End of Year Update from our Elder Chairman
Dear Calvary Family,
As we near the end of 2020 it's impossible not to look back at this year and be amazed—so much we never would have anticipated. The journey has been epic: difficult, heartbreaking, confusing, frustrating, and perhaps most of all exhausting. Nevertheless, I hope that you can, as I, recall some positives, some times when God's grace and comfort came through to you in very real ways. And though I would not have chosen this journey, I am grateful to have been able to travel not on my own, but together with you.
We have been talking about Compassion this month—specifically, the Gift of Compassion that God gave to us in His Son at Christmas. As I shared on Sunday, God is truly our source of Compassion who comforts us that we may comfort each other. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). Christmas reminds us that God does not comfort us from afar, but right with us, even sharing in our suffering as Emmanuel, which mean "God with us". (Matthew 1:23)
At the end of the year we always give you an update on finances and giving. In this unprecedented year, many of you have been amazingly generous, and we are so grateful for your sacrifice and faithfulness to trust God as He leads you. There is still a significant need as we approach the end of 2020. Our General Fund for Church Ministry is about 16% behind the budget goal and our Reach Fund for Global Missions is 8% behind. We ask you to join in praying with us that God will provide abundantly to meet our end of year budget and provide $335,000 for our General Fund and $37,000 for our Reach Fund in the next three days. It is a wonderful and amazing thing that God chooses to use each of us in advancing His Kingdom, including in giving.
In God's Word, we are encouraged with several ways to give: We can give out of worship, out of an acknowledgement of his abundance to us, with an intent to trust Him for future provision, to achieve eternal results, and always, hopefully, with joy. As we pray and give, we look forward together to see what God will do.
To make a year-end donation and help further the work of ministry locally and globally, please visit CalvaryLife.org/Give. The Church Office will also be open from 8am - 4pm on December 31. If you have any questions about donating stock, giving from your IRA, or including Calvary in your estate plan, please contact Pastor Michael Welles at or 714-550-2313.
We also invite you to pray for Calvary Church as we enter a new year together—that God will continue to guide our Staff, Elders, Trustee Board, and all of the congregation in being wise and creative in all aspect of ministry, including finances. These days we continue to work to do the ministry to which God has called us, being wise and loving, balancing people's needs to be together and to stay healthy, being respectful in our community and obedient to God without compromise. Join us as we pray, and let us all be listening to each other and to God's Spirit—including in giving grace to others and to providing encouragement to one another.
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and look forward to a happy New Year as we follow Jesus together.
Norm Alexander