to allow for better application of it. Through these avenues, the congregation was reminded and encouraged of the truth found in 2 Corinthians 9:7: “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

The year began with a sermon series focused on living generously. Focusing on the foundational reason for this series, Buster shared “People who have tasted the grace of the cross are kind and generous in the way they care for others and in the way they give because a person’s life after seeing the cross is one of grateful worship.” Applications throughout the series focused on developing an ongoing, generous spirit in the areas of time, talents, and resources. Generosity undergirds East Cooper’s other goals; each goal requires the time, talents, and resources of the congregation. Buster’s call to biblical generosity was both an encouragement and a challenge at the start of the year. 

To further promote this goal, church leadership decided to highlight generous living as the topic for Refresh this year. Refresh is a yearly, churchwide class that provides a unique opportunity to gather across generations to remember what we are committing to as a church body and hear biblical teaching on a specific subject. Explaining why this topic was selected by the church elders, Pastor Leland Brown shared: “The hope in choosing this topic was to help our people embrace the Bible’s counterintuitive, but also freeing, teaching on generosity.” Many in attendance shared their appreciation for a class focused on a topic that is often difficult to discuss, but necessary to understand in light of Scripture’s instruction to be generous. It was also an encouraging time to be together as a church family to fellowship and learn together. 

Finally, the elders established the Legacy Fund last year as a means to support designated ministry areas recognizing that Christians are called to be faithful stewards of all the gifts of God. Gifts given to this fund will support global missions, contribute towards foster and adoption costs for families, and provide PCA scholarships to church members. Although the legacy fund is still in the early stages of development, we are excited to see how giving beyond the tithe will grow our people and support these specific ministry initiatives in the years to come.

Since prioritizing this initiative, pastors and staff have been encouraged to see the ways the Lord has grown our people in big and small ways. For example, a young man, who had just begun attending our church, came to Refresh and spent the next few months adjusting his budget so that he could tithe regularly. One of the most significant ways we have seen generosity is through debt reduction. In 2021, leadership asked the congregation to prayerfully consider giving to reduce the church debt. When the goal began, the church had $1.5 million in debt and was paying over $400,000 in debt service each year. The hope was to eliminate this debt and focus these service funds on Great Commission causes. In November of last year, we celebrated being a debt-free church. These small and big examples of generosity are evidence of people trusting God and stepping into obedience.

Throughout the year, we have seen the Lord grow our church in living generously and a commitment to seeing the gospel go out to the nations and neighborhoods. We are excited to continue seeing the ways a culture of generosity is developed through the legacy fund and as we remain a debt-free church.