Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not regretfully or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. – 2 Corinthians 9:7
And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. – Hebrews 13:16
Everyone can be great because everyone can serve. – Martin Luther King Jr.
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
On Sunday November 12th we will focus on our Stewardship of the gifts that God has blessed us with, and join together in
making pledges as to the amount of those gifts that we will give back to Gd through our support of our church. While it is true that
there are many other ways to give back to God and to serve God’s interests outside the church, if we believe in and value the
unique ways that CCC serves and witnesses from the corner on 12th and Guadalupe, it is incumbent on us to support and bolster
this ministry with the three T’s of our Time, our Talent, and our Treasure.
I encourage us all to give prayerful consideration as to how much of each “T” we have given in the past, and whether we
might be able to give something more in the future.
I believe that there is great benefit to making such a commitment, rather than simply waiting to see how much time, how
much money, how much of our talents we might have left over on any given week or in any given month. Unless we set a goal for
ourselves and try to meet it, we will always be giving God’s church and its ministries our spare change and our bottom of the
barrel scraps of time and talent.
We all know the truth of the old adage, “Many hands make light the work.” Here are just a few suggestions of how you
might pitch in:
Read Scripture for us in worship. Everyone is encouraged, invited, and qualified to read scripture in our worship service.
Please let me know if you would be willing to read, and I will add you to my list of available readers to be scheduled with your
approval.
Become a member. Serve as a deacon or in another leadership role. Be part of a ministry committee. Take an active
role in the guidance of the church. If you are not yet an official member, please consider becoming one. We consider serving as
deacon one “entry level” step toward other positions of church leadership. Your official membership alone would be of great
support to the church, as it will let others know that you value the ongoing work of our church and that you may be counted on to
help us make decisions guiding the church’s future. Talk with one of us Pastors if you are interested!
Support the Petite Pantry food distribution. This is not a budget item for the church. We rely on donations of cash or
food goods to fill the pantry, and it has sometimes been weeks without anything in the pantry. It would be VERY helpful to not
only offer some cash, but to let Pastor Heidi know that you intend to bring in food yourself and stock the pantry so that she does
not have to carry this ministry herself on our behalf.
Participate in a Property Committee Work Day. Brad is very good about finding something for every skill and ability level.
He has a list of dozens and dozens of tasks, and lifting even one of the more minor ones will free him up to tackle the heavy lifting.
Help out with the garden. Like Brad, Phil has a long list of seasonal chores that he could use some help with to keep our
garden beautiful. Something as simple a light raking or snipping the “dead-head” rosebuds every-so-often would free up time,
AND give you a greater sense of ownership in our garden ministry.
Add your voice/instrument to our worship music. You don’t need to commit to every week (although that would be
GREAT) to be an asset to our worship services. Mark is very good at plugging people in as available with just a little advance notice.
Your participation would honor the gift of music that God has granted you and serve as an encouragement for others to do the
same. (You may have seen that I have drummed a bit once in a while, and I KNOW that we must have someone more rhythmically
gifted than ME!)
Make every effort to attend services more frequently! More so now than ever we need to have you with us every
Sunday morning possible, so that we can be the most welcoming body possible for first-time guests.
And MORE!
Be creative and think outside the box! Let us know what YOU come up with that would utilize your unique gifts in a way
that would help us serve and witness to God’s Love in Jesus’ name. Ask Pastor Heidi or me to help you serve God and neighbor
here at Central Christian Church in Christ’s name!
In this newsletter you will find the Pledge Card that we will be asking everyone to fill out and bring forward during
worship that day, and we will be mailing a copy to everyone and will also have copies available on the 12th. If you want to fill it
our in advance, you certainly may. (You can also bring it with you blank and fill it in after my encouraging and enjoining sermon on stewardship!)
Peace,
Pastor Layne