Kerith Vision Fund Update
For anyone who missed the Vision Fund updates I've given over the last two weeks I thought I'd use my blog to post an update.
You may remember we kicked the Vision Fund off last year where we had our first gift days which raised just under £220,000. I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who gave to what was the biggest gift day in the history of Kerith.
We're going to tithe 10% of all the money which comes in for the vision fund, which from these first gift days was £22,000. We're in the process of of giving away the first £20,000 of that, with
- £5,000 going to Andy and Mickey Partington who are helping to pioneer an addiction recovery community in Bolivia
- £5,000 going to the churches we work with in Albania
- £5,000 going to the churches we work with in Estonia
- £5,000 going to the church lead by Saulius Karosas in Lithuania
So what are we going to use the rest of the money for?
In Bracknell we've paid £110,000 off the mortgage on the house which we bought behind K2, which reduces the mortgage to £62,000. We've given everyone an opportunity to comment on what facilities we think we'll need on the Bracknell site to take us into the next 15 years. That list has been refined and is now with our architect, Scott Allen, who will come up with a plan to redevelop K2 and the Kerith Centre in a way that will meet those requirements. We'd hope in the next two to three months to have a first draft of those plans.
In Sandhurst we've had some very exciting developments. Rather than just a midweek venue which we were originally looking for it looks like we may now be in a position to think about getting a permanent Sunday venue too. I can't say too much more at this point in time, but it could be very promising. Hopefully we'll be able to announce more in the next couple of months, but in the meantime please keep praying for God to open doors and guide us in our conversations.
In Windsor we've looked at something like 25 potential venues where we could hold Sunday meetings. We're now in the process of reviewing all the options and hope to choose one soon. Once we've chosen a venue we plan to start with monthly meetings, and once they're up and running look to move those to being weekly. Depending on the venue we're likely to need quite a bit of the vision fund money to buy items such as PA, equipment for the kids work and signage, as well as paying the rent on the venue.
The great news is that from the first gift day we have the money we need to get all three of these projects up and running.
As a next step we're going to have two more gift days this year. The first gift day will be the 23rd and 30th April where we're looking to raise another £200,000. This would allow us to pay off the the remaining £62,000 of the mortgage on the K2 house (which will leave us debt free as a church), have another £20,000 to give away and the remainder will go to the next stage of each of these projects. Please be thinking and praying about what God would have you give, as well as praying for wisdom as to how to use the money we've already God and for doors to continue to open for us.
Simon.