Church takes tithing to a new level

When Douglas Mennonite Church decided to undertake an extensive renovation of their Winnipeg facility two years ago, they took tithing to a whole new level. They promised to donate 10 percent of the total construction funds raised to Mennonite Church Canada for a global building initiative.

Daniel Horne, Mennonite Church Canada Director, Partnership Development, says he’s excited about the idea. “I’m always looking for congregations with creative ways to support ministries,” he says.

The budget established for improvements to the sanctuary and basement amounted to roughly $300,000 – plus a $30,000 donation to Mennonite Church Canada. The project itself inspired generosity in time and money from the congregation.

With a mandate from Church Council to raise half of $330,000 total in cash or pledges – or $165,000 – before construction began, the finance committee planned several fundraisers and a pledge drive. A music evening, perogy lunch, and a prime rib barbecue lunch combined brought Douglas within $24,000 of their goal.

With construction scheduled to start May 3, 2014, the pressure was on. A hog roast planned for April 27 had to raise $24,000.

“Acting on faith that God would provide, we organized a huge volunteer group to start the work on May 3rd,” says Herb Schaan, church council chair, and a co-construction manager with Gerry Harms. “Not only did we have a representation from every age demographic willing to work on the construction, we had one member who volunteered to take the week off work and co-ordinate meals and snacks for the workers for the week starting on May 3rd.”

For Schaan, the most rewarding part of the whole process was building deeper connections with the congregation. “When you spend time working side by side with someone, you really get to know them.” He says he believes some of the volunteers came out for the sense of community as much as the work that needed to be done.

From Harms’ perspective, the project drew larger numbers of volunteers than he could ever have imagined, making the workload light. “It was awesome!”

A large number of volunteers cooked and served hogs to a crowd that raised $10,000 more than the budget.

“Praise God,” Schaan says, reflecting.

Don Rempel Boschman, lead pastor at Douglas, was impressed with a community effort that involved young and old. “Even people who are not even members of the congregation have been sacrificial in their giving of time and talent.  One non-member who started attending less than two years ago even took several days off of work to work on the project. Two other people who are not members met each other at the project and their connection resulted in the opening up of a job opportunity.” 

--Posted August 26, 2014