Giving Update | February 2024
A Great Start to 2024
Thank you for your faithful giving and generosity towards our mission as a local church. Jesus is the head of the Church, and your generosity is an act of worship as we strive to follow Jesus in a life-defining way.
Heading into 2024, we have some wonderful news to share with you. Our mortgage is officially paid off! That is right; our church is debt-free. The original loan on our building was 13 million dollars, and through your generosity, we paid it off well ahead of schedule. Just about twenty years ago, as a church, we started dreaming and praying about what was next. At that time, our location had several challenges, and God began to lead us toward a move out to our current location. At that time, the houses all around us were fields. Now, we see new neighborhoods popping up every day. In the next ten years, we will be in the middle of those new neighborhoods. What might God want to do in us and through us in the place he has planted us? Our lives and church exist to know Jesus, to make him known, and to invite others to follow him into abundant and eternal life. Let us strive to be found faithful in that pursuit.
As we yearn to be faithful, we know that generosity with our time, talents, and treasure is an essential ingredient. But, we must also remember that giving (and generosity) in the Christian perspective isn’t to be done under compulsion or manipulation. Instead, it is to be done joyfully and freely (2 Cor. 9:7). This means that we should understand giving as an act of worship. That is, we give not to earn God’s love, favor, or approval but instead as an offering of praise and thanksgiving because it is God who first provided for us. Simply, when we give, we offer right praise to God, both acknowledging his rightful position as Lord and as a good Father who provides. We participate in this action of praise when we give of our time, talents, and treasure. How? In our time, we acknowledge that the Lord appoints and orders our days. In our talents, we acknowledge that the Lord has gifted and equipped us to serve. And in our treasure, we acknowledge that God is the one who provides for our daily needs.
Again, thank you for your generosity to our church and its mission. Let us take time to praise God for his provision in retiring our mortgage! And, let us take time to ask God what he wants to do in us and through us in the place he has planted us.
If you are looking to give in a difference-making way, we have two funds that you can give to:
1. Annual Budget: This is the fund that supports all of our local church ministry, Upward, staffing, utilities, serving the community through the Plex, etc.
2. Caring Fund: This is the fund that goes directly to help with rent and utility assistance for our local neighbors. We are a first-call resource for the City of Ames when they have anyone looking for timely help in this area.
Let’s continue to be generous with our time, talents, and treasure because God was first generous to us!