Dear Community Church members and friends,

 

Let’s be honest. The three of us asking you to make a pledge to this year’s stewardship campaign are superficially similar. We’re three straight white guys, born within a decade of each other, whose work brought them to the New Hampshire seacoast. But our paths to Community Church couldn’t be more different. Pastor Dave grew up in New England and the United Church of Christ. Chuck was raised in the Midwest, in a hierarchical denomination that was long on creeds and liturgy. Tom is a Southerner whose limited youthful experiences with church left him with little knowledge and less interest in being part of a church. All of us, though, found something extraordinary at Community Church—something worth supporting with our time, energy, and money.

 

If you’re here, it’s because you, too, at some point found something you were looking for at Community Church. Perhaps it was a community of welcoming, open-minded souls trying to discern what it means to follow Jesus. Perhaps it was moving, uplifting music and worship. Perhaps it was programs that provided your children with a moral compass and a set of life-affirming and -enriching values. Perhaps it was a congregation that believes that social justice is integral to the Gospel and acts accordingly. Community Church offers all that and more.

 

Whatever brought you to Community Church, we’re asking you to support it financially, generously, so that you and others will continue to find what you’re looking for here. Last year’s record-setting giving allowed us to do much, but not everything. For example, it didn’t include cost-of-living raises for our staff or money for a reserve fund for unanticipated expenses (such as some current plumbing and flooring problems in our classroom wing). Your increased support also sustains relatively new programs (worship at The Table, for instance) and allows for new ones (initiatives in mental health, LGBTQ+ outreach, and others) that will keep Community Church vibrant. Again this year, an anonymous donor has given $25,000 to match new or increased pledges—so your support for the church can go even further.

Thanks for your prayerful commitment.

 

Dave Grishaw-Jones, Pastor

Chuck Hotchkiss and Tom Jones, Stewardship Committee

—————————————————————————————————————————————-