Making Room for Everyone
Recently we made an exciting announcement about an adventure we believe God is inviting us into as a church. Some of you would have been there, some might have heard via the grapevine, others might have noticed a short mention of the announcement in our weekly updates but we are aware that not everyone would have heard.
As we enter this season of advent, a time of waiting with expectancy and anticipation. We read how Mary and Joseph were called to go on a journey with God. They received a promise and even in and amongst all the unknowns they knew they just needed to be obedient.
On this journey, they find themselves travelling on a donkey whilst looking for a space to stay the night, which is where we get the famous nativity quote "there's no space at the inn." But the bigger picture in the story isn't necessarily the journey, or the donkey or the place they needed. It's about the life that they are carrying with them. God was birthing something through them that the world needed.
And as a church, we are going into this season of advent recognising that we are also on a journey looking for a space of our own, and like with Mary and Joseph it might feel like we're also on a donkey, we're plodding along, going much slower than we would like to. Similarly it also feels like there is 'no room in the inn for us.'
So as we go into this season of advent we want to be obedient to the call, to the adventure and journey that God has for us which is to be a spirit-filled church that is fully invested in our communities. Sharing not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.
In this we believe God is calling us to not only pray, research and investigate, but to also step out in faith with him to find our space here.
A place where you belong.
A place where we belong.
A space to engage with and support the community,
A space for the practicalities of ministry to happen,
A space to train and release people to do the works that God has prepared for them,
A place that we can worship together,
A place where we can invite our neighbours to and where families are welcome.
A space that can help others on their journey with Jesus.
And as we go on this journey, we want to be clear that this isn't about just having a building. Just like with Mary and Joseph, their journey wasn't about the donkey or the inn, it was about what God was birthing through them.
And we believe that He has and is busy birthing something through East Kilbride Vineyard church, that our communities need. There is life and light in us that needs to be released. We don't want to be spending all our time and efforts figuring out where we are going to find space for our next event. We want to spend our time and energy on fostering the life that God wants to bring through us.
We feel that we need to be ready for what God is bringing. And what He has already begun. We don't want to be like those in the story of the 10 virgins who weren't prepared, didn't have enough oil in their lamps and missed the moment. We want to be expectant and ready to put in a financial offer on a space when the time comes.
So what do we need to do to be ready:
Steward our finances well to get ready for what God wants to do. When the opportunity arrives we want to be ready, we don't want to be running around trying to find a deposit, and miss the opportunity when it arrives. Very often these windows don't stay open for very long.
At the moment we have some ring-fenced building / venue related funds and some funds that we have managed to save over time especially for this. Which is a good start.
We recognise that obtaining property in EK is a real struggle. So after much prayer, discussion and some very clear prophetic words, we feel the next step is to step out in faith and start a giving fund that will be ring-fenced for a building / venue space. A place to call our own. And this separate campaign will go live on Sunday the 30th of November.
You may have already been asking God to give you some guidance with your giving recently and this may be the answer you were looking for. Or perhaps the opposite is true for you. Maybe you've been thinking of ways to stop or reduce your giving due to financial pressures.
Our invitation for you is simply to ask God what he would want you to do.
God calls us to be good stewards of all the resources He's given us. As scripture says, God owns the cattle on a thousand hills and He also owns everything we have. And our prayer is very simple "God, how do you want me to steward the finances you have entrusted me with".
This is our journey as a church. This is our story and one day we will be living in the promise, looking back at the years of faithfulness and sacrificial generosity, seeing the fruit of our labour and rejoicing in the faithfulness of God.
God is inviting us to be on this adventure with Him. His purposes and plans for East Kilbride and the surrounding areas are beyond our wildest dreams. And we love that we get to play a part in this too.
This giving campaign will be separate from our regular giving. This money will be ring-fenced for building and venue related costs only. Our regular giving goes towards our commitment to our general overheads such as salaries, hall hire, administrative and legal costs as well as blessing others.
Join us as we choose to go on an adventure with God. Let's play our part and let's see God do the miraculous.
Much Love,
Jo & Nicky