Below are answers to questions that people have asked. Keep the questions coming! If you have a question you’d like answered, click here.
What kinds of communication can the church membership expect as part of the One Life program? I attended the Town Hall Meeting last night. I’ve been contacted to be part of a phone calling activity in March. Another member told me she is part of a phone calling activity in June. My husband and I have been invited to a dinner in March, but no one else we know has received the same invitation. I’m having trouble understanding how all this works. Can you please explain the specifics of the communication plan to the church membership?
There are five stages of the One Life capital campaign:
The “Preparation Phase” — organizing and mobilizing various teams to accomplish specific tasks during the campaign. Much of this work is still behind the scenes as it is still early in the journey.
Following that is the “Information Phase” — where through various means of disseminating information, the leadership shares with the congregation the vision for ministry, the financial need, and asks the congregation to begin a prayer process seeking God’s direction in their lives. Thus far, the One Life information team has developed and mailed two newsletters, created a website and a blog, published FAQs, and begun a process of informing the congregation about One Life.
Then we will enter an “Inspiration Phase” that will include sermons and teaching on stewardship for all ages from children’s ministry through senior adults. During this time, we will also hear personal testimonies of God’s provision for cheerful giving. The first Sunday in May will feature a Sunday celebration of commitment for the entire church.
The fourth phase is the “Response Phase” — here One Life campaign volunteers begin a 30 day process of encouraging commitments from the congregation who were not able to attend the celebration of commitment event. On the first Sunday in June, we will announce to the congregation the total amount of commitments received.
A final phase called the BRIDGE phase is a 3 year process of enlisting people who are new to Immanuel to inform them of the One Life campaign and prayerfully consider commiting to the effort.
Is the Library still included in the remodeling plans and when is it expected to reopen?
Our current building plans still include a Church Library. The library, as presently designed, is in the last phase of the Phase III building project. The earliest we see it re-opening would be when Fairfax County allows us to re-occupy the new A-wing, probably about fall of 2010 (assuming an optimistic start of construction of July 08 and that the building process goes without too many delays).