More Support, More Ministry
Lizzie Beach, Alliance Q Council Member and Development Team Lead and Rev. Dan Adolphson,
Alliance Q Council Moderator, share the Alliance’s financial needs.
As you can read in this issue of Crossbeams and see on our Facebook page, this was an amazing, history-making General Assembly for Alliance Q – we were involved in so many places that even 4 years ago were not possible.
- We brought in nationally-known speakers for our pre-event and the banquet to help us confront and deal with issues that affect our communities and our churches.
- We provided information to congregations who are at various places on the Open & Affirming journey.
- We created and shared a Social Justice Hub as our booth in the exhibit hall, sharing our space with Disciples Justice Action Network, Disciples Peace Fellowship, and Reconciliation Ministries, as a witness to the Christian Church that we all work for justice together
Our very presence at General Assembly is made possible by your financial support of Disciples LGBTQ+ Alliance. Indeed, our work of helping the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) be a church of grace and welcome to all is made possible by your financial support.
Alliance Q receives no financial support from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) – it is YOU, our supporters, who provide the economic engine to help us achieve our mission – to transform the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) into a just and inclusive church that welcomes persons of all gender expressions and sexual identitites into the full life and leadership of the church: to make the church a welcome place where all truly means all!!
At the Alliance Q business session and at the banquet we shared our financial report for the past 2 years. In 2015-2017 report, we noted that overall giving was down by more than $20,000 from 2015 to 2016. (You can read about where the Alliance has been and where it is going, and see our finances (on the last page) in our Report to Members 2017.)
We are an Alliance with a Vision –
In response to the call of the church to become a people of grace and welcome to all, we will
- Increase the number of O&A Ministries
- Educate and support O&A Ministries with resources to expand their pastoral care of LGBT persons – and our Pastoral Care & Education team is engaged and in action!
- Empower O&A Ministries and members of Alliance Q to respond to intersectional justice issues – and our Justice Response Team is currently being assembled.
And most importantly, in order to enable this vision, we must expand the resources of the Alliance by increasing memberships, contributions, and volunteer involvement.
We cannot do it alone. We need you – the Church needs you — along with your family, friends, congregations, regions, and general units — we need EVERYONE to join us in this effort!
For everyone who purchased a t-shirt or a membership at General Assembly, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!! And – when you contribute on a regular basis, our ability to predict our monthly income greatly increases, and this increases our ability to plan, expand, and act when needed.
We encourage you first, if you are not a member or have let your membership lapse, please join or renew today.
And if you are already a member, we urge you to consider giving a gift on top of your annual membership dues — and to raise the amount you pledge annually – to go from $45 a year to $55, or $75 a year.
And – if you have the ability to join us at a higher level, and become a quarterly or monthly donor – we ask that you do so.
I (Lizzy Beach) am a monthly donor because it makes me able to give more. I want to give a large gift, but that’s hard for me to do all at once. But by donating monthly, I can give more because it’s a reasonable amount worked in my monthly budget — I give when I pay my bills each month. I believe in our mission so deeply, I feel it is my obligation to fund this ongoing work. And I suspect you do too. Please consider joining as a monthly sustainer.
And, if you attend an O&A congregation, ask your congregation to add the Alliance to your outreach budget and also ask your congregation to work actively with our Membership Challenge and sign up more Alliance Q members.
Every dollar makes a difference in this ministry.
But it’s not just about the money… it’s about people – we are an Alliance!
You can read about volunteer opportunities with the Alliance in our Report to Members.
Our supporters, our volunteers, our movers and shakers ARE the Welcoming Church.
- The more Alliance Q grows in membership and support, the more congregations and ministries will become O&A; the more you can find us in every nook and cranny of the US and Canada, the closer we are to not being needed any more.
- And isn’t that the ultimate goal?? To fulfill our mission so well that the church is transformed… and ALL Churches are welcoming, and open, and affirming, and the table really is open to ALL… we dream of that day, when ALL truly MEANS ALL.
We deeply thank each and every one of you who support the work that the Alliance does – support in time, energy, prayer, and finances. The Alliance has achieved great things in the past 30 years, we have been empowered most recently with the adoption of GA-1327 “Becoming a People of Grace and Welcome to All”, and yet there is much work to be done.
These are exciting days in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and we need your financial support in whatever amount possible, to make this happen.