Having faith for more
We’ve just had the last couple of gift Sundays of the year towards our building project – if you’re newer to us, you can read all about that here.
We have given an amazing amount of money over the last 14 months and I want to thank everyone who has contributed, whether you’re the person who match funded the £50,000 in the first set of Gift Days, or someone who has given £5. If you are reading this and haven’t been able to give financially, we don’t want anyone feeling any anxiety around that. People contribute to our community and mission in many different ways and we are grateful to everyone on this journey with us.
Over the years I have realised that conversations around money can bring up some differing reactions from us. We recently heard a great message from Steve Petch, lead pastor of Welcome Church Woking, and he addressed some of the those within his message. During it he reminded us to have faith that God cares about building projects. To have faith that a good building can unlock more of what God wants to do through us as a church, and to have faith that God really is our provider!
He also addressed two camps we can sometimes fall within – the poverty mindset and the prosperity gospel – and reminded us we are really called to a deeper reliance on God as our provider.
I’d highly recommend a listen if you weren’t there (or even a second listen if you were!) – you can catch up here.
Over the past two Sundays we’ve been able to share some stories of what God has done since we launched the project in September 2024. Prior to our gift days, our total we had raised was £275,895 which is an amazing amount! Just last month we received a £15,000 gift into the fund. This total amount has been largely given through our own personal giving, but some of us have shared our just giving page with friends and family through social media, and some have asked for donations in lieu of gifts for personal celebrations such as birthdays and weddings.
Some of our community took part in the Twilight Runway Challenge and, through sponsorship, raised £750.
50 households/individuals signed up to monthly giving above and beyond their regular giving. This is key for our grant applications, as shows the long term investment and financial commitment from our community. It also generates approximately £3000 of monthly income to the fund.
We shared a story about one of our youth, who hearing about the above, asked their parents if they could tithe monthly from their own pocket money into the fund.
We’ve seen generosity in other ways also. When we first purchased our building we took out a mortgage on our buildings over in Bracknell. The monthly interest rates were really high, so we welcomed interest free loans from members of our church to help reduce the repayments – and we celebrate that to date, our mortgage has reduced from £1 million to £90,000! That’s not all though. Two of those interest free loans were converted into gifts for the fund. Generosity tends to multiply in others, and someone else heard about those gifts and they themselves converted a £10,000 loan into a gift towards our Kerith Isle of Wight building fund!
God has done so much already, and as we exercise patience and peseverance, we are full of faith for an acceleration of our fund in the coming weeks and months as we look forward to the future. We will continue to give, and we can get creative around ways we can all fundraise for the project, as individuals and as a church community. In fact there is a team busy planning a quiz and auction night fundraiser on Saturday February 28th 2026. We are asking us all to invite our friends, family, neighbours and colleagues to come along to the evening which will be a fun night out AND raise money for the project! So get the date in your diary, and we will share more in the new year.
For now though - we are so grateful to God for all He has done through us an we are asking Him to provide even more. Steve asked his church, and asked us also - “What would it look like for us all to give in a way that is sacrificial and generous?” So I’d ask all of us to ask God what He would want us to give at this time. We are trusting Him that He will provide for us, that He will meet our every need, and that He will multiply what we bring. Let’s trust Him with our own finances, and trust Him with this whole project. And remember our vision as a church – to Help people find their way back to God through communities growing in their love for God and their love for people. We are already doing this in so many ways, but there is so much more we can do and so many more people we can reach in, through and from our building, as we further renovate our House of God and House of People.
I know that God is doing more in us as we see the fundraising total rise. He certainly is in me. He’s building my faith to see miracles, He’s building my faith to see how He can provide - even when it doesn’t make sense! He’s building faith in me to rely on Him more. This journey we are on is an exciting one, and I’m grateful to all who are on it with me. If you are able to give sacrificially at this time, please head here to donate. Thank you.
Sonia
Kerith Farnborough Site Pastor