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Wednesday, Mar 10
| Stewardship Team | |
Donate Now! Would you like to make a donation right here and now? We can accept your donation on line, right here, using a secure server, courtesy of Vanco Services’ “Simply Giving” ® program. Your on-line donation may be made using a credit card, or your own bank account. For further details, and to make a donation, click HERE!
The most commonly-used method is Offering Envelopes. With these, members receive envelopes every month. Each envelope is identified with the contributor's name and an identifying number. We are happy to provide offering envelopes to anyone.
Through our connections with Vanco Services, we have available the Simply Giving ® Electronic Funds Transfer system. Using this link, you can establish a schedule of contributions to any of several church funds. Click here for a Simply Giving ® enrollment form.
We also, upon your request, provide pre-addressed envelopes, allowing contributors to mail their contributions directly to the church at those times when attendance is not possible.
And, of course, we are happy to receive contributions you may wish to make using an on-line payment feature available from your bank.
There are benefits both to the donor and to the church with gifts of Appreciated Securities. The donor avoids the capital gains taxes on the securities, but is able to deduct the full appreciated value of the gift from his or her income taxes. The church receives the full current market value of the gift and, as a tax-free organization, is not required to pay taxes on the gain. For further information on donating gifts of appreciated securities to University Lutheran Church of Hope, click here.
University Lutheran Church of Hope has a Gifts Policy, which you may see here.
The Stewardship Team Leader is Tim Gustafson.
| | | Give Joyfully! | | 
What shall I render to the Lord for all his bounty to me? Psalms 116:12
Have you ever asked yourself that question? Sometimes it helps to just stop and think about God’s gifts to you and how you can use them to grow spiritually:
* You grow by sharing your TIME. Time spent together strengthens families and faith communities.
* You grow by sharing your TALENTS. Service to others serves God. Let us know where your talents lie, and we will put them to use.
* You grow by giving a part of your TREASURE back to God. Growth in giving helps us grow in service to others.
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever! Psalms 118:1
How much is enough? When we consider how to share our bounty with God, we need to consider how much we need to meet our own financial obligations. We also need to consider how much our church needs to meet ITS financial obligations. Based on our current ministry, and averaged over the entire year, University Lutheran Church of Hope costs approximately $1,450 per day to operate. This includes many wonderful programs for our members, for others in our community, and gifts we share through our benevolence to the ELCA synod. For example, nearly $5000 was budgeted this year for religious education for children and youth. This includes Sunday school and confirmation classes as well as special events such as the day-long seminar on the spiritual education of children in the home. Our church reaches out to the community as well. We budgeted over $3000 for the interfaith group, ISAIAH and for Families Moving Forward, a shelter for temporarily homeless families. We have pledged over $25,000 for mission support through the ELCA. And we have been personally moved to support other foreign mission projects such as the Lutheran Church in Malawi, mosquito netting for children in areas where malaria is endemic, digging new wells to provide a healthy water supply, and the Heifer project.
So when you consider your pledge to University Lutheran Church of Hope, prayerfully consider what level of commitment you can make for the coming year. Can you provide part of the Sunday school curriculum? Or would you be able to expand community or church-wide endeavors by increasing our mission support? Or perhaps you have another idea for how University Lutheran Church of Hope can make a difference.
“Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; and see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing.” - Malachi 3:10
| | | Tithe Calculator | |  For assistance in calculating your contributions, click 'here'.
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