OCTOBER 20 HARVEST UPDATE
On Sunday, October 17, both congregations voted 108-4 to join forces to make a greater impact for the kingdom! That means that both congregations will bump up their Harvest Offerings from 11/20 to Sunday 10/31. This will allow us an extra month to prepare the new facility for two congregations. Praising God that we already have $15,000 of seed money to go towards this!! Click here to give towards this year's Harvest Offering (be sure to change the selection to Harvest Offering under the drop box).
90% of the Harvest Offering will go towards phase one of the updates/renovations at the Warren Road facility:
A) New flooring, paint, tech equipment, and more to convert the current fellowship hall to a children’s ministry and preschool wing.
B) A new wall to allocate space for toddlers adjacent to the nursery and a new doorway to connect the two rooms.
C) New flooring and paint in the youth room.
D) Taking out two walls and new flooring in a portion a portion of the current gym to open up that room more for youth, outside groups, and fellowship.
E) New paint in the sanctuary.
We believe we can accomplish phase one with the initial seed money and this year’s Harvest Offering. Any extras would most likely go towards phase two, which would involve creating two single toilet bathrooms in the kid’s wing and a playground (which is a state requirement to have a preschool.)
10% of the offering would be tithed. 5% would go to The Detroit Initiative and 5% would go to the Jiran Collective. The Detroit Initiative is led by the SMC and is a movement aimed at saturating the city of Detroit with new disciples, leaders, and churches. The Jiran Collective is a gathering of believers who are striving to reach our Muslim neighbors for Jesus. With a renewed emphasis on church multiplication moving forward, we believe tithing to local church plants in our area would help set the tone moving forward.
Here is the updated timeline:
10/31/21 - both campuses take up a Harvest Offering to go towards renovations at the WRC campus
11/7 - 11/21 - Pastor Tyson and Gloria lead worship at the WRC campus; Pastor Andy and Pastor Bob lead at the WFMC campus
11/21/21 - the WFMC campus will host a harvest meal for both campuses
1/9/22 - a final, joint worship service at the WFMC campus
1/16/22 - both campuses gather to begin a new chapter together at WRC campus
SEPTEMBER 29 HARVEST UPDATE
Dear Church Family,
On Sunday, 9/12/21, both Westland Free Methodist and Warren Road Church gave the following exciting announcement to both congregations:
As two like-minded Free Methodist Congregations in Westland, who are aligned in our approach to reaching Metro Detroit, we have come to believe that we are better together: by joining our great people and our financial resources together, and by owning only one facility, we can accomplish more for the kingdom of God than we could on our own.
Our staff, boards, and our conference executive team have all met together and sought God on this for the last couple of months. We’ve worked hard to do our due diligence on the front end so that we could answer as many questions as possible when we begin dialogue with each society. We have come to believe that God has had this in mind for some time and has led us to these exact moments for this purpose! And we are excited about the opportunity to be unleashed to serve Metro Detroit and beyond!
Based on the feedback from both congregations thus far, we are anticipating both congregations to affirm this direction with an overwhelming YES on Sunday 10/17. If that is the case, we have a lot of work to do to get ready for the new year together! The Warren Road Church has also been taking up a yearly Harvest Offering and this year, both boards are suggesting that we combine the funds and put it towards updating the Warren Road facility to prepare for joining together in 2022. Both leadership boards are suggesting that if the vote is affirmative on 10/17, both congregations bump up their Harvest Offerings from 11/20 to Sunday 10/31. This would allow us an extra month to prepare the new facility for two congregations. 10% of the offering would be tithed. 5% would go to The Detroit Initiative and 5% would go to the Jiran Collective. The Detroit Initiative is led by the SMC and is a movement aimed at saturating the city of Detroit with new disciples, leaders, and churches. The Jiran Collective is a gathering of believers who are striving to reach our Muslim neighbors for Jesus. With a renewed emphasis on church multiplication moving forward, we believe tithing to local church plants in our area would help set the tone moving forward.
As previously discussed, we’ll save around $20,000 a year and over $500,000 in the next 5 years by choosing the Warren Road facility over WFMC. However, at WRC we could use $20,000-$30,000 for phase one of renovations to prepare the Warren Road facility for the current spaces to be reallocated to various age groups. Our hope is that we can hire most of the work done since we have only a couple months to complete it, which may affect costs. Phase two would include items necessary to bring the preschool to Warren Road (Possible bathrooms and playground which would be funded by property sale dollars).
We’re excited to share that $15,000 that has been given by people who are excited about what God is doing! Our hope would be to raise another $20,000 (through the two offerings) at the end of October to guarantee we can get the Warren Road facility ready to minister to every age group of our combined congregation. This is totally within reach based on the generous history of Harvest giving by both congregations.
Here would be the proposed timelines if the affirmation vote passes:
10/4/21 - Open House at Warren Road facility (6:30 - 8pm)
10/17/21 - both congregations vote on the recommendation to join forces
10/18/21 - the WFMC property would go up for sale pending CLB approval
10/31/21 - both churches take up a Harvest Offering to go towards renovations at WRC
11/7 - 11/21 - Pastor Tyson and Gloria lead worship at WRC; Pastor Andy and Pastor Bob lead at WFMC
1/9/22 - a final, joint worship service at WFMC
1/16/22 - both congregations gather to begin a new chapter together at WRC
Some additional exciting news is that even if we own two facilities for a time, we will save $64, 771 a year by joining together, and $138,252 a year once we own only one facility! That is a lot of money that can go towards ministry in the future rather than to facilities, PTL!!!
If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You can view the service from vision Sunday (9/12), the FAQ, and take a virtual tour of WRC at our better together page. We are looking forward to what God has in store and anticipating great things. We hope you are too!
In Christ, The Leadership Team at WFMC
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