Dear Saints,
Summer is in full swing and that means it is time for vacation! Many of you have already traveled to different places, spending time with family and friends. Others are looking forward to time away before the school year begins. It is important that we take time off from work and our normal routines to recharge ourselves physically and mentally through rest and leisure.
However, summer vacation also means that you might not be able to participate in regular worship and fellowship at Grace as usual. And naturally, that may mean that your giving takes a vacation over the summer too! But the Church never rests!
Over the summer, Grace has been busy with several ministries such as VBS, the senior high school mission trip to West Virginia, the Panama mission trip, the junior high school mission prep trip, and the General Assembly. We continue to support 17 missionaries and 15 Christian organizations domestically and internationally, and our Diaconate continues to support many people in financial need. And we are looking forward to seeing God move through other ministries like the Neighborhood Party.
All of this is possible because of your continued giving. Every year, our Finance Committee and Session work together to set a goal for our church’s financial giving (general tithes and offerings), which helps us budget our church’s finances appropriately across various ministries. Your financial generosity gives Grace the opportunities to participate in these various ministries in our church, community, denomination, and missions. So, as our church’s fiscal year (Sep-Aug) comes to an end this month, we want to encourage you to finish strong in giving, as the Lord leads, in hopes that we will be able to meet our year’s projected giving goal.
Also, the way that our church gives this year affects how much we can expect to budget for next year’s ministries. Even if you are away, you can still give through our church’s online giving, by text (text $ amount to 84321), or by mail.
As you give, whether you are physically at Grace or not, we are reminded through Scripture that our giving is to the Lord, not men. The Church is not a charity or foundation. When we give, we trust that God will use our finances through the church to expand his kingdom and work for his glory and our good. The call to finish this fiscal year strong is not simply to meet a budget projection, but it is especially a reminder that all we have has been given to us by God, and he has entrusted us to be good stewards of his finances.
Last week, you received a letter describing Grace’s vision for the next generation. A large part of the success of our next generation growing in knowledge and love for the Lord involves investing our finances and resources. So, let us be encouraged by what God has already done through our church for so many years through our giving. And let us continue to give generously to a generous God, that he may use us to continue building up his kingdom for the generations to come!
Let us give knowing that our gifts to the Lord are being used to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and gather all of his people from every nation, tribe, tongue, class, and generation to worship him!
In His Grace,
Joshua Suh