As you come to worship this Sunday, October 28, be open through prayer, listening and a willingness to follow God's direction, to making your pledge for 2019.
The chart above shows different levels of giving and how many families give at each level. Wendy Fedderly walked through it with us on Sunday morning a couple of weeks ago. We have moved as a congregation from a place of scarcity to a place of abundance in our finances. She noted that having been part of the congregation since 2002, this is remarkable. She remembered many, many years when there were pleas for finances in order to basically keep the lights on, but now we are speaking in terms of how God is calling us into ministry, while keeping current with all our bills.
In light of this, she reviewed the giving units (“families”) and noted that we had moved in 2017 from 44 giving units to 61 giving units in 2018. This is a large jump. The largest single increase occurred in the lowest of the levels (around $5 a week) moving from 6 to 16 giving units. The thing that impressed her was that this is a significant entry point and leads to more giving.
In the top three buckets we moved from 13 to 16 units, still impactful.
She encouraged us as a congregation to consider this a call to keep contributing and seeing what God is doing through us as we give with the many ministries of our congregation.
Kari Suppes reviewed the "Gifts that Keep on Giving" opportunities, which included both areas to serve within the congregation's worship, and many opportunities outside of worship in weekly groups, outreaches, and opportunities to "hit the streets" for Jesus. She noted how no matter how we invest our time for Jesus during the week or on Sunday, each action is actually a "gift that will keep on giving" because of how many more people that action will impact.
So, consider what you can give of your time, finances, and gifts. If you are open to God’s direction, no matter how small or how large your contribution is, it will make a difference.
