(A long blog post but an important one...please take a few minutes to read to the end!)
Friends,
When we think of the last year at IAC, a word that comes to mind is "fruitful."
A few glimpses into our life together bear this out…
Wow! We are by no means doing everything right: there are lots of things we’re continuing to learn. But it’s clear that the Holy Spirit is working among us and through us. We and many others are experiencing healing as we gather around the table together. Praise God!
But now, we need more space at the table.
Over the past year, we realized we can’t welcome the work God is doing among us by staying at 2 services in our current facility. Therefore, we are seeking to make room by moving to 3 services (which we did last Sunday) as a temporary bridge to finding a new facility.
Unsurprisingly, creating space at the table has implications for every area of our life together, including our finances.
At IAC, our first kingdom priority in the area of finances is to provide you with resources for financial discipleship. We encourage everyone at IAC to watch — sometime in the month of December — either the 2-hour class or 2 half-hour sermons (Sermon 1, Sermon 2) on “The Gospel According to Money” taught by Pastor Ken. The fundamental principles of the tithe, generous giving, simplicity in spending, and freedom from idolatry to “stuff” are vital components of our journey with Jesus.
There are also financial realities in our local church. IAC’s ministry is 100% funded by members of the congregation, and we are in awe of how God continues to provide for the body, through the body.
Over the next few months, there will be 3 “pockets” of financial need at IAC, and all of them are extremely important to do the work God has given us to do.
1. Rwanda Giving
As we dive deeper into our ministry investments here in Colorado Springs, it is crucial that we not forget our parents in the faith. Even in the midst of our needs, their needs come first.
For Christmas with Rwanda, we are seeking to raise at least $45,000 for priorities given to us by our Rwandan friends, including sustainable development funds (scholarships, animals, the Thriving Center, and more) and emergency funds to support pastors and re-open churches from the recent government closures. Please know that 100% of gifts to Christmas with Rwanda go straight into the hands of Rwandans that we personally know and trust. This relationship has been fostered over 20 years and we see the fruits of these funds every time we go on pilgrimage. What a gift to live out our own version of the biblical vision of the unity between Jews and Gentiles two thousand years ago: as the Rwandans have shared spiritual gifts with us, we get to share physical gifts with them out of our gratitude (Rom. 15:26-27)! You can give at springsiac.org/register OR springsiac.org/give.
2. General Fund
As we look forward to our upcoming facility needs, it may be tempting to overlook or de-emphasize the day-to-day expenses we have as a church. But it is crucial that our General Fund keep growing in the midst of all that is happening! Our ability to support our ministries, properly compensate current staff, and hire necessary new staff positions is directly dependent on the tithes and offerings that come into our general fund.
Typically, December is a “double-month” for giving at IAC because of year-end gifts. In order to stay on track for our yearly budget and prepare for staffing expansion, we need to raise $250,000 in December. We ask that you please consider a year-end gift to help us reach this mark.
A particular challenge to our General Fund will come in January and February, when we will be intentionally focusing on fundraising for our facility. For the sake of our staff and ministries, we cannot have the General Fund suffer at the expense of the facility fundraising! We are asking that those who currently give to IAC please continue to do so without shifting any giving from the General Fund, even as you give above and beyond that amount to other funds. A great way to ensure this happens is a recurring donation: you can easily set this up through our online giving portal at springsiac.org/give.
3. Facility Fundraising
We are overwhelmed at the expectancy bubbling up within our congregation around the possibility of a new facility. Over two-thirds of the church filled out the feasibility study (the average is 10%), a sign of tremendous interest. In that survey, we discovered that 74% of the church was ready to move forward with the process of finding a new facility, while 23% simply needed more information to have an opinion. Incredibly, 94% expressed confidence in our leadership teams to make wise decisions in these areas. We do not take this trust lightly and are carefully moving forward to gather information about potential facilities.
However, one of the primary challenges we face is financial readiness. Although we have a good start because of prudent savings built over the last decade, we do not yet have necessary finances for a down payment or a responsible mortgage on a facility large enough to accommodate us. Therefore, in January and February we will be conducting a “capital campaign” (fundraising initiative) to invite the congregation into supporting our next steps towards a facility.
Rest assured that this campaign will not be taking over everything we do as a church: the sermon series in January and February won’t be on giving, for example! This campaign will give us the chance to tell stories about the ways we’ve seen God working at IAC and talk about the ways we believe he’s leading us. The goal is to have a lot of fun together celebrating all the ways healing is springing up in our midst.
In the capital campaign, we will be asking each person at IAC to pray and discern what God might be leading you to give to a new facility, both immediately and in 3-year pledges. We will ask you to begin discerning at a specific amount: 3% of annual income for 3 years. For some, this will be larger than what’s possible. For others, smaller. But we trust that God will provide what we need as we pray and discern together!
For most people at IAC, the next action steps in this area are simple: pray for us as we gather information on potential facilities, and please begin discerning what kind of gift might be possible for you and your household. We’ll be asking for clarity on what level of giving we can anticipate from the congregation near the end of February.
However, we are also very aware that some people will be enabled to give more if they can give some funds in this calendar year. If you’d like to get a head-start on your giving to our Facility Fund, simply email Pastor Peter (our Treasurer) at peter@springsiac.org for details.
We currently offer four ways to give to the work of IAC:
We will have all the budget details for you at one of our Congregational Meetings (on January 26 and February 9). We invite you to join us for ONE of these meetings, as the content will be identical. Mark your calendars!
As we end this year and look forward to the next, we realize there is so much we don’t know about what’s coming. But we do trust that Christ will meet us in that future. “The boundary lines have fallen for us in pleasant places” (Psalm 16:6) because he is with us wherever we are.
In expectancy,
Pastor Ken and Danielle Mellema (Warden), on Behalf of the Church Council