Recently, I've written a couple of articles about Southwood's capital campaign tithe ...and it occurs to me
that some folks have no clue what a capital campaign tithe is.(If you're also wondering what a capital campaign is, you can learn more about that here.)
WHAT IT IS:
In 2002, Southwood began the practice of tithing on all capital campaign funds. A tithe is 10%--so we were committing 10% of all capital campaign giving to missions.
I was a fairly new member of Southwood in 2002, and we voted on the tithe at my very first congregational meeting. The idea of tithing seemed perfectly reasonable and beautifully consistent to me. As followers of Christ, we are all asked to grow in our giving toward tithing...it only made sense that the church would tithe as well.
During the past 2 years, however, I've learned just how uncommon this practice of tithing is among churches. Even so, I am convinced that Southwood's outward focus has been a catalyst for spiritual growth and transformation among our people. Giving and serving have become a part of Southwood's DNA as a church.
WHAT WE'RE DOING WITH IT:
Here's how our Community Missions and Global Missions teams have put tithe funds to work in 2008:
- $11,150 has been used to provide 50 food filled backpacks per week to kids at Saratoga through the Food Bank BackPack Program. (This represents 50% of the total cost through 2011; the other 50% comes from our Hunger Ministries fund.) Learn about how the BackPack program is growing in Lincoln here.
- In partnership with Clinic with a Heart, Southwood will provide a free medical clinic for children at Saratoga Elementary for school years during 2008-2011. ($10,800) Read more about the Saratoga Clinic here.
- $24,000 will sponsor 20 students for each of 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 school years at the IMPACT Reading Center. Students who participate in the IRC, improve their reading by one grade level on average in a 9-week learning period. Learn more about the IRC here.
- $5,000 to help fund the construction of a new church in Tanzania
- Two new widow's homes were built in Honduras ($3,400)
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We used $5,500 for a school improvement project in LaCeibita, our sister village in Honduras
- $5,000 provided electricity to the church in LaCeibita
- $2,500 helped finance LaCiebita's milk processing operation which provides nutrition to the children of the village and a micro-business opportunity to the adults
In case you can't do the math in your head, the total on that is $66,850. One of the things I love most about my work at Southwood is the opportunity to be involved with so many people who have such big hearts for serving others. The capital campaign tithe makes it possible for Southwood to keep growing in the ways we show our love to others....here in Lincoln and around the world.
Kim Turnage
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