GENEROSITY AT THE END OF THE YEAR
Many of us think about giving at the end of the year —some out of gratitude for all that God’s done, some for tax purposes, some because of year end bonuses. The end of the year is a great time to evaluate and see if we invested what we intended to invest in God’s work over the past year. It’s an exciting 
time to be a part of Redemption Church. Your generosity makes an enormous difference.
I do not believe there is a more worthwhile investment than an investment in the local church. A healthy church deep in gospel vision and rich in love for people is the most powerful change agent in the world.
Would you prayerfully consider making a contribution over and above your regular monthly giving to help us meet our End-of-Year goals?
END-OF-YEAR GOALS
BASE CAMP $26,780 // If we reach the Base Camp goal, we will meet our expenses for the year and establish a more stable base for 2016.
ADVANCE $56,297 // If we reach the Advance goal, we will meet our expenses for the year and be able to advance our ministries heading into 2016. We would prioritize items based on our mission and our needs.
ACCELERATE $91,297 // If we reach the Accelerate goal, we will meet our budget target for 2015 and be able to accelerate our investment in ministries for 2016. This doesn’t mean that the pace of ministry would speed up. It means that we could more quickly add support for our existing staff, ministries, and teams so that they have needed resources and attention to thrive in the year ahead.
HOW WILL REACHING THESE GOALS HELP TO MAKE REDEMPTION HAPPEN?
The following items are the kinds of things you can expect to see in 2016 if we are able to reach our year-end goals. Depending on the amount given, we will prioritize items based on need, timing, and other factors.
Redemption KIDS Director / Staff
Kids are a huge part of our church family–about one-third of us! We want to hire a great person to help us continue to do great ministry with our kids birth through fifth grade. We are seeing children come to Christ and grow as followers of Jesus. We are seeing more and more kids, and we continue to add new classrooms to meet the need. Children’s ministry is such an exciting opportunity to shape lives and families forever.
Student Ministry Investment
We launched our student ministry in August, and have had a good fall together. We want to make significant investment in our students in 2016, including finding a place to meet in Edmond, a weekend retreat, and Summer Camp. Our budget for students needs a significant boost to accomplish our mission to reach students for Jesus and train them up ready for life in an rapidly changing world.
Administrative Staff
We have an incredible crew of volunteers that serve as administrative assistants for our church. They are gifted, humble, and hardworking people who love our church. We want to affirm these roles, continue to invest in them, and empower these servants to bless our church. As the church grows, we need increasing administrative support, so that we care well for all those that God brings our way. We need to grow our database and processes so we can stay in touch with people as we grow.
Pastoral Focus and Leadership Development for Groups, Serve Teams, Ministries
We want to be about people more than programs. By hiring a Redemption Kids Director, growing our administrative help, adding residents, we hope to free up our pastors to invest in our leadership development–raising up new leaders and coaching existing leaders. This is mission critical in order to make sure we are fulfilling our vision for life-on-life discipleship, caring well for our people, and equipping our people to do the ministry. If we aren’t effective in multiplying leaders, we won’t be able to maintain our focus on people.
Families in Need
We have families with financial needs in our body. We want to share with these friends, along with helping them budget and plan for the days ahead. Reaching our goals will allow us to add funds to help care for these families.
Go Make a Difference
We want to see more people Go:Local and Go:Global next year through outreach, mercy ministries, and mission trips. We have seen more engagement in our city through our investment in John Ross School through reading, tutoring, signage, giving tree, and more. We had church members go on two mission trips to Ecuador this year. We would like to mobilize more people next year, including a trip to Guatemala to serve our church plant there.
Renew our Savings
Wise stewardship demands that we maintain a healthy cash balance for those times of year when funds run thin. Just like your family should maintain some savings, our church family desires to do the same.
Church Planting
Ten percent of our internal giving goes to support new church plants. In 2015, we invested in new churches that launched in Guatemala City, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington D. C. Next year, we will continue to support those four churches, and we have committed to support another church plant. This new plant is in Stillwater, OK. Your year-end gifts will determine how much we give in 2016.
Thanks so much for partnering with us to make redemption happen! We want to reach new people and make disciples for generations. This will not be possible without each of us contributing to the cause of Christ in our church. As we prepare for all that God wants to do in 2016, would you help us make redemption happen with your generous giving?
You can give online or read about our other giving options by clicking GIVE.
– jdl