Strong Support for Missions

Grace has a long history of strong support for missions. The church leaders have devoted a significant portion of the budget to support ministry outside the church. Senior Pastor Phil Winfield said, “Our goal is 20% of our budget. We want one dollar out of every five to go out, this includes international missions as well as local and regional ministry.”

One important way that Grace supports missions is through their annual missions offering. All of the money collected for this offering goes to support specific projects that have been selected from among the more than 60 missionary families and ministries that Grace supports around the globe. These projects are usually for large, one-time purchases such as purchasing bulk Bibles for distribution, a ministry vehicle, or ministry property. 

Meeting Basic Needs

This year, due to COVID-19, they discovered many missionaries were facing more basic problems than in previous years, especially among those serving in poorer countries. When asked what they were facing, many missionaries simply requested help with the basics: food and clothing. Many countries are experiencing a much greater impact from the pandemic, with military enforced lock downs and supply chain disruptions being more commonplace. As a result, many pastors, church members, and other day laborers are out of work and are simply going hungry. To address these needs, all of the projects supported this year were very focused on meeting the basic necessities of food and clothing.

Some of these gifts will go to American missionaries to use in their ministries while others will go to support local, national pastors in Haiti, Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, Iraq, Egypt, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, India, Thailand, Laos, the Philippines, and Mongolia, among others. Another gift will go to the Voice of the Martyrs organization which operates all over the world. Pastor Winfield served as a missionary in Peru for many years before coming to Des Moines and Grace continues to support numerous Peruvian ministries. Grace organizes regular short term missions trips to support the ongoing work there. The ministries in Peru which will be supported through the offering include evangelism ministries, Bible distribution ministries, food distribution ministries, a program specifically for feeding Peruvian pastors, and several ministries in a region with four churches that were planted by Pastor Winfield years ago and that continue to this day.

Joyful Generosity

Pastor Winfield was overjoyed with the congregation’s generous response to the offering. “Our people jumped in with both feet. I think they were responding to the clarity of the request and the obvious necessity of the projects that we wanted to support.”

The offering was promoted for only three weeks. More than $85,000 was given to the offering and more money continues to trickle in even though they are no longer promoting it. The call for generosity comes out of 1 Corinthians 16:1-3 which instructs saints to “lay aside” money to give to other saints. The scriptural context indicates that we as believers are called to relieve others in their suffering, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ. Pastor Winfield said, “Sometimes we as church leaders can lack clarity when we make a request like this. But if we can be clear and present a real need, our people jump on it like chicken on a June bug. It just struck a chord with our people.”