Newsletter Article

Here's my article for the April edition of The Parish Visitor:

Last Sunday at 2:00 pm two important events occurred simultaneously here at Coffeyville First United Methodist Church. The first was Dick Conklin’s 80th Birthday Party. The Second was a presentation by Marcee Binder (Carter when she was here preaching last) on the “Bridges to the Future” Capital Campaign of the Kansas East Conference. With this Capital Campaign, the Kansas East Conference is seeking to raise $5,350,000 for Campus Ministry, Camp Chippewa, New Church Starts, and Church Revitalization. Of this amount, our “suggested tithe goal,” which is more easily understood as our share is $24,471. This is based on our 2006 expenditures. Over the five years of the capital campaign this daunting sum would break down to $4,894.20 per year or $94.12 per week. With our current average attendance that amounts to less than $1 per person per Sunday. At Monday night’s Church Council Meeting, the Council voted to round up to a commitment of $25,000, which bumps the weekly break down to $96.15. But even with the bump the total per week is still less than $1 per person. You can contribute by writing “Capital Campaign” or “Bridges to the Future,” or even just “Bridges” on your check or offering envelope.

On the expenditures side, the breakdown of the “Bridges to the Future’s” goal of $5,350,000 is: $1 million for Campus Ministry, $900,000 for Camp Chippewa, $3 million for New Church Starts, $200,000 for Church Revitalization and $250,000 for the expenses of the campaign itself. In the weeks, months, and yes, probably years to come we will be telling you more about why each of these ministry areas is important and deserves our attention. At this point I will simply say that all of these areas are in desperate need of the funding they are seeking and all of these areas are key to the ultimate goal of better fulfilling Christ’s commandment from Matthew 28.19: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Because they are in line with Matthew 28.19 they also are all in line with the Mission of First United Methodist Church, which is to “Make Disciples of Jesus Christ.”

It is only in recognizing that the ultimate goal of the campaign is to better equip new and existing churches, Camp Chippewa, and campus ministry to make Disciples of Jesus Christ that a second aspect of the campaign comes into focus. That second aspect is prayer. I name it here in this column as the second aspect, but in truth prayer preceded and accompanied everything that has been done so far. A great deal of prayerful discernment has been exercised along every step of the campaign. Indeed, as a member of the Conference Leadership Team I was a witness to the fact that prayerful discernment was a major component of the decision about whether or not to have a campaign at all. Now we’re asking you to pray; for the success of our own church in reaching it’s commitment to the campaign and for the success of the campaign overall.