The 2022 Stewardship Appeal has been an inspiring learning experience for our Stewardship Committee, as we hope it will now be for you, too.  The season of Advent will be an immersion in our theme of Giving with Grace!  Temple Talks and inserts will be shared the first three Sundays of Advent.  A first letter has been mailed, and a second letter will follow mid-month.  Our 6:30pm Wednesday Advent worship will be blessed with guests from Grace Food Pantry (Nov 30 Doug McFarlan), Helping the Homeless (Dec 7 Julie Benson), and Washington Street Mission (Dec 14 Kim Ayers).

 

Sunday, December 18 is our Appeal Sunday, the day every household is asked to offer/return their Statement of Intent (you will receive this form in the mail the week of Dec 11).  Those who cannot be present may mail theirs to the church at 714 E. Capitol Ave., Springfield, Illinois 62701.

 

This two-year stewardship program does not assume the use of dedicated giving and accounts, so we are bringing together the program and our particular style of giving.  For example, let’s say your household gives $100 a week to Grace Lutheran Church.  If all of that $100 goes to Current & Building, then the $100 figure is your baseline for considering your 2023 offering.

 

But let’s say your household gives $100 a week to Grace Lutheran Church, and you divide that up:

     $80 to Current & Building

     $10 to Food Pantry (dedicated account)

     $10 to Little Lambs (dedicated account)

It is hoped and assumed that you will continue your giving pattern of directing offering to dedicated accounts in 2023.  Support for the food pantry that the 2023 budget may provide (tbd at the Congregational Meeting on December 11 to Approve a 2023 Budget), is not there to replace dedicated giving; it is there because additional support is needed.  The $100 figure is also your baseline for considering your 2023 offering.  Assuming your continued Dedicated giving, your baseline for considering your 2023 Current and Building Fund giving is $80.

 

Grace Lutheran Church is our community of faith because we believe Jesus, and because we see purpose and meaning in the many ways we love our neighbors (a.k.a. ministry).  Everyone taking the opportunity to pray, complete and return their Statements of Intent is part of how we can grow this faithful ministry, and here is how serious we are about it: a CHALLENGE GIFT of $5,000 has been offered to Grace Lutheran Church IF we receive 35 Statements of Intent by December 18!  We have 106 giving households, so 35 is well within reach (we have 17 already to date).  In the weeks following Appeal Sunday we will continue to keep you updated on how many Statements of Intent have been given, and then on Sunday, January 29, 2023 we will celebrate our tally as we share together in a potluck brunch after our Annual Meeting.  Watch the flames grow weekly on my stole, as a measurement of the number of Statements of Intent given (one flame per Statement)!

 

Finally, thanks be to God for the dedication of the Stewardship Committee of Grace Lutheran Church.  Mary Plymire, Laurie Farrell, Carolyn Nelson, Annie Ellis, and Aaron Babel have exemplified teamwork and Giving with Grace, and their service to Grace Lutheran Church in this two-year program is so greatly appreciated.

with Grace,

Pastor Krieger