The Home Missions Committee is charged by the Session to oversee and determine our Home Missions budget, and also the disbursement of surplus giving when available.
The following guidelines are intended to help us be good stewards of our resources and direct us in the selection of the ministries we support.
- The organization or individual must be involved in sharing the Gospel.
- The organization or individual must have good accountability in all areas and have a strong Board of Directors and Executive Director where applicable.
- Our giving is led by and follows our people. The recipient of our funds usually will have volunteers and/or board members from our church who are actively involved with the ministry. While it is not an absolute, depending on circumstances, a lack of involvement can be reason to not expand or curtail our giving in that area. This guideline could be waived in the case of local or national ministries of a nature that we want to be involved in to show our support for their taking a stand on important Christian issues.
- If an organization has a wide base of support from other sources, we should minimize our support to focus on those ministries with smaller bases of support or who are struggling to reach their budgets.
- We support the PCA by meeting or exceeding their recommended per capita giving.
- We support seminary students who have been actively-involved members of our congregation for a minimum of one year prior to their application, are under the care of the Session, and are in good standing toward a Master of Divinity degree. We restrict our student support to these individuals.
- We support church planting as funds permit when the Session raises up a leader to coordinate the active participation of our members.
Surplus Funds: Surplus funds follow the same guidelines; however, there is an emphasis on seed money or opportunities to expand a ministry that could not have been foreseen. Surplus funds are not used for budget shortfalls, building projects, or capital campaigns.
For more information on requesting support and our budget timeline, please email Stephanie Young in the Missions Office or call 423-821-4528.