So usually I don’t go there, I don’t do stewardship
campaign. Partly because of two bad
experiences and partly because as the Pastor I don’t like to know who gives
what. When I was in high school we had
been attending a church we had decided to become a member of, after this we did
not join. They asked people to turn in
their taxes and then “helped” you by sending you a statement of what you should
give. If you didn’t pledge that, that
weren’t happy. The other experience came
when Russ and I moved to Rochester and started attending a church. We had been asked to help teach a high school
class but we could not become members.
On our third Sunday we were handed a box of envelopes, hmmm that seemed
a bit soon and pushy. I decided then, stewardship
was not for me.
But here we are in the middle of stewardship season and I
can’t help but think I need to write something.
You see Huron has had an amazing year, despite the difficult decisions
you have made, you have grown in the number of worshipers, you have grown in
the outreach programs and in our building usage. We are an expanding congregation as families
are bringing children to our Sunday school programs and our Monday night
worship. And prices of things are not
going down. In fact, with the price of
gas and general living expenses most of us have had to change our lifestyle in
the last few years. This year, I want
you to pray and think about your giving. Not because I am trying to pressure
you into giving more or handing you giving envelopes before you are ready – but
because I care about our congregation and all that we do.
If we truly want to live into “continued ministry” and not
just remembering our past ministry then we need to use funds to keep our
building up (heat, electricity, ect…) and to keep our worship meaningful. We
need to strive in every way to come together and pass along our blessings to
others through the Golden Oldies, Easter Party and various fellowships. We are an amazing family that comes together
during trails to pray for each other, lean on each other and offer
comfort. Let us continue this by
thinking and praying about what we can give to our church.
