We can’t help but notice God’s overflowing blessings to our church family. We have witnessed an overflow in attendance, in new opportunities, in facility, and in generosity. Our blessings are meant to be shared with others so our purpose can be fulfilled.
Our Vision for 2024 and beyond is that we make the most of opportunities (Eph 5:15) and continue to grow in Christ through a deeper and more connected relationship with God. We see a four-fold function of the church in Evangelism, Fellowship, Discipleship, and Generosity. (See Acts 2:42-47) When the church does these things well, God brings the overflow.
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FAQ
There is so much more we can do as we pursue our four-fold mission of evangelism, fellowship, discipleship, and generosity. We have overflowed in our current facility and with opportunities yet explored, we move to expand. We have anticipated a few questions and would like to address them here:
We are designing a building to meet our growing needs to facilitate our mission of evangelism, fellowship, discipleship, and generosity in mind.
Mark 16:15 tells us that evangelism is the main mission of our church. In Madison County alone, our population has increased by 20% in the last 10 years. Our Hispanic population by over 7%! God has blessed us with overflowing fields ready for harvest. Our expansion will provide a variety of new areas to host outreach opportunities aimed at the needs of our local community. Specifically, a large open area will serve as a multi-functional space equipped to facilitate community-friendly events, large-capacity indoor events, and youth and adult recreational activities. Through this expansion, our Iglesia congregation will be able to host and engage the growing Hispanic population in Madison.
Matthew 9:37-38 is true for us today! Laborers are built through discipleship. One of Madison’s most crucial needs is to provide space for more intimate engagement with God’s word. Our building expansion will provide an additional 20 rooms to alleviate our overflowing Bible classrooms. It will also allow some of our very large classroom settings to be broken down into more intimate learning environments, where we will develop deeper spiritual connections and mutual accountability. The additional space will also allow our Madison Kids Care ministry to offer more pre-school classes, thus bringing more of our community into our building. Our growing Lads ministry will benefit from designated spaces for year-round leadership training.
The definition of generosity is a willingness to give help or support, especially more than is usual or expected. Does this definition not define the Christian’s lifestyle when dealing with others? The early church emphasized generosity because Jesus commanded His followers to be generous (Matt 5:42; Luke 12:33; Acts 2:45; 4:32, 34-35)! Our building expansion would allow us to open our doors to new opportunities such as coat closets, food pantries, and summer lunches for school age children in need. We believe that as we address the physical needs of our community, opportunities arise to preach and teach Jesus and begin to address their spiritual needs as well. Our building expansion will provide dedicated and permanent space to our existing and already overflowing Komfort & Kindness and Care Bears ministries. Our new Benevolence Ministry approach will utilize the additional space to conduct one-on-one bible studies and provide room for the growth we are seeing and anticipating in the future. Our expanded kitchen facilities will enable us to tackle disaster response and provide opportunities to feed those who may be hungry for more than just food.
We read in Acts 2:42, that the early church was “devoted to fellowship”. The word “devoted” implies that was something they worked on and stuck with regardless of resistance or struggles. This is the way of living out what Jesus said in John 13:24-25. Their overflowing joy in being together, supporting one another, enjoying time across a table from one another, and growing their love and appreciation for one another is well documented in the scriptures. God’s people are meant to be together and to enjoy each other’s company. Our large gathering area provides a blank canvas for innumerable possibilities in pursuit of this vital practice. Having a room that seats hundreds of people at tables for meals would be a blessing we have not enjoyed in many years because of our growing numbers. Our large gathering area will also double as an indoor activity center for our teens, our Madison Kids Care ministry, our men’s & women’s ministry functions as well as enhancing our ability to host the outreach events previously mentioned.
The building committee has estimated that our expansion will cost between 7 and 8 million dollars to complete. As good stewards of the monies given, the shepherds are not eliminating current ministry efforts from our annual budget to finance a building expansion. The Shepherds believe that when our members see a need, have a clear vision presented for our evangelism, discipleship, generosity, and fellowship goals, and are challenged to make a spiritual difference in our community, our members rise to the occasion. We look to 2 Corinthians 9:10-15 and see how enriched we are through generosity. This is evident here at Madison through prior special contributions for natural disasters and foreign mission efforts.
Funding a building expansion will be our greatest challenge to date and it will require commitment from every member. The shepherds have enlisted the help of a consulting firm to help guide us through the fund-raising process. As the new year begins, more information will be provided regarding opportunities for individuals and families to help fund the building expansion. We covet your prayers as we build for the future and take advantage of the God given opportunities presented by the constant flow of visitors through our doors. As we move forward in faith to take advantage of these opportunities, one thing is assured, we can’t outgive our God. When we give to our evangelism, discipleship, generosity, and fellowship efforts, His blessings will be pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing (Luke 6:38).
