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Word from the Pastor:
Mission Need: Vans
And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent?
—Romans 10:15a
As we discussed in Sunday’s congregational meeting, in our mission giving in 2023 we will highlight a special need each month to which you can contribute. Rather than a quarterly 5-cents-a-meal collection, we will take up a special offering that benefits both local (such as the Bristol Emergency Food Pantry) and overseas ministries. Our hope is that by highlighting one need each month, we can show you the urgency of the request, and you will respond in kind, being generous as God has been generous with us.
The highlighted need that the Mission and Outreach Committee and the session ask you to consider giving to in February is the purchase of two vans. The ministries and missions of the church have grown, and we need affordable and reliable transportation to get students to retreats and church events, take college students on mission trips, and deliver our volunteers to mission partnerships as distant as Montana. We also have other groups that could benefit from our vans. Boy Scout Troop 3, and other ministry partners in Bristol, could use our vans when they have special trips.
Of course, filling this need will not come cheap. Our goal is to raise at least $40,000 to purchase two used vans with fewer than 100,000 miles on them. We have secured $7,000 in pledges or gifts for the purpose, so we have a minimum of $33,000 to go. Our hope is that these vans will last the church for five to ten years, or another 100,000 miles. We want to buy vans (like the F‑250 or 350) that can reasonably meet or exceed the 200,000 mile mark.
Beyond the church’s need to expand ministry and mission opportunities, this move makes financial and logistical sense. We have depended on renting vans from companies like Enterprise, as well as on people lending us their vehicles, to transport students and volunteers to mission, retreat, and event sites. And getting vans from Enterprise is no easy feat these days.
Since 2018, the church has spent $15,771.49 on van rentals alone, and this does not include the incalculable number of miles driven in vans lent to the church. Interestingly, this sum includes two years during COVID in which we took fewer trips, which reduced the amount we would typically spend over this period. At current usage levels, we spend around $5,000 a year on van rentals during normal years. If the ministry and mission outreach opportunities of our church are to expand, this number will only grow with time.
I hope you can see both the need for the vans and the need for your generosity to make this happen. We want to continue to grow the ministry and mission outreach opportunities we make available to all ages here at the church, and reliable transportation will be a key part of the equation. As Paul asks rhetorically in Romans 10:15, how will we proclaim the Good News that Jesus is Lord unless we send our community to share that news?
Please consider this request. Pray about it. Give. I am excited about where God will send us next.
In Christ,
Pastor Sam
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