Just as many other families, my family and I have countless options to choose from when considering where and how to spend our money. Putting aside my addiction to Libbie Market tea, we try to be intentional about how we spend and where. Giving to the church has always been a central part of our financial plan. We have intentionally decided for giving to be a central pillar in our way of life and a way of modeling our lives after the teachings of Jesus. We try to live out this example this for our child as well, both in giving a percentage of our income each year, and in giving of our time and talent for church programs and by participating in missions projects. In short, we give because we are Christian believers.
The vast majority of our “giving” dollars go directly to River Road Church, Baptist. We give to RRCB because we believe in the past, present, and future of River Road Church. We are enjoying the fruits of the church’s past legacy of giving, which yielded the gorgeous facilities in which we worship and fellowship, and share with the wider community. The church’s past giving also established the endowment fund, which supports current mission projects and other special efforts. We also believe in the present-day River Road Church – we participate fully in the life of the church through regular worship, fellowship, missions projects, Christian education, children’s programs, etc. These programs do not run themselves. We recognize that to fully carry out the church’s mission and associated programming, we must not only give of our time and invest personally in the life of the church, but that the church must also have funds in place to pay the staff, pay for programming, maintain the facilities, donate money to the missions projects that our church supports, etc. As church members we are not only responsible for contributing to these expenses but honored to be able to give and participate. Finally, we give because we believe in the future of River Road Church. The RRCB church family is our family. It is our second home where we have made life-long friends, and have found our “village” to help raise our child. We love the present-day River Road Church family, and we want to see this church family continue to flourish and spread the Kingdom of God in our community and beyond for decades to come. We give because we recognize that that will only happen by investing time, energy, and money today. This funding is critical not only for the current programming and missions efforts, but also to fully fund the staffing that our church requires for continued growth and vitality. Our family believes 110% in River Road Church’s bright future, and we are honored to be able to participate in building it!
Written by Emily & Buddy Sumner
This series is designed to give RRCB members an opportunity to reflect upon their own generosity to God. In reading their stories, we pray that your own life of generosity is encouraged and challenged as well.