Dear church family,

I am writing with encouraging news that pledges for the “Building for the Future” project proposed by our church Elders to provide for gospel work at Dundonald church in the next generation are now flooding in. The total of gifts pledged has now passed the £350k mark – which is wonderful!

It is so encouraging that God’s grace has generated such generosity in the hearts of his people. Whether or not we can ultimately afford this project, God has lovingly challenged us all through his Word to reflect upon our priorities – calling us to trust in him rather than in money and to treasure his gospel above material things. This challenge may have felt painful – but we know that God loves us and wants the best for us in eternity.

For those of us yet to respond, there are now only twelve days left – and I am eager that no-one who wants to give will later regret having missed the opportunity to be involved.

Perhaps I could emphasise three things:

  1. Please don’t feel embarrassed about small gifts – the totals sound impossibly large and since many of us do not earn very much, or are going through a financially difficult season, the figures can make our modest gifts feel irrelevant; but God cares about our hearts and a desire to give sacrificially is more important to him than the amount we give – and when we all get involved, lots of small gifts add up to become something significant; we would love as many as possible in our church to be involved, and not feel left out, however small our financial gift may be;
  2. Please don’t feel anxious about design details – our planning permission is for the building structure alone and there will be plenty of time for detailed designs of the internal layout to be discussed and adapted; we are blessed with an extraordinary array of professional talents in our church and many who have come to the Q and A sessions with queries have been much reassured – and there is plenty of detail on-line to explore; so please don’t allow doubts or anxieties about design details that are not yet decided undermine your confidence in a project that needs our funding pledges now;
  3. Please don’t feel pressured to give – we have to talk about this project a lot at the moment because the church Elders can’t approve the next steps in approaching potential developers unless we know if we can afford the whole project – it may only be a building but it is a big building! We are all looking forward to talking less about money and buildings and more about Jesus and heaven – which we will do once this period of prayer and pledging is over at the end of January. In the mean-time, please don’t feel pressured to give beyond your means or to give reluctantly. God’s Word is clear that sacrificial giving is a cheerful privilege and if God does provide what we need through our giving, we will want to praise him for this opportunity of supporting gospel ministry;

So don’t miss out – pray and get involved at any level you can because the opportunity will soon be gone; it is already true of those that have contributed, “this service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God” (2 Cor. 9:12)

With love in Christ,

Richard

PS – for more information about the project click here
PPS – to let us know how much you can give, no matter how much or how little, please click here or pick up a form at church

 

Richard Coekin | Senior Pastor
Dundonald Church | 577 Kingston Road | London | SW20 8SA
T 020 8543 4411 Ext. 101
W dundonald.org | co-mission.org | @dundonaldchurch

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