Dear flock,
For those who missed our Annual Meeting last Sunday evening,
we were so encouraged to hear the reports of how God has blessed our church and
used our church in this last year. So much ministry goes on here, and so much ministry
goes out from here, all around the world. Last year, you gave almost $40,000 to
support our missionaries and other ministries, locally and globally. We heard how
we were able to help our own church family through our benevolent fund, about
the ministry of our precious ladies in ‘The Widow’s Might,’ and our privilege
of helping Hope City rebuild homes lost in the Valley and Clayton fires. We
just committed $80K to Hope City out of our fire fund. What an amazing
blessing.
And we also heard that last year’s giving was $40K short of
what we budgeted. This is due to many factors. Some folks moved away after the
fire, and others have retired and re-located. Others have had situations that
impact their ability to give. These things happen in the life of a church, and
we’re not discouraged or despairing. But this is a time of re-building for our
church family, and we are trusting God to bring us new growth and meet our
needs.
The Elders made the decision to cut $20 from last year’s
budget. And now we are asking all of you in our church family to prayerfully
consider your own stewardship in this ministry God has given us here at MBC. We are asking you to consider increasing
your monthly giving by 10-15%. If we are all able to do this, or more, we
should be able to meet this year’s budget.
And I would encourage you to think about using the online
giving on our phone app. I’m using it myself and it’s pretty cool. It’s easy to
set up and you don’t have to worry about forgetting your offering. And then when
we take up the Sunday offering – you can just chill! The info on how to set up
online giving is on our website and on the phone app.
Please, let’s all pray and see what God does. We are in an
exciting time because we know that our heavenly Father is “able to do far more
abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within
us.” So we say with Paul: “To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:20-2).
Pastor Doug
