St. Lukers – Do we have some celebration news for you!!
We held our first finance meeting of the year. We are so excited to extend a HUGE thank you for your amazing generosity in 2021!!!
For our Advent Celebration offering you gave $73,700 to support children in our area through the United Methodist Children’s Home ministry and St. Luke’s Restoring Hope missions to solve food insecurity and housing instability. We are grateful for the ways you have stepped up to give to this Advent and Christmas eve offering above and beyond our operating expenses. In addition, you gave to children’s ministries supported in the operating budget, helping to raise more than $8,000 for children touched by our Grow ministries on campus.
But that’s not all the good news! We also ended our operating year with a surplus of $132,974! This year your faithfulness and generosity has allowed us to fund our Trustees maintenance reserve, and add new ideas to ministry in the coming year. We began our year of stewardship strong by increasing our estimates of giving from you by $161,164 or 10% over 2020 estimates, with more families giving regularly in 2021 than in many years past.
Proverbs 11:24 – 25 tell us of the replicating nature of generosity.
Those who give generously receive more…. Generous persons will prosper;
those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed”
Through your generous tithes and offerings, we have continued to offer deep, focused spiritual formation for all ages allowing families to grow together in their biblical knowledge. We have continued to offer worship and arts to welcome, inspire, renew and challenge people each week. We have connected and cared for our congregation and community with newly trained members of our Care Visitation Team, new classes of GriefShare, continuing 12 step programs offered three times a day, seven days a week, and surrounding people in baptisms, new members, weddings and funerals. We have continued to add new ministries of hospitality and connection, and opportunities of servanthood to help you transform lives physically, emotionally and spiritually. We give thanks for how your generosity has empowered us serve our community and neighbors with mercy, justice and tangible love through gardens, food stores, bags of grace, rental assistance, job training and building a more beloved community in our neighborhoods, schools and our congregation.
It is our prayer that your generosity toward these ministries has allowed you to be renewed, refreshed and awakened you to new understandings of trust in your walk with Jesus and your church. Thank you for the tangible ways you Lead your Lives as servant of Jesus through your offerings to help us to Awaken Disciples who Reveal the Kingdom of God.
This Sunday we continue to Learn, Live and Love God through meeting Jesus in Mark’s Gospel. In worship, we will dig into chapter 3 to show how the Lonely Jesus Dr. Ebby Arnold lectured about is connected to Jesus the rebel. We invite you to listen to our Learn Sunday night Bible study with Dr. Arnold podcast…. And read chapter 3 as you prepare your hearts for worship on Sunday.
Don’t forget we have two on-campus services – Contemporary in Founders Hall and Traditional in the Sanctuary at 9:15 and two options for online services: Contemporary at 9:15 and Traditional at 11:00. Children have Small Group time in their age groups from 9:15 -10:30 a.m. Sunday night join our Learn Church-wide study at 6:30 by registering here to join the Pastors for an in-depth conversation about the Jesus we meet in the gospel of Mark.
See you Sunday where we Learn, Live, Love in order to Lead our lives like Jesus!
Jenn