What is the greatest gift you can give someone? A winning lottery ticket? A house on the beach? A Rolls Royce? Maybe it’s good health, love, forgiveness or freedom? Let me suggest that the greatest gift we can give is a positive future. That is what Christ gives to us. 1 Peter 1:3 says we have hope through Christ and an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. The Good News is if we are willing to open our hearts to God we can open doors for others – we can share our inheritance with them.
Open Hearts Open Doors is about spiritual growth.
A missionary once said, “Attempt something so great for God it’s doomed to failure unless God be in it.” Everyone who makes a sacrificial pledge will be attempting something great for God. And God will not disappoint us. We will discover that as we give with open hearts and open hands, God transforms us from fearful givers to cheerful givers. Andy Stanley says, “Fear and faith live parallel lives. Uncertainty is an essential ingredient for both. Without the element of the unknown, there could be no faith.” When you join God in His mission, when you begin to view your wealth from God’s perspective, you will see that fear is not an option, because faith has overcome it.
Open Hearts Open Doors is about financial freedom.
2008 marks Peace’s 20th anniversary in Crowfield Plantation. As we look back, we acknowledge that God has blessed us in tremendous ways. And yet the ‘plantation’ is still fertile ground. The Open Hearts Open Doors Campaign will grant us the financial freedom to create ministry opportunities in the future by eliminating the $930,000 debt which currently encumbers us. Giving to this campaign frees financial resources [$102,000] presently used for mortgage payments.
I know that the issue of money is a sensitive one. But the kind of giving that will make a difference will require a sacrifice on our part. In Malachi 3:10, God tells us to give him “all the tithes due him.” In return He promises to ‘pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in!” This kind of giving seems unusual for us, but I ask that you give much prayer and thought to the part you will play in partnering with God in mission. Each person will be asked to make a three year pledge.
Open Hearts Open Doors is about mission.
Peace is strategically located near a number of schools. What a wonderful mission field God has given to us, and we don’t have to eat grubs or live in a mud hut to be faithful to God. We only have to open our hearts allowing us to open more doors for people to hear how Christ can impact their lives. Additional funds would enable us to offer more programs for children, youth and adults, in addition to exploring ministry opportunities with some of the immigrant populations in Goose Creek, and expanding our service to the homeless and the unchurched. In addition there are other “doors” we hope to address which will make our church more inviting, for example, repaving the parking lot, recovering church pews, purchasing new chancel furniture, expanding and enclosing the portico to include a welcome center and renovating the chancel steps to create more space at the front of the sanctuary. However, each one of these doors requires an open heart giving with an open hand to accomplish God’s mission.
That is a future we all desire!
Joyfully,
Will Dietrich
