Giving Tuesday is an international day of generosity where folks can choose to donate their money and funds to non-profit organizations around the world. ECV is raising funds this Giving Tuesday to support our three priorities that we will believe will lead to growth—in individuals and numbers!

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During this past calendar year, we identified three main areas of focus to help our church grow into the next season: Leadership Development & Formation, Staff Resourcing & Development, and a new church building.

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In September, we welcomed Andy Saperstein as our new Associate Pastor. In these last 2.5 months, we’ve already seen what a strength he has brought to our staff team and our church by being able to bring pastoral care and support in a dedicated way. We’re excited for the ways he will continue to help build the pastoral care arm of our ministry to the church and develop leaders across the board to step into different areas of ministry, as well. We believe that as we build better systems of pastoral care, we’ll see our church continue to grow in maturity with Christ and in numbers!

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This year, we were also able to continue funding staff health benefits for the second year and increase all staff salaries closer to market rates. In the coming year, we hope to add more resourcing to staff such as coverage for supports such as Spiritual Direction or counseling and more funding for personal retreats and mentorship programs. With better resourcing for our staff, we’ll be able to see renewed energy to continue the work God has placed before us.

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Finally, we’ve talked for many years about buying a building. While our current meeting place (FSUMC) is beautiful and a total gift to us, our children and youth have outgrown the space in which they meet. The Lord is graciously growing our church—through different ministries, outreaches, and purely biologically—and we need a new space to house all that God is doing in us. This new space will also allow us to create a 3rd space in our community for folks and have more city-facing ministries based out of our own building. Our aim is to begin a building campaign this Spring to begin intentionally fundraising for his effort.

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While we have this plan to help fund a new building, the progress we’ve made in our other two priorities has been allowed by an increase in our annual budget by about $42K. For Giving Tuesday this year, we’d love to raise $42K to cover the amount our budget has increased. We know there are many options and organizations to which you can give, especially on Giving Tuesday, and we’d like to invite you to give to Elm City Vineyard Church this year to help fund these first two priorities.

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On Giving Tuesday, you can click here to give to ECV. Thank you in advance for your generosity!