Refurbishing our Ministry Centre

As I hope you are aware we are currently seeking to raise money to do some refurbishment of the ministry centre. The two biggest items on our agenda are painting and data projection. We first began talking about painting the auditorium back in 2000 and in earnest from 2005, but there have been other priorities that we had to tackle first. About 3 years ago we identified the need to permanently fix the data projectors and re-run cabling to fix up the signal etc. Again other priorities pushed this to the back burner.

This year church council decided these two things just had to get done. The auditorium is looking really tired and the data projection is in desperate need of an upgrade. To do these alone will cost $25 250 (using by far and away the best quotes we received). Along with some other “tidy” up things (tinting windows, some acoustic work etc) we are looking to raise $30 000. This refurbishment is important because of the amount the auditorium is used, not just by our congregation, but by the College and other community groups.

Of course this is all part of the ongoing maintenance of the ministry centre and property. There are other pressing maintenance needs, but we can only do so much at any given time. Any money donated above the $30 000 will help us fast track some of the other maintenance projects.

There are envelopes available each week which give you all the details on how to give. If you would like to make a direct transfer please use the following details:

Account name: Logan Uniting Church BSB: 704-919 Account No. 100000019. Please include ‘refurb’ as a reference

Please make any cheques payable to ‘Logan Uniting Church’

Thank you for your generosity

Graham Keech

Giving

Last month at church council we received our quarterly financial update. It is important I share it with you as we together are responsible for fulfilling God’s vision through Logan Uniting Church.

For the first four months of 2011 our tithes and weekly offerings were $7000 down on budget. Other income was up by $1000. We are keeping our expenses well down – they were $9800 down on budget. Expenses of course are a bit interesting as some of the savings will be eaten into as resources etc are purchased later in the year.

On the whole we finished the first quarter in a positive position – about $12000 in the positive. It is necessary at this point in the year for us to be in a positive position financially for 2 reasons:

1. We have to replenish our reserves (our reserves were used up at the end of last year with the staff realignment process - redundancy and retirement etc)

2. In June the Synod contribution toward Tim Robinson’s position (youth and new congregation) comes to end.

The main area of need/growth lies in our tithes and offerings. These do need to increase. I certainly don’t want to get to the end of 2011 and face staffing realignment/cuts due to finances (remember our major expense is in resourcing the ministry leadership team). If every adult who is part of Logan Uniting Church increased their giving by $4-00 per week we would meet budget easily.

My request is that, if you have not yet done so, rather than simply increasing your giving by $4-00 per week, you revisit the issue of financial giving as a very important part of your being a disciple of Christ. Remember Jesus talked more about money than anything else, except the Kingdom of God. What we do with our money is a sure test of where our heart really lies (see Luke 12: 34). To fail to treat financial giving as a critical part of being a disciple of Christ is to fall short in God’s call on our life.

If you tithe – fantastic! Have you adjusted your tithe this year in response to your changing income? If you have – awesome! If you don’t tithe, what is the basis for this decision – how have you come to this conclusion from the bible and your understanding of God’s call on your life? If you have explored this thoroughly and choose not to tithe but to give according to some other manner – fantastic! What is important is that each of us decide before God and in the light of scripture, what we will give and how.

I believe tithing (giving 10% of our gross or net income to the work of God through the local church) is a life giving principle that:

Ÿ Says thanks to God and honours God for His saving power (see Gen 14: 8-20)

Ÿ Declares the sovereignty of God and is a means of revering God (see Deut 14: 22-23; 26: 1-11)

Ÿ Leads to blessing (see Mal 3: 10)

Please continue to pray AND act on what you believe God is saying to you in this area