There was a time in GLC’s history when it, like a lot of congregations, funded youth programs with fundraising. When we began living into our mission to live generous lives in Christ, we found that a lot of the fundraising didn’t build relationships or help us grow in our faith. They often involved serving, but muddied the waters in terms of what it means to be called to serve with grace and to ‘earn’. Often they put additional burdens on already maxed out families and it could sound to the congregation like there was always some kind of fundraising. Finally, many fundraisers had a very low return on investment. So we began using our mission statement as our guide. We put some of the basic costs of mission trips into our church budget and a line for youth programming as well. Now most things at GLC are for the purpose of building relationships, serving together and growing in faith. This makes a lot of space for us to continue to grow in generosity. If you’ve been thinking about a fundraiser to support a ministry at GLC or another organization, let’s talk about it! – Pastor Trudy Stoffel
