COMMIT
The love of God compels us to REACH. This includes sharing the Good News of Christ and serving as the hands and feet of God. Our efforts to do this will focus on multiplying vibrant, Gospel-centered churches. This is our plan because the local church is God’s plan. It is also our plan because when churches thrive, everyone wins. The United States – and the world – desperately needs more vital, growing and prevailing churches.
One Fund
It’s possible that you’ve been part of a church campaign where you were asked to give a second gift “above and beyond” your normal giving. In fact, we used this model ten years ago with the Step of Faith campaign that financed the expansion of the Lake Forest campus.
Step of Faith was successful and we are very thankful to all who participated. But during that campaign we realized that the phrase “above and beyond” giving was confusing to those who had not established a baseline of support of the church, it diminished the significance of the support of the ongoing work of the church.
In light of this, REACH will employ a One Fund model. This means that during the two years of the REACH initiative, we will be rolling all of our work – and all of our expenses – under one banner. This means that everything from our operating budget (e.g., funding our current programs, maintaining our facilities, supporting our local and global partners, paying staff, etc.) and the new initiatives (funding start up campuses locally, expanding our work in North Chicago, helping our level one global partners launch new churches) will be combined in one budget.
This reflects the way the money is actually spent, and it allows everyone to be involved in everything we do.
My/Our Reach commitment
Our prayer is that everyone who calls Christ Church home will be involved with REACH in two ways:
1. We want this initiative to drive you closer to Christ. In fact, we are praying that during REACH you will lean more fully into the call to Love God, Serve Others and Reach One.
2. We want you to generously participate with both your time and money.
Use the commitment card sample to the right to help you prayerfully consider what level of generosity God is calling you to during REACH.
As you pray and discern how God would ask you to give, use this chart as a discipleship tool—let it inspire and challenge you towards greater generosity for Christ’s Kingdom as we seek to give it all for Him.
