In January, the congregation approved our Global Ministries Offering Budget for 2023-2024, which begins in March and extends to the following March. On Sunday, February 26, we celebrated GMO Sunday, giving thanks for the steadfast love of God all around us and considering how we can extend it to others. The GMO is our annual special offering, which is over-and-above our general budget, focusing on the local, regional, and global needs of others.
Locally, we extend the love of God by supporting the We Help Coalition and Habitat for Humanity, building houses for others. We give to the Community Market, where our neighbors go when they are food insecure. We build wheelchair ramps, and we offer Conversational English classes.
Regionally, and nationally, we extend our reach by supporting Sowing Seeds of Hope and Together for Hope, serving people living in persistent rural poverty. We support students in seminary, and we give to the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. We also reach out by joining our hands with others, caring for people who need disaster relief.
Globally, we are able to do more with others than we are by ourselves by partnering with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. We support field personnel around the world, serving people’s needs in different capacities. They serve in about twenty different countries and regions, fostering the beloved community, bearing witness to the love of Christ, and transforming people’s lives for the better.
We are thankful for all these opportunities! It is difficult to list everything in the GMO. We list some of these items in order to say that we are called to extend the love of God to others.
Any time we take two steps towards scripture, we take two steps towards the needs of others. As it says I John 3:18, “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.” When we take two steps towards the love of God, we take two steps towards the love of neighbor.
-Tripp