Answering God's Call” Sets Three Celebration Points
On Sunday, March 18, 2007, Wayne and Sandy Freewalt, leaders for Answering God's Call,” launched the public phase of our church-wide capital campaign. Leading to the launch were months of preparation, and, from this point forward, our church will devote time to the study, prayer, and fellowship necessary to make the important personal decisions we face. The Answering God's Call” campaign will culminate in a celebration on June 17, 2007. Giving goals (or celebration points) have been established and announced.
They are:
1. The Launch Goal: $400,000 This is our time of advance commitments when our leaders' total gifts, over and above their current giving, lay the groundwork for church-wide commitments to campaign goals.
2.
The Challenge Goal: $800,000 Our theme Not equal gifts but equal sacrifice” motivates us to examine our personal giving in the light of God's goodness toward us. Though we cannot all give the amount in dollars, we can give significantly and apply ourselves to understand what it means to truly give.
3.
The Celebration Goal: $1.2 million Answering God's Call” is a challenge to personally encounter God's love and mercy, and to respond with all our hearts. As our church seeks God's direction in prayer and as we reorganize the joy of giving in God's name, we will move toward a celebration of goals achieved. These celebration points represent our church's challenge to move toward greater ministry opportunities. On July 1, 2007, we will announce the final results of Answering God's Call,” and celebrate what can happen when a church prayerfully unites its resources to follow God's will.
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2007 -
2010 WAYNE STREET UNITED METHODIST CHURCH BUILDING CAMPAIGN
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Not Equal Gifts but Equal Sacrifice
The simple and profound theme that underscores Answering God's Call” comes from the Bible's teaching about proportionate giving and the blessings of sacrifice. No gift impresses God in terms of dollar amounts, but as extensions of the love and obedience with which they are given and proportion of resources from which they come. God, in other words, looks on the heart. Sacrifice means something different to everyone. Our goals are to grow, to live and to give, all in God's glory.
Twelve Guidelines for Fruitful Giving
1. Give first. Make the first use of my
income an act of faithfulness to a loving Lord.
2. Give gratefully. Bring to mind God's gifts
and ways this money can matter for eternity.
Praise Him, and remind myself of the joy and
privilege not of giving, but giving back.
3. Give faithfully. Cultivate the discipline of
faithfulness regardless of how I feel at the
time.
4. Give proportionally. Compare my gifts to
no one else's, and happily give from my
resources.
5. Give generously. It seems like a natural
law, and certainly it is biblical, that the way
we give, and live is measured back to us. I
will give as I would love to receive.
6. Give sacrificially. I know and God knows
when a gift comes from my heart. Practice
giving in a way that expresses my love for
God's kingdom.
7. Give cheerfully. God delights in and
loves a cheerful giver.
8. Give freely. Attach no strings or
expectations; seek nothing particularly public
recognition in return.
9. Give personally. Invest myself, my time,
and my talent. Involve myself in the privilege
of returning to God with the first of all I have.
Step back and allow each member of my
family the same opportunity for personal
involvement.
10. Give quietly. Give without fanfare. God
sees, and that is all that matters. Never seek
to draw attention, but be prepared to explain
why I give.
11. Give expectantly. Look for ways to
share my gifts, bear another's burden, or
contribute my resources to God's kingdom.
12. Give worshipfully. Our model is the
author of giving: “For God so loved the
world that He gave…” |
