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How Do We Do That?
You may have heard that Waterfront Community Church gives away all the money that is collected during its church services. That sounds very ambitious, maybe a little naïve and frankly, impossible. The Church meets in a local church building, they have staff and what about utilities, resources and…
So, how do we do that? Is it a miracle, like the loaves and fishes?
Well, yes and no. The people of Waterfront Church take seriously the command of Jesus to “Love God and People Well”. Therefore, we want to use the resources provided to the Church to do just that. Loving may happen in person-to-person relationships, holding each other accountable, providing a meal for someone who is hurting or by providing resources through money or a gift card.
To be able to do this, the leaders of Waterfront Church do all in their power to keep expenses down. Waterfront does not own any real estate or the church building in which it holds services. There are no church offices. A very reasonable rent is paid to use another church’s building. The people of Waterfront Church agreed to move its services from the traditional Sunday morning to Saturday night in order to share this building. All utilities are included in the rent and Waterfront Church volunteers help maintain the building by cutting the lawn, making repairs and assisting with the landscaping.
So who pays for the church?
At the beginning of the Church, the decision was made that all money collected during the services would be given away into the local community and into the world to help those with needs. Also, at the beginning of the church, a few committed people agreed to pay for a portion of the Church’s expenses. Some pay for operations, some pay for staff, some both. Church staff find their own support. Some of their financial support comes from Waterfront attendees and other support comes from those outside the Waterfront family who believe in the mission of the Church. No money from the offering plate is ever used to pay for either operations or staff. All money from the offering plates is given away.
So, is it some kind of miracle? Whenever people look outside themselves and place others first, we believe it is a miracle.
Baptism Week At Waterfront
Next week, Wednesday, February 11th, at 7:00 PM, we are celebrating a milestone at Waterfront Community Church and a milestone in the lives of two people. We are about to celebrate our very first baptisms! We are very excited about this week at our church. The reason we started Waterfront three months ago wasn’t just to fill a room full of people. We wanted to love God and people well and help people experience life change through the power of knowing Jesus Christ. If you’re so inclined, come join us at 348 Wildberry ln. in Bartlett, IL, February 11th at 7:00 PM, to help us celebrate what God is doing in these two people’s lives.
Making a Difference
This week Waterfront leaders, Jim and Sheri Mueller, delivered a gift to a family in need. Read about the experience below.
“We had the opportunity to drop off the gift certificates today.
[she] is the young woman who had brain cancer surgery three weeks ago. We brought them dinner for tonight, but most importantly we were able to bring them a taste of God’s love from Waterfront CC.
I handed them the first envelope filled with [pizza restaurant] certificates, and their smiles were priceless. They were in amazement as they saw “several” opportunities to enjoy this family experience. It’s their two daughters favorite family night spot. The restaurant manager added another $20 to this as a “special offer”.
As they opened another envelope with the certificates for [grocery store], their jaws dropped to the floor and they started crying. Overwhelmed by the generosity of Waterfront is an understatement.
They asked that we pass on these words to everyone:
Your love for us in unbelievable. We cannot thank you enough.
Please continue to keep them in your prayers. [she] was seeing an oncologist today, to plan out her chemo treatments. She is nervous about what is ahead with intravenous chemo. She said this scares her more than the surgery did. Up until now, she has been able to take chemo orally.
Thanks for asking us to be along for this wonderful ride!”
Well done Waterfront. Thanks for being the church.
Recipients of Hope
This week we began a new initiative placing the power of distribution of our offerings into the hands of our people. We have developed a nomination process to enable those living in the community to help us leverage our resources to worthy local causes. They might be a neighbor you know, a friend, or a co-worker. But we want your help to find out how we can best support the community. If you would like to nominate someone you know who might need a hand or a little help, contact us at info@waterfrontcc.com and we will send a nomination form to you.
Waterfront on NBC Nightly News
On January 25th NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams visited Waterfront Community Church to see our service, and to do a story on us.
