In a special Sunday tithe, the congregation at Kortright, Guelph, Ont., raised $76,000 in one morning for their local chapter of Habitat for Humanity. The offering was in response to the $760,000 given to them by the federal government as a grant for building renovations, completed last summer.
Diane Nelson, executive director of Habitat for Humanity in Wellington County, visited Kortright last fall to receive the cheque, and to talk about Habitat’s work in the community.
“It was remarkable that a small congregation on one Sunday contributed 10 per cent of the gift amount received,” Nelson told the Record. “Remarkable, but not surprising as this is what God promises when we are faithful.”
The donation will be used to fund the building of a home in Guelph, and Kortright will participate in its construction. As per Habitat’s policy, 10 per cent of the donation will be sent to an affiliate in a developing country.
Session clerk, David Rekker said session started discussing what its response to the grant (“a miraculous gift from God”) should be as soon as the gift was announced.
“Two of the values at Kortright include tithing and missions, so it was decided that our response would be to raise an amount equal to 10 per cent of the grant, and donate that to a local organization with similar values and that had a construction project requiring funding,” said Rekker. “Since our grant was for construction and community infrastructure, we felt it was important to maintain this theme.”
Consistent with their fundraising policy, Kortright decided to raise the $76,000 solely through free-will offerings on one Sunday last May.
To encourage the congregation, the session and their families decided how much they would contribute. From the nine elders, more than $14,000 was committed.
“On the day of the offering, the energy at Kortright was electric; partially because we decided to bring all 180 families together in one service, instead of the usual two,” Rekker told the Record in an email. “As clerk, and because I was involved with both the construction project and the fundraising campaign, I was quite nervous. Yet we were somehow confident that God had shown up and that He was going to work through His people.”
Rekker was in the pulpit on the day of the offering, and had the pleasure of announcing the amount raised.
“I remember there was thunderous applause,” he said. After the service, there was a time of celebration with members of the community, the mayor, and the local MP.
“We were all astonished that the offering almost exactly matched what we had set out to give,” said Rekker. “I think there were many of us whose faith was strengthened that day as God came through in such a perfect way. It was obviously not because of our personal efforts – we had no flashy campaign; we simply believed that God’s gift to us required a response.” – AM
