Stewardship 2022
Over this past year we have talked to you about hope. Without hope we are truly lost. Hope brings us comfort, strength, and joy. Sounds like someone else we know - God our heavenly father. He gives us the hope we need in comfort, strength, and joy, because we believe in him.
We have been celebrating during worship great ministries of our church and have been listening as the holy spirit has filled our hearts.
“For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.” 2 Corinthians 9:10-11
In Paul’s writing to the people of Corinth, he used the illustration of the seed to explain that the resources God gives us are not to be hidden, foolishly spent, or thrown away. These words written 2,000 years ago ring true today. God gives us resources to use and invest in his work. When we invest in God’s work, He will provide us with even more to give in his service.
When we invest in Bethany Church, we are able to expand our programs, ministries, and missions. Using our gifts to impact others.
We talk about “Commitment of Giving”, wanting to express gratitude for blessings we have received. These are a few of the ministries highlighted we wanted to share and talk about:
We learned…
Now, what would your highlights be?
Bethany Presbyterian Church is truly blessed by the spirit and all of the above ministries show how God is leading our church. All of these ministries and many more are made possible by the financial generosity and volunteer time of our members. “Stewardship is how we live out our calling as followers of Christ. Stewardship is what we do after we say that we believe.”
There truly is joy in giving when you look around and see how our church supports so many.
When your goal is to live your life as a gift, you move from asking how you can get ahead to how you can serve others to the best of your ability.
So, take a moment, wherever you are, whatever your life circumstances are, and ask yourself, “How can my life become a gift?”
Think it through. Make a list of the ways you give and how you can grow in generosity. Add to your list little by little. You do not have to be a millionaire to give, and you do not have to have a lot of money to be rich. All you have to do is start living to give.
God has assigned to each of us the responsibility of managing the resources we have been given, including time, money, and the ability for us to serve. We are so blessed at Bethany that the resources and volunteers has been provided thru our members stewardship to accomplish these ministries.
As the Bethany Stewardship Team, we are asking you to join us in prayer over the next few weeks for the mission of our church, the financial budget to fulfill our mission and, most importantly, what is the spirit leading you to do regarding your personal financial commitment to Bethany.
Thank you for your prayers and for listening to the spirit in leading you. Your continued support of the mission of Bethany Church is appreciated.
Blessings,
Stewardship Team
We have been celebrating during worship great ministries of our church and have been listening as the holy spirit has filled our hearts.
“For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God.” 2 Corinthians 9:10-11
In Paul’s writing to the people of Corinth, he used the illustration of the seed to explain that the resources God gives us are not to be hidden, foolishly spent, or thrown away. These words written 2,000 years ago ring true today. God gives us resources to use and invest in his work. When we invest in God’s work, He will provide us with even more to give in his service.
When we invest in Bethany Church, we are able to expand our programs, ministries, and missions. Using our gifts to impact others.
We talk about “Commitment of Giving”, wanting to express gratitude for blessings we have received. These are a few of the ministries highlighted we wanted to share and talk about:
We learned…
- To have fun while we learn/share/teach – with our Summer Picnic; Upward basketball and Vacation Bible school - We had the joy of witnessing over 200 children fill our halls and hearts during vacation bible school this year.
- The importance of shared worship and fellowship during the pandemic. Streaming services were better than nothing, but there is no substitute for the shared in-person experience.
- The arrivals of our new pastor – Pastor Brian and associate pastor – Pastor Ellen.
- The awesome achievement of paying off the mortgage years ahead of schedule.
- 21 years of dedicated service by John Henninger. We have celebrated over the years so much joy in our music programs, from the choir, bell choirs, children’s programs, weddings, the list goes on and on.
- That our mission efforts are making a difference in our community and around the world (through our various moments for mission segments shared during service).
- The message of Bethany being distributed over multiple channels by our new media coordinator – Meagan Smith.
- God’s never-ending grace in the ability of Bethany Church to adapt and thrive in the changing needs of our world and our congregation.
- We watched our church filling up again after the separation and the trauma of the pandemic. Many old faces are back and many new faces are evident.
- In our joy at being together again during worship and other events – reconnecting with our Bethany family
- With our community as we walked thru through our little town sharing in the good news of and about Jesus Christ during our prayer walks.
- Changes - A sense of loss with so many good and faithful members passing away or moving on to other places and other churches. We miss them greatly, but we are confident that our church will endure.
Now, what would your highlights be?
Bethany Presbyterian Church is truly blessed by the spirit and all of the above ministries show how God is leading our church. All of these ministries and many more are made possible by the financial generosity and volunteer time of our members. “Stewardship is how we live out our calling as followers of Christ. Stewardship is what we do after we say that we believe.”
There truly is joy in giving when you look around and see how our church supports so many.
When your goal is to live your life as a gift, you move from asking how you can get ahead to how you can serve others to the best of your ability.
So, take a moment, wherever you are, whatever your life circumstances are, and ask yourself, “How can my life become a gift?”
Think it through. Make a list of the ways you give and how you can grow in generosity. Add to your list little by little. You do not have to be a millionaire to give, and you do not have to have a lot of money to be rich. All you have to do is start living to give.
God has assigned to each of us the responsibility of managing the resources we have been given, including time, money, and the ability for us to serve. We are so blessed at Bethany that the resources and volunteers has been provided thru our members stewardship to accomplish these ministries.
As the Bethany Stewardship Team, we are asking you to join us in prayer over the next few weeks for the mission of our church, the financial budget to fulfill our mission and, most importantly, what is the spirit leading you to do regarding your personal financial commitment to Bethany.
Thank you for your prayers and for listening to the spirit in leading you. Your continued support of the mission of Bethany Church is appreciated.
Blessings,
Stewardship Team