For all of us, there are benchmark moments where we stop and remember, tell stories and look forward to see what the future may bring. One of our key FMCIC benchmark moments (besides Regional Gatherings) is General Conference every three years.
I can still hear the words from last General Conference (2017) echoing in my head: “Sanctified Imagination”. It grabbed me. It captured my heart. The idea of what we can do together as the FMCIC family is part of what it makes it great to be here. What a privilege to see people discover the joy and freedom generosity brings!
What would it look like in our neighbourhoods where people are discouraged, if we were generous with our hope?
What would it look like if evangelism was simply being generous with our faith?
What would it look like in our churches and communities if we were generous with our love in using our dollars?
As preparations for General Conference 2020 continue, I imagine a General Conference where we, as a family, are generous with our hope, our faith and our love. I dream of stories of churches unleashing generous disciples into our communities. This is an intentional shift from simply gathering together to see if we met the budget line. It is a gathering to remember together how Generous God is. A gathering together to share stories about how His generosity has changed our lives our churches, and our communities.
Looking forward with generous hope for the future, we are working on Whole Life Generosity discipleship material which will help you live all of life in relationship with God, receiving all you have with gratitude from God, surrendering and trusting your all to God, and releasing all you are to God for the blessing of others through your generosity and good works.
Generosity – of hope, faith, love and money – thrives best in community. We can absolutely do more together than we can apart. This is how we fund the vision of the local church. Together. As generous disciples.
Together, is how we fund our collective vision for The Free Methodist Church in Canada.
I can’t wait till next General Conference where we can celebrate what God has done, and dream together again for what He has in store for us. Get ready to be generous with your hope, your faith, and your love as we look forward to our 2020 General Conference.
Sandy Crozier
Director, Stewardship Development
