We’re so thankful to share that all the major bills for our North building have now been paid—praise God! Only a few small final payments remain. To make this happen, a number of generous people from inside and outside our church have lent us funds, which we now need to repay over the next few months.
 
As we head into August, we’re facing the tightest month financially that we’ve had in a long time. Alongside the repayments, we have a $20,000 body corp fee due, and our general giving is currently $60,000 behind budget. To stay on track, we need to lift our giving by about 17%, to over $120,000 per month. You can track this against the giving details on the back of the outline.
 
At the same time, we’re seeing so much gospel fruit. The North congregation has grown 34% since Easter, with 167 people coming along the two Sundays, the highest number of people we have ever seen at our North Campus! It’s both amazing and encouraging to see people gathering, growing, and hearing about Jesus.
 
We know the cost of living has risen by around 8.5%, and that’s affected us all. But average wages have also increased by about 7.3% over the past 18 months. For us as a church, the cost of doing ministry has gone up in line with the cost of living—however our giving hasn’t grown with it. We’re so thankful it hasn’t declined, but to keep pace with the growth God is giving us, and to continue serving well, we do need it to increase.
 
If you’ve received your 33% charitable donation rebate, would you consider re-gifting part or all of that back to gospel work? And if you’ve never started giving, this could be a wonderful time to begin.
 
We’re aiming to raise $300,000 by the end of the year to clear short-term debts and continue repaying long-term loans. This will help place us on a strong footing moving forward. The building is already doing what we prayed it would—serving as a warm, visible, gospel hub for our city. And we believe the best is yet to come.
 
Paul talks about the joy of “partnership in the gospel” (Phil 1:5), and calls us to the mindset of Christ—who gave Himself for us (Phil 2). So let’s give—not beyond what we have—but from the generosity we’ve already received in Him.
 
Thanks for all the ways you partner with us. Let’s keep trusting God together and stepping forward in faith.