One of the realities of a new church start is talking about money. We are tasked with raising a set amount each year from within the community we serve and from outside funders. The regional body of the United Methodist Church (the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference) gave us a generous grant for 3 years to help us get going. Each year we receive less grant money and rely more on the funds of the people who are part of the new faith community here at Sellwood. As with any grant if we don’t make our benchmarks the grant money for the next year won’t be coming.
Asking people for money for the new start has been a humbling experience. When I was in grad school I worked in the development office. There I was calling people who had attend the school and asking them to give to their school. As a pastor I led an annual stewardship campaign asking the members of the church to give towards the ministry of the church. I was asking people who had a vested interested to give to an established institution. Now I’m asking the people I’m in ministry with to give towards something that we are building as we go. I’m sending letters and talking to people I think might be willing to support the new start and asking them to give to something that will probably never benefit them directly. In some ways I’m asking people to believe in Jeff and I and to trust our vision of what God is calling us to do. That is a little scary. To be honest I kept putting off the donor letters. They all finally went into the mail this week. What pushed us to send them out was the simple joy of witnessing what was unfolding and a deepening sense that we really are on to something special and vital here. If we want to keep that going we need help.
Our family has taken a huge leap of faith in undertaking this work and we are asking others to leap with us by giving of their time, energy, and money to build something new for God. I am pleased to share that for the first portion of our grant, the last 6 months of 2013, we met our benchmarks and are looking good two months in to 2014.
Of course numbers and benchmarks aren’t the true measures of our work here, but they are helpful signposts of where we are going. And on the days when this task seems overwhelming I’m buoyed by the knowledge that many of you have contributed to this new community through prayers, gifts, encouragement, and advice.
Thank you for your continued investment in this blossoming endeavor.
– Eilidh
 |
| This is Jerryn who is the Receivables Bookkeeper for the conference. You can send him donations for the new start at Conference Treasurer 1505 SW 18th Ave Portland, OR 97201. Please put Sellwood on the memo line to make his life easier. |
Recent Comments