January 9, 2024

Happy 2024! It always feels so good to turn the page and get to a new year with new opportunities. As we change over the calendar, we get the chance to see things in a new way. We also get to experiment with these changes and try them on, seeing how they fit. How are you doing that in your personal and professional life?  

Here at church, we are moving the traditional stewardship appeal from November to January. This year’s stewardship theme is “Giving to God, Not a Budget.” 

I know what you’re thinking, and it’s partially true: we do engage in a stewardship appeal in part to give us some sort of budgetary guard rails to move this church down the road over the next year. While the budget does help us make decisions, the budget cannot dictate the movement of the Holy Spirit. In our life together as a community of Christ, we stumble upon and are given opportunities that we need to say yes to, even if they are not planned for in the budget. So a stewardship appeal doesn’t just help us set a budget; it helps us create an environment in which we can nimbly respond to the call of the Spirit.

Here are just a few examples of how we saw this nimble dynamic play out in our ministry last year:

•    Each year we give a portion of our total offerings to organizations outside of the regular ministry of POP. One of those organizations is Lutheran World Relief. You might know them by the wonderful work they do handing out the school kits we put together. Last year, we gave them unrestricted funds which they were able to use to support folks in Ukraine with medicine, food, and necessities. Because of your generosity, God was able to use those funds where they were so desperately needed.

•    Each year we send kids out to various ministries. Some go out to camp at Hopewood Pines, others head out on the Mission Trip to various places around the US. This year, we had a couple of families that didn’t have the cash flow at the time they needed to sign up their kids. Because of your generosity, God was able to direct the funds that were needed in order to send those kids on life-changing experiences.

•    As we entered the year, we had no idea that we would be offered an opportunity in ministry to nurture and train a vicar here at Prince of Peace. Because of your generosity, God was able to use the funds that we had gathered to support Vicar Jennie as she begins her ministry in the church.

Things are happening here all the time at Prince of Peace. We do our best to continue to support the ways the Holy Spirit blows through our church. We cannot do any of this ministry and more without your generosity. For that, let me say thank you! Thank you for all the ways that you give to God. With God and those gifts, we look to endless possibilities. 

God’s Peace,
Pastor Tim