Author: tbc

In this final article about the February dinners, we take a look at the responses to the third questions asked by all of our facilitators—“How does the community see the church?”  Your participation in these dinners was important to the Campaign Leadership Team to make sure that what we have in mind for Tabernacle’s spiritual mission is a close match to the thoughts of our current congregation.   We have grown over the past several years, and we want to be sure that both our newer and longer term members have a voice in our approach to change.   Thinking about how we fit in our community is certainly a key consideration in our plans.

There are two consistent responses to the question about how the community views our church across all of the dinner notes:

• We really aren’t sure how people around us view the church today.
• We believe that we need to take a more active approach to engaging our community in the activities of our church.

Probably the most obvious spiritual mission that our neighbors can see is our commitment to the development of children via the Childcare Center.  They see the red and white strollers rolling up and down the streets, and they see children playing the in the playground.  There are Childcare Center graduates that live not far from the church—those children and their families know us as a positive contributor in our  community.

We serve our community each week through our Clothes Closet and Food Pantry assistance.  We distribute Thanksgiving Baskets every November to about 100 of our neighbors in need.  You suggested that we look for new ways of serving our neighbor in all age groups.

You also said that we should find new and creative ways of inviting those near us to learn more about Tabernacle.   Including neighbors in occasional “coffeehouse” type music events may provide a cordial way to get to know more of those who live nearby.  Inviting our neighbors to various events at the church throughout the year was also suggested.

Finding ways to keep the neighbors informed as we launch our physical changes and continue to grow our activities that enable us to realize our vision is crucial.  Continued participation in the neighborhood association is one of those avenues of communication within the local area.  We will look for a variety of ways to keep our progress updates available to our neighbors in the months and years ahead.

Again, we thank all of the sponsors for the Discovery Dinners, as well as all of the participants for braving the cold to share your thoughts and ideas!  This was a key initial step for our God-Sized Vision campaign.  As we progress in this campaign, we will make every effort to maintain a high level of communication with both our congregation and our community.

We welcome your questions as we move forward with our God-Sized Vision campaign.  You will find a Vision Campaign Questions mailbox and blank white cards near the sanctuary to write down your questions.  Please use these cards as a way to communicate your questions, and we will be certain to respond either by phone call and/or article in the TAB.  Be sure to write down your name and phone number on your card if you prefer to receive a personal phone call.

The questions below were received after our Vision Event on May 4th.

Question A: 
Has the church discussed borrowing money in regards to this (these) projects? (Especially in regards to pledge commitments)

Question B:
Are we going to take out any loans or look into that possibility with the VA Baptists if we don’t get all of the funds by the end of the 3-year period or do that to begin construction early?

Answer: 
The Church will not borrow funds (from banks or the Virginia Baptist Foundation) to finance the construction; however, we may consider borrowing against the commitment amounts. This type of funding would have to be approved by the Church and analyzed carefully.

 

Question: 
Will you be beginning projects as money comes in or waiting until the full 2 million comes in?
Answer:
We will wait until the total commitment amount is known before deciding how to proceed, including possible phasing.

We sincerely appreciate your interest in the success of this campaign.  Do not hesitate to ask any question that you may have!

 

This week, Tabernacle celebrates 127 years of worship and ministry together! We hope you will make plans to join us on Sunday as we celebrate the arrival of this important milestone as we both celebrate our heritage and cast our eyes forward into the future. Over the past three months we have talked, listened, asked questions, written and read testimonies, and prayed about what Tabernacle means in our lives and for our families.  Over a dozen of us have declared how the Lord has led them on paths they did not know he would lay out for them.   We have witnessed growth both within ourselves and in the congregation.  This is a truly inspired time.

May 18^th, 2014 is “Celebration Sunday” where each of us will have the opportunity to bring our building fund-raising commitment card to Church and place it on the Lord’s altar.   At the same time we place our faith in God as we look to changes that we will see in the years ahead.

Thank you for taking time to seriously consider your financial contribution to our “Our God-Sized Vision”.  Continue to pray for Tabernacle, your role in our future, and how we all work together to realize whatever it is that God has in store for us.  The Lord knows the way and will lead us towards it.  On “Celebration Sunday”, most of all, we celebrate being together in a loving, caring family of people.

Discovery Dinners—Part 3

In this final TAB article about the February dinners, we take a look at the responses to the third questions asked by all of our facilitators—“How does the community see the church?”  Your participation in these dinners was important to the Campaign Leadership Team to make sure that what we have in mind for Tabernacle’s spiritual mission is a close match to the thoughts of our current congregation.   We have grown over the past several years, and we want to be sure that both our newer and longer term members have a voice in our approach to change.   Thinking about how we fit in our community is certainly a key consideration in our plans.

There are two consistent responses to the question about how the community views our church across all of the dinner notes:

We really aren’t sure how people around us view the church today.

We believe that we need to take a more active approach to engaging our community in the activities of our church.

Probably the most obvious spiritual mission that our neighbors can see is our commitment to the development of children via the Childcare Center.  They see the red and white strollers rolling up and down the streets, and they see children playing the in the playground.  There are Childcare Center graduates that live not far from the church—those children and their families know us as a positive contributor in our community.

We serve our community each week through our Clothes Closet and Food Pantry assistance.  We distribute Thanksgiving Baskets every November to about 100 of our neighbors in need.  You suggested that we look for new ways of serving our neighbor in all age groups.

You also said that we should find new and creative ways of inviting those near us to learn more about Tabernacle.   Including neighbors in occasional “coffeehouse” type music events may provide a cordial way to get to know more of those who live nearby.  Inviting our neighbors to various events at the church throughout the year was also suggested.

Finding ways to keep the neighbors informed as we launch our physical changes and continue to grow our activities that enable us to realize our vision is crucial.  Continued participation in the neighborhood association is one of those avenues of communication within the local area.  We will look for a variety of ways to keep our progress updates available to our neighbors in the months and years ahead.

Again, we thank all of the sponsors for the Discovery Dinners, as well as all of the participants for braving the cold to share your thoughts and ideas!  This was a key initial step for our God-Sized Vision campaign.  As we progress in this campaign, we will make every effort to maintain a high level of communication with both our congregation and our community.

Do you have questions about the Vision Campaign?  Please plan to attend our Vision Event on Sunday, May 4^th.  And look for opportunities in future editions of the TAB to ask questions and view responses to those questions about this exciting time in the life of our church.