Over the past three years, Cornerstone has given away $65,000 to local ministries from our Christmas offering! This year, our annual Cornerstone Christmas love offering will be collected for our Engage Fund for Missions. Instead of a single ministry receiving the offering as we have done in the past, our Cornerstone elders have decided to expand our impact and help several different ministries. Here are just a few ways we are planning on using the offering.
- We would like to continue doing service projects in our community. Over the last year, we have replaced decks on several homes, and we have replaced a badly damaged roof that had been leaking for years. We also had a Servolution Community Service Day where we organized multiple projects around Galax. These projects are a way for us to share the love of Christ right here in our community.
- We have several young missionaries serving who are connected to Cornerstone. As a church, we would like to support those who are serving around the world. This fund will allow us to do a better job providing financial support to our missionaries.
- Ministries in our community still have financial needs. The Hope House is just one example. They are in need of additional funds to buy their current house. We want to help!
- Finally, we want to be prepared to do mission and service work without constantly having to ask for money from the congregation. This fund will be the catalyst for Cornerstone to expand and give back more to our community. Currently, we set aside 12% of all income for our mission fund. That money supports many local ministries and projects. However, the need is great, and as a church we are committed to sharing God’s Word and God’s love to a hurting world.
On December 21st during our normal morning worship services at 9:15 and 11am, we will be collecting this special love offering. A love offering is a special offering that is above and beyond your normal giving to the church. We encourage you to prayerfully and sacrificially give so that we can continue to reach people for Christ through missions and service.
We will also accept gifts on December 28th as well, so if you are out of town, you will have another chance to contribute to this special offering. And finally, we encourage you to also be generous in your support of the ministry at Cornerstone. With your continued giving, we should be able to meet or exceed our budget this year. In the past, we have been able to match and increase the funds that come in for the Christmas offering, and our goal is to be able to do that yet again. You can also give online at mycornerstone.org/online-giving and designate your gift for the Engage Fund.
2 Corinthians 9:13-15, NLT
13 As a result of your ministry, they will give glory to God. For your generosity to them and to all believers will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ. 14 And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the overflowing grace God has given to you. 15 Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!
Several people have also asked about giving to a building or a facility fund. We are accepting designated gifts for this purpose. The gifts will either be used to purchase and make improvements to our current facility, or to build or purchase a new facility if our growth continues. Please designate any giving for this purpose with “Facility Fund”