Salvations in 2024: 85
BAPTISMS
25 Individuals got baptized this year
General Church Numbers
Here’s a variety of snapshots worth celebrating! People’s lives are being transformed through vibrant groups, ministries, and church services!
Avg. 326 PPL Per Weekend
Avg. 47 Kids Per Weekend
Avg. 19 Youth Per Y Night
Total people active in a Group in 2024 = 243
702 people are actively
connecting with us overall. This means within
the past 6 months they have given financially,
served on a team, led or attended a group,
and/or actively participated in a ministry
(Kids or Youth) at Grace Church!
Missions (local & abroad)
We have been actively praying and revamping our involvement in missions both locally and in other countries. We desire to expand these connections as the budget grows to enable us to send/support many more missionaries and/or ministries who make a Kingdom impact. Here’s the current list of ministries we’re supporting monthly:
Jeffrey D Miller Ministries - “Bringing the message of the Messiah to the Jews”
www.jeffreydmiller.com/
Vince Sellers - Ministry of Reconciliation - teaching, equipping, & evangelizing in the US, parts of Africa, and the Ukraine. -
www.mor.faith/about-us/
Michael & Pamela Kaucher - Transformative Solutions Network - Berks County region - “We walk alongside business and church leaders helping them bridge connections, identify resources, and discover solutions for their communities to be transformed and thrive.” https://transformativesolutionsnetwork.org/ . They also work with an organization called Pa Family.
www.pafamily.org/
Ron & Sandy Whitmoyer - This Little Light Ministries
To be faithful to God’s calling in cooperation with other ministries that reach out to disadvantaged children. Sharing God’s love here and abroad, through education, food, and medical assistance. Giving hope and encouragement in unity with these communities.
Serving in humility and brotherly love to lift up God’s people. For it was Christ’s love which came first, and it is from this love that we have been inspired. Let us walk in the example He gave us. Let us join others to fulfill His Great Commission. Let His light shine through us.
https://tllministries.com/
Thank you for investing financially in the ministry of Grace Church. We are so thankful for you! We strongly believe God has already laid it on your heart, along with many others, to continue investing in the future ministry of Grace Church. This includes campus upgrades, maintenance and repairs to the building; creating vibrant meeting spaces that foster connection and facilitate discipleship. We ended year 2024 $17,080 behind budget. Will you join us in prayer for the new 2025 budget? Pray that our financial goals would be met, and that God would bring the people with the desire to invest financially. Ask God if there’s more YOU can give, even as he causes YOU to prosper! No gift is too small, or too large! We are truly grateful.
~ Pastor Vern
RETIREMENT PENSION
In 2019, as Pastor Ray and the Board of Trustees worked towards his retirement/succession plans, they realized the church had not sowed into a retirement fund through the years, something that is more common in today’s church culture. After the Board of Trustees sought counsel from other church organizations and investment advisors, they voted to honor Pastor Ray with a $500,000 retirement pension through Morgan Stanley.
In 2020, the COVID shutdown impacted the Grace Church budget significantly, which delayed the ability to fully fund this plan ahead of his retirement. To date, $175 has been sown into this fund, with $325k still owed before the end of 2026. We desire to see Pastor Ray blessed and honored for his 40 years of effective ministry! Let’s trust in God’s ability to provide all we need to fund this retirement pension plan and provide what we need for all other ministry expenses! If you want to sow directly into Pastor Ray’s retirement fund, click here to access the giving web page, (https://mygracechurch.com/give) then click on the drop-down box to find “Founding Pastor Trust Fund”.
CURRENT MORTGAGE
$88,261
CAMPUS RENOVATION PROJECT
This church building/campus is an amazing gift from God, one that generations have sown into for 19 years, and will serve generations to come! However, it needs help in certain areas to remain vibrant, welcoming, and suitable for ministry. See below for some specific areas that need upgrades, repairs, and refurbishing. God is faithful to provide ALL that we need!
We HAVE updated 2 hot water heaters in January with Tankless Systems - one in the gym and one above the stage. This will lower our monthly gas bill.
Our roof has had many minor leaks over the last two years. Our quote for a new roof is about $140,000
As our Online & In-Person attendance grows, we want to continue to create environments and leverage technology to complement and support what God is doing! The upgrades we want to see will allow more people to be reached and support our teams to utilize technology better!
This includes:
Audio: We want to enhance the audio capabilities in our auditorium for quality mixing and balanced distribution throughout the space.
Video: We need to enhance video infrastructure to give flexibility and reliability to our video capabilities on a Sunday morning which will reduce the technological challenges that continue to impact the team.
Lighting: We want to enhance our lighting footprint and move to fully LED fixtures that give more flexibility, less power consumption, and heat distribution.