RELEASED
Being trapped is a terrible place to find yourself. We have all felt the difficulty of being stuck, whether it is from a debt, an addiction, a job you didn’t enjoy, or the effects on community and isolation from the coronavirus. But, finding freedom is amazing! And when we face difficulties in life and choose to tackle them with God’s guidance, we come out on the other side with a beautiful story and appreciation of freedom.
I am excited to share another area where we can experience freedom- financial freedom for our church family. For the last eighteenyears, we have included a monthly mortgage in our annual budget and God has faithfully provided. That mortgage includes a balloon payment which will be due in May 2023. We would like to retire this debt rather than take on another mortgage at that time.
To address this financial challenge, we are introducing the Released Initiative. Each aspect of this initiative is utterly focused on God’s call for Journey Church to be Released, to symbolize not only escaping a monthly mortgage, but also to be Released to chase the vision that God has given us to Move People on a Simple Journey Toward Jesus. In the next few months, we will challenge our Journey Church family to prayerfully consider how each of us can participate in the Released Initiative. Our primary goal will be to eliminate the debt, but we will also share some ministry opportunities that we believe God is and will continue to lead us to as we are Released.
We will be inviting and challenging everyone, regardless of their level of support, to join us. We hope that you will decide to participate both in prayer and financially. Will you join us in this amazing next chapter of Journey Church’s story?
Sincerely,
Randy Nation, Senior Minister
THE RELEASED INITIATIVE
RELEASED HAS
5 KEY AREAS
AREA ONE
Continue our current mission, only with more strategy and more efficiency.
AREA TWO
Make a deeper impact on the lives of our children and adults by providing better environments for worship, community, and service.
AREA THREE
Make a greater impact on Versailles by partnering with the most effective ministries in our area.
AREA FOUR
Deepen our
commitment to making disciples through increasing our support of local, national and global missions work.
AREA FIVE
Create more possibilities for the future through debt freedom.
WHAT IS THE RELEASED INITIATIVE?
Released is a generosity initiative designed specifically to unify our financial stewardship program into One Fund that includes our annual ministry budget, debt reduction, and future ministry opportunities. This initiative enables Journey Church to set our vision and financial goals for the 18-month period of December 2021 through May 2023.
The goal for our Released Initiative over the next 18 months is $2.5 million which will enable us to live out our mission and vision with greater effectiveness, impact our community and advance the Kingdom by moving people on a simple journey toward Jesus.
WHAT ARE YOU ASKING ME TO DO?
First and foremost, we are asking that you pray and seek God’s leading on what He is asking of you. Prepare your heart to hear Him, and then follow what He says. Engage in a Journey Group during this season, if you haven’t already. Talk with your spouse and your family about what this commitment will mean for this next exciting season of our lives.
We are asking that you make a sacrificial commitment to The Released Initiative – whatever it is that God leads you to do. Follow His leading – nothing more, nothing less. Finally, we ask that you prepare to be amazed. We serve an awesome God, and He is going to show up in big ways! We anticipate a huge impact from our collective Released commitments. Engage with the worship and community opportunities that will be remembered as a defining moment in our church and faith.
