This past Sunday, Matt and Bill laid out We Choose, our two-year ministry plan based on our best understanding of how God is directing us. It is a strategic way to budget, allocate, raise, and spend resources in a manner that will help us accomplish the mission God has given us.

Center My Life | Austin Stone Worship | iTunes
Revelation 5:13, Matthew 6:19-23, Romans 12:1

Hope of the World | Hillsong Live | iTunes
Romans 5:1-3; Ephesians 2:11-13; Psalm 33:20-22

Come Thou Fount | Grace Church Worship
Ephesians 2:7-8 • 1 Peter 2:9-10 • Colossians 1:21-22 • 1 Corinthians 1:22

Sovereign Over Us | Aaron Keyes | iTunes
Genesis 50:20, Jeremiah 29:11, Isaiah 55:8-9, Romans 8:28

The Rock Wont Move | Vertical Church Band | iTunes
Psalm 62:5-8 • 1 Peter 2:4-8 • 2 Samuel 22:47 • Matthew 7:24-27 • Psalm 18:2

I Will Look Up | Elevation Worship | iTunes
Psalm 57:7-11 • Psalm 121:1-2 •Isaiah 26:1-8 • 2 Samuel 22:26-31
Scripture Used: Ephesians 2:20-21

1. What is your response as you look through the two-year ministry plan? Is there a specific ministry that has personally impacted you, or do you sense the need to move toward a ministry?
2. Moving towards being a courageous giver means identifying where there’s an issue of fear. In what areas are you struggling with fear? What have you done over the last several weeks to move towards being courageously generous?
3. Being good stewards of our resources means being wise in our spending and letting God direct our paths. How can you be more strategic in how you budget and spend your resources so you can seek to accomplish the mission God has given you? Is there an intentional goal you need to set or is God calling you to be courageous in a specific area?
4. This plan involves each of us as part of our church body. How can you begin praying through this two-year ministry plan? What can you commit to praying for regularly?

Thoughts to Consider

Development and Expansion:
1. Charleston: We Choose Charleston for our first church plant in order to see a vibrant, biblically-oriented, discipleship-focused church established in this historic city.
2. Español Harrison Bridge: In order to continue to reach the 40,000-60,000 Spanish speakers in Greenville county, Grace en Español will start a second campus at Harrison Bridge.
3. Travelers Rest: We Choose Travelers Rest as our next area for campus development. We are excited for another campus to be a catalyst to members and attendees to live and serve locally.
4. Ezer Latin America: Spanish is the second-most widely spoken language in the world, yet we have found there is a void of biblically-sound discipleship material for women in Spanish. As we have translated Biblical Femininity and Body Matters, we have begun bridging this gap and taking Ezer material to Latin America.

We are following the doors that God opens. We Choose to move in this direction and pursue the opportunities God provides.

Partnerships:
We Choose to commit to serving and partnering with specific ministries in order to build capacity for them through donations and ultimately provide the resources for people to serve by engaging and participating within the programs.

We want the Church to be seen as a servant of the cities and the communities where we live. It’s not just about the money—the money creates the opportunity for us to have a seat at the table to ask how we can come alongside and engage personally with these organizations.

“For our church, being culturally engaged is about hospitality, justice, and proclamation … we leverage our hospitality in order to do justice for people being under-served, so that we can proclaim the gospel in a way that has credibility.” – Bill White

1. Miracle Hill: Provides food, shelter for homeless adults, homes for at-risk children, and residential addiction recovery under Christ-centered care.
2. Jump Start: Helps men and women transition from prison back into the workplace who, without faith-based training and support, would otherwise have a hard time doing so.
3. Project HOPE: Offers a broad range of services for autistic children from preschool through young adulthood.

Care Ministries:
DivorceCare, re|engage, DivorceCare for Kids and Teens, re:generation, and GriefShare meet needs in our church that are not met by community groups. These ministries bring in many people within our community not connected to Grace Church and have become a marker where being culturally engaged and shepherding meet in a way that we never originally intended.

Grace Church Kids & Students:
We count it a privilege to disciple over 2,500 kids and students each week, and we are excited about the opportunity to have an influence in the lives of their future spouses, children, and grandchildren.

Debt:
The way an organization handles debt is symptomatic of the way it handles other disciplines. We have chosen to only use debt for capital expenditures, not for operating expenses, and have maintained a consistent level of debt while our church body has grown from two to eight campuses.

There are three tiers to our ministry plan which explain where we think we are going. We have more vision than we have resources, but we live within our means. Each tier is an outline of what we could accomplish within those means. A copy of these tiers can be found in the ministry plan magazine available at each campus.

As we move forward, we need to remember:
1. We are worshiping God with our money.

“The point is not percentages—the point is discipleship. What are we saying about giving? We worship God with our money, not because this organization needs it or doesn’t need it, but because we are disciples and followers of Jesus, and we have to deal with our hearts. We worship Him when we give our money away because we recognize that He’s the one that gives it all to us. We give back a portion as an act of worship, saying we trust in Him and not in the money.” – Matt Williams

2. We are investing in the reward of the eternal Kingdom.

“Jesus told His disciples that you cannot be a disciple unless you are generous. If you really want a reward in eternity then you are going to have to be shrewd now, and you are going to have to take these passing things that you have and give them away so that you are laying up a treasure in heaven.” – Bill White