Faith Promise
Dr. Rick Durrance, Senior Pastor
March 9, 2010
Dear Emmanuel Family,
As I write this letter to you, the memories of last month’s World Missions focus at Emmanuel are still fresh in my mind and heart. We were reminded to “Seek the Welfare of the City” through the inspiring teaching and preaching of Rev. Monty Taylor, Dr. Keith Phillips, and Rev. Edmund Chan. We were also encouraged in ACE Fellowships and House to House gatherings by many other missionaries whose ministries we endeavor to support with both our prayers and our giving. I love that we take concentrated time in the year to focus on World Missions and God’s heart for the nations.
I also love that we do not just talk about world missions, but that we also take measures to be practically involved. I firmly believe that a healthy local church is one that is aggressively, generously and joyfully supporting world missions! We currently support more than 20 “missionary units” (singles, couples, or families) in 5 different continents of the world (Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America).
The central way we support World Missions at Emmanuel Church is through Faith Promise. Years ago, Emmanuel made the decision to not “fit missions” into the general budget, but to challenge our church to give to World Missions above and beyond their regular tithes and offerings. Thus, Faith Promise has proven to be the means that God has used for our church to meet and exceed its support for missions far beyond what we could have imagined.
I believe Faith Promise is one of the most important events on our church calendar. It is a time when we corporately recommit a portion of our financial resources to partner with men and women who serve God as missionaries locally and around the world. These dedicated servants of the Lord are part of the Emmanuel family, and in turn we are part of their ministries through our Faith Promise giving. Many of our missionaries live from year to year with uncertainty in meeting their required funds.
For those of you not familiar with the practice of Faith Promise, it is a promise to give to World Ministries an amount God puts on your heart and to trust in faith that He will provide what you promise. A Faith Promise pledge is above and beyond your regular giving that supports our General Fund to pay for staff, ministries and other church expenses. In addition, a Faith Promise pledge is giving beyond what we can “afford” –otherwise it does not allow God the opportunity to respond to your genuine act of putting your faith in Him to provide what you pledge. At the same time, a Faith Promise pledge is also an act of “faithfulness”—faithfulness to God and His heart for the nations, and faithfulness to Emmanuel’s commitment to the people and ministries God has placed on our hearts. It is the elements of faithfulness and generosity in our giving beyond what we have already committed to our local body that lends the Faith Promise Harvest its special character.
Please pray about what you believe God is calling on you to give in faith and put the monthly amount on the Faith Promise card that you should have received. These cards, or promises, will be “harvested” at our church services on March 21st. Once all of the pledges are collected, they will be used to set the Missions budget for the 2010/2011 fiscal year. The cards will then be destroyed and we will depend on the amounts pledged.
I have spoken with you about our Faith Promise goal this year. As in the past, our primary goal is that we would increase our total giving to world missions and have 100% participation. We want to see our financial total exceed $200,000 in faith promise pledges and ultimately in giving. If you are part of Emmanuel Church, I pray you would truly embrace our commitment as a church body to world missions.
Candidly, based on the tallying of pledges in the past, we have not reached this goal. In fact, based on the limited data we have (through the pledge cards) it seems a little more than half of our congregation is pledging their support to Faith Promise. Quite frankly, we can do better. Even in the midst of challenging financial times, we can generously support these vital ministries through our giving to Faith Promise. Let me recommend that if you have not given to Faith Promise before, start this year! Perhaps $20 per month? Maybe $30? $50? I urge you to start somewhere and be faithful in your commitment to supporting world missions through Emmanuel Church.
For those of you who have been giving faithfully over the years, I encourage you to pray about increasing your giving. Yes, even in these challenging financial times! Maybe it’s time for you to increase by $20 per month? Or $30? Or $50?
Understand that if we are experiencing difficult times financially, our partners in world missions are too. The current weakness of the US dollar is having a serious impact on the lives of our foreign missionaries. They are depending on God’s faithful provision, and God calls us as the church to be the practical, faithful means of that provision.
I pray that as we whole-heartedly place our trust in the Lord’s provision for our Faith Promise pledges, our faith would be stretched, tested, and strengthened!
Blessed are those who trust in the Lord…They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they go right on producing fruit.
(Jeremiah 17:7-8)
Dr. Rick Durrance
Senior Pastor