On June 28, 2012 Trinity will be sending its sixth team to teach English Camps in Slovakia. This year we want to encourage timely donations and reduce some of the fund-raising-event burden on the team by having a special offering on March 11th, just a few days prior to the expected purchase of airline tickets. Please prayerfully consider how much God might want you to give to support this very significant ministry of our church
The Slovakia Missions trip has traditionally been supported three ways:
(1) individual fund-raising: participants ask their friends and family to support them, or participants hire themselves out to work for others in return for donations.
(2) group fund raising events: participants organize things like garage sales or car washes to raise money for the whole group (or the subset of the group that participates).
(3) individual donations by Trinity people: someone feels led by God to contribute to the trip or to an individual raising money for the trip.
Each of these is an important source of funding for the trip. However, the general board and elders of Trinity have often considered whether the burden of raising funds this way could be reduced by having a special offering to provide a significant amount of money.
In addition, the elders have been working more closely in team selection and planning this year than has usually been the case, and we sense that this has slowed down fund raising, as people waited to see what the final size of the team was going to be. If tickets need to be bought soon (which they may), fewer team members will be at the required funding level (having raised at least $1000) than has usually been the case. We would like as many as possible from the group to be able to go.
Therefore we would like to ask you to prayerfully consider a generous gift to the Slovakia Missions Team this Sunday, March 11th. The money collected will be relatively evenly distributed among the team members – relative because those who have raised close to $1000 will receive less than those who are still far from that mark. The chart below shows how the special offering will be used.
You should also know that both Todd and Bob will be participating in the trip this year, dividing the five weeks. It seemed to the elders that it would be good to increase the shepherding care for those who serve on this mission, so Todd was asked to go for the first half of the trip, and Bob for the second. The proposed budget for this coming fiscal year (which we will vote on March 25th) was increased by $4000 to allow this participation.
Once again, we ask that you prayerfully consider how you can give generously to this key outreach and missions activity of our church. We look forward to God’s provision on March 11th.
Sincerely,
Bob DeGray, for the elders
(click for larger view)