Dear First Pres,
In last week’s letter I affirmed our church’s investment in World Vision’s work in Bena Tsemay, Ethiopia. It’s work that is truly transforming lives.
But transformation isn’t only happening through our mission partners. Transformation is happening right here at home too. Your tithes and offerings to FPC Fresno don’t only keep the lights on and help us to maintain our campus. They don’t only allow us to have a great team of staff people to facilitate and support our ministries. They don’t only pay for all that coffee we consume at church gatherings. Your tithes and offerings to FPC Fresno are being used to change lives.
By God’s grace, through the ministries of our church, kids are being discipled in Christ, college students are finding God’s call, friends are coming to faith in Jesus, seniors are finding new community, the sick are being cared for, Growth Groups are growing, newcomers are being welcomed, families are being blessed by the Deacons, leaders are being developed, people are reading the whole Bible for the first time, others are stepping out in ministry and mission, the list goes on and on.
Of course, that list is just one side of the equation. For me, the simple faith-filled act of giving a prayerfully determined percentage of my income to my church has been a transformational discipline. Over the past 27 years of tithing, God continues to transform me into deeper faith and generosity while always providing my daily bread. And, I know I’m not alone in this.
So, for all of you who are giving toward the work and ministry of our congregation, thank you. As we say every week, your tithes and offerings fuel the ministries and mission of FPC Fresno locally and around the world. By God’s grace, I can say with confidence that our contributions are being used to change lives. Praise be to the Lord!
Finally, I hope you’ll join me in praying for the Lord’s provision for our 2023 budget. As you’ve likely noticed in the worship bulletins, our current level of giving is below what is needed to meet our budgeted spending. We still have six and a half months of the year to change that narrative, but we can’t do it without the Lord’s gracious work in our lives.
One of the specific ways I’ve been praying is that God would provide pay increases and financial gain to the people of FPC Fresno so that we could give more. Well, praise the Lord. Diane (my wife) just got a raise! I wasn’t thinking about my own family while I was praying, but we’ll take it. That means we’ll be giving more in the coming school year. May the same be true for many households in the life of our congregation.
Blessings,
Jeremy
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