of high school age and though he brushed on the other aspects of eldership in the verses around the passage here quoted he saw fit to dwell on the pastor’s salaries and outgoings. The minister was the only paid staff member and the church was quite a well provided for church at the time, both in generous offerings and legacies but come the following Wednesday church members meeting there were a few disgruntled members voicing an opinion when a raise in salary for the pastor was brought to the church. Thankfully the motion was carried with no real problems as far as I recall.I offer no apology for mentioning this here today in regard to IBCZ as we are a church well blessed in many ways by the Lord. When I joined the church, many years ago now, we had a fund that was subsequently put to use to build the new school rooms and I know everyone, past and present, connected with the CM will agree what a blessing this had been. Just not needing the taxi to the other venue for the two older classes means considerable more time spent in teaching the children.The elders brought to the church in the January GM the campaign to build up a reserve fund. This was agreed at 60,000 CHF which equated to 3 months operating expenses. Just to repeat what this is earmarked for I remind the church that we called Pastor Bob and Daniela and have a duty to pay them the agreed salary as currently provided. However, we also have a duty to be able to continue these monthly payments should, for whatever reason, the giving be reduced for a time. So in a nut shell the reserve fund would be used to continue paying operational expenses should this ever occur. Bob’s salary would be a main component of this.The elders would like to thank all the people associated with the church who currently give regularly to God’s work at IBCZ but we thought it might be an appropriate time, half way through the year (yes frightening isn’t it? summer solstice already passed us by on Friday 21st) to remind us all what this portion of giving is in aid of.God Bless.