Dear Friends in Faith,

I want to share my thanks for your faithful support of Lakeview UMC. It is by God’s grace and through the love and giving of our members that we are a vibrant church, offering inspiring worship, caring for those who are hurting and offering hope and compassion to the least in our community. Each week our online worship reaches between 1-2,000 people. Our mission is to Change Lives: Caring for Mind, Body and Soul. Through your help we are touching many lives in ways that makes God’s love so visible and real.

You have probably seen that this is our season to talk about giving. I know that talking about money can seem uncomfortable but you know as well as we do that our giving has a spiritual purpose that goes way beyond the need to finance the church. Our stewardship, our giving, is a spiritual act. God always wants to do something in us. God always wants to do something for us! Our giving is a way we connect with God. In our giving we are offering ourselves to God’s work and the chance to share with others as God has shared with us. No gift is too small if it represents the best of who we are in our faith and a desire to serve God. Our giving is a grateful response to a generous and loving God. As we grow in generosity, it deepens our relationship with God and allows us to fully share in God’s mission through the church.

I am asking you to consider making a “pledge” or a commitment to give to our church. A pledge is really an estimate of giving for the coming year. It helps us greatly to put together our funding plan for our ministries for 2022 and all that we believe God is calling us to do through our church. What might God be asking you to do? Begin with prayer, and reflect on the grace of giving. When our hearts are filled with gratitude, nothing God asks of us seems unpleasant or impossible. When we give sacrificially it has a way of deepening our walk with God. We pray you will make it your personal goal to grow this year in your giving.

If you have questions, or need to talk about special ways to give to the church, including stock and appreciated assets, please call us. We have many ways to give online. Let’s pray for each other over the next two weeks during this important time of making our commitments. Together, we are growing in our trust of God that makes it possible for us to give.

If you are feeling called by God to make a financial commitment to our church, we are asking you to fill out an online pledge by Sunday, November 7. Here is a link

In faith, Pastor Dave