Monday, October 01, 2007

Mission Fund 2007 Kick-Off

Last night CWM celebrated its fifth anniversary in style. With over 150 people gathered for worship and praise, we celebrated five years of ministry and honored the saints among us.

Rev. Dr. Oliveto's sermon inspired us to no longer be content with the toxic crypts of the closet in which the world and church try to entomb us. Rather, recalling the story of how Jesus called out and unbound the man he loved (John 11:32ff), she urged us to unbind the death trappings that keep us locked in the tombs of racism, poverty, violence, addiction, heterosexism, and homophobia. (Check the blog later for the full text)

One of the ways we can begin to open the closet tombs of our lives is by participating in communities of faith and struggle, like Cambridge Welcoming Ministries. We understand ourselves as much more than a local congregation. We are a mission to both the church and world and hope that others will join us even from afar.

Last evening marked the kick-off for a brand new Mission Fund Campaign for Cambridge Welcoming Ministries designed to secure and grow our ministries over the next five years. This five year, $250,000 campaign seeks to expand the work we do in our community, annual conference and Church by focusing on four goals to:

Nurture New Reconciling Communities: Gathering monthly for spiritual renewal in the context of radically inclusive worship and bible study, these groups would form a supportive network for the work of promoting full inclusion.

Host Conferences on Pastoral Care With LGBT Persons: Clergy and congregations alike need opportunities for learning more about the particular needs of LGBT persons. Through an annual conference, CWM will help educate the Church on the needs of the LGBT community.

Develop Progressive and Inclusive Worship Resources: CWM’s weekly worship services offer creative ways to worship from a progressive theological perspective. We hope to create an accessible resource of our liturgy, adapted hymns and special services for use in other congregations.

Expand Pastoral Leadership: The current quarter-time appointment is no longer sufficient for the needs of our community. We will increase our appointment to half-time, providing for adequate pastoral leadership and guaranteeing an appointment from the annual conference.

In just one night we raised nearly $50,000 toward our goal!!

If you would like to pledge to our campaign you can do so on our church website, www.cambridgewelcomingministries.org

You can pledge a one time gift or sign up for recurring gifts over the five year duration of the campaign. Just imagine, a gift of only $5 a week, (simply the cost of some of our favorite coffee creations!) would over five years add up to $1300 of mission funds to help us proclaim the Good News of God's Love with all persons. Remember to register for a PayPal account so that your full donation goes to CWM. WIthout a PayPal account 3% of your donation goes to processing charges.

Won't you join us in our dream of a fully inclusive church?

For a copy of of campaign case statement, please email me at tsteinwert@cambridgewelcomingministries.org


1 comment:

John Montgomery said...

Hey Tiffany,

I am so glad this weekend was a success. Looks like you all have a fine start toward the next five as well.

John Montgomery