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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.

 

 

 

 

 

Vision Event Thank You

This past Sunday’s Vision Event was a special time for Tabernacle!  Members, guests, friends of the church and staff all shared a delightful meal and inspiring testimonies about the solid foundation of our past and the light of our future.  The children fifth grade and under discovered ways that they too can contribute to our vision going forward while enjoying their own lunch menu.   What a delightful time for our congregation as we place our faith in achieving God’s Vision for our spiritual mission in the years ahead.

We express our sincere gratitude for everyone who contributed to making this Vision Event such a success.  We can’t name every person who helped along the way, but we hope you know how much we appreciate your time and effort.  We thank:

• All of those who attended for making the time to share in this important part of our church life.
• All of those who prayed for blessings on this event, including those who could not attend in person.
• Those who presented their testimonies, either in person or by video.
• John Burgess and his team of cooks for their hard work in preparing almost all of the food by hand (except the fried chicken)!
• The team of planners for thinking through what would make this event meaningful to all of our attendees.
• The event set-up team for all of their efforts on Sunday morning.
• Our hosts and hostesses for their welcoming kindness and assistance at each table.
• Those who helped finish clearing the tables, wash the serving dishes, and take out the trash.

Highlights of our Vision Event

• Approximately 140 – 150 youth, adults and children attended, meeting the challenge of blocked traffic because of the collegiate cycling championship
• Four inspiring testimonies were presented–you can view the video of Brenda and Bill Gradwell on Facebook or in “Media” at www.tbcrichmond.org.  Cung Thawng’s testimony can be read on Facebook or at “testimonies” on the church website.
• Our children’s activities included creation of their own “bank”, where they can store their pennies for contributions to the Vision Campaign.  They are also creating a poster about their role in Tabernacle’s future.
• Bill Welstead explained the Vision Event packets distributed to all in attendance.  It is important to remember that only our Financial Secretary will have any knowledge of how much an individual decides to contribute to this campaign.  It is a very personal commitment decision.
• Bill announced that the Advanced Commitment total to date from our Endowment Fund, Campaign Leadership Team, Senior Staff, and Administrative Board Chair is $257,380 (over a 3-year period).
• Comments were by far very positive about this event and about our future.

 

Next Steps

1. Pray about your individual role in this campaign between now and Celebration Sunday on May 18^th.
2. Plan to join us on Celebration Sunday!
3. If you are unable to join us on May 18^th, forward our campaign commitment card in the addressed envelope provided in your Vision Event packet.
4. If you were unable to attend the Vision Event, look for your Commitment Packet in your mailbox very soon!  If your address has recently changed, please call the church office and let us know.
5. Questions written down and placed in the mailbox at the event will be answered by personal phone call and/or publication in the TAB.  Remember to use the cards and Vision Campaign Questions mailbox located just outside of the sanctuary to ask any questions that you have in the next couple of weeks, and we will be certain that your questions are answered.

Again, we are sincerely appreciative of everyone’s prayers as we move forward in realizing our God-Sized Vision.  Our faith in God is our guide in all that we do, and his presence is evident in every step we take.   We are truly blessed!