John Markum

Tag: give

GIVING.

Posted on by johnmarkum

GIVING

As we’re preparing to launch our church plant, we have described our partnership commitments to LifeCity Church in three words:
FAST.
GIVE.
JOIN.

Before you get all weird on me about making a case for you to give money to our church plant, I want you to know two things:

  • If you’re not a follower of Jesus Christ, I’m not asking you for anything. It is the responsibility of Christ-followers to finance God’s work.
  • If you are not trusting God with your money by tithing to your church home, you should start there first.

Now that we’ve got that established let me tell you why you should give to LifeCity Church, and give generously:

  1. Because you give sacrificially to LifeCity Church, the people of the South Bay will  fully experience life in Christ.
  2. God will reward you for investing in His Kingdom. He always blesses generosity.
  3. God will bless and even extend your remaining resources.
  4. You’re not just helping us start a church. Your participating in building a church planting movement.
  5. Your consistent giving will make it possible for us to control our budget, predict expenses, and pay for our church’s needs.
  6.  By helping us secure the finances to do this work, you enable us to spend more time focused on reaching the people of the South Bay, and less time raising funds.

God is going to call different people to do different things with their finances when it comes to partnering with LifeCity Church. Some people are going to give their tax refund. Others will begin tithing to LifeCity in addition to their church home. Some will be moved to give $25 a month, and other will sense God leading them to give $1000 or more monthly. God calls for equal sacrifice, not necessarily equal giving.

We are specifically challenging people to give on one of two levels:

  • $100/monthly: We’ve set a goal of seeing 100 people commit to giving at this level. We’re calling these people our “100 x 100” givers. Some have already started doing this.
  • $250/monthly: Each person doing this for three years will raise 1% of our total giving goal. If 20 people committed to doing this, they would raise 20% of our giving needs alone. To make that number real, it could pay for our meeting space to hold services.

We’re asking for people to consider committing to three years (36 months) so that we have the time to make disciples who begin to tithe to LifeCity Church and own the responsibility of furthering the work of the ministry in their lives.

I know hundreds of reasons why people might not give. I believe God receives greater glory when we trust Him with our resources despite our circumstances. Feel free to email us at: [email protected] if you have more questions about giving to LifeCity Church.

If you’re ready to give now at our secure online giving, click here.

For those of you who do give, I’m very grateful for your sacrifice. We promise to honor your generosity by keeping you informed with how your giving is impacting lives through this step of faith. Thank you!

Blessings,
Pastor John

The Cost to Planting a Church

Posted on by johnmarkum

Planting costI dislike using “need” to motivate people to give their money to something. I find that if it works at all, people usually only give out of guilt, and not usually more than once. I find that “vision” is not only a more compelling reason to motivate people to give, but it helps people understand the impact that their giving is making. But as I prepare to launch LifeCity Church, I realize that most people are simply unaware of the cost of planting a church.

The fact of the matter is, this is the hardest and most difficult thing I have ever done. If it were not for the confidence I have that God is calling us to do this, I would never attempt such an otherwise intimidating challenge. Continue reading “The Cost to Planting a Church”

“Charity: Water” turns Five!

Posted on by johnmarkum

I donated my birthday last year to this cause and was excited about the people who gave to fund clean drinking water around the world through charity: water. Jesus said that He is the living water, and that every act of kindness that we did to “the least of these” was as if we were doing it directly to Him. By providing clean drinking water through this faith-based charity organization, we are demonstrating the love of Christ to our world, and taking action in the single greatest need in our world outside of the Gospel itself. And certainly these two causes are not only compatible with each other,… they are complementary.

Watch this video below and do your part to help meet the global water crisis. We are the change the world is waiting for!

Blessings,

John

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