Planted is so much more than a capital campaign, and we’re committing so much more than our money. After 17 years of fruitful mission and ministry in rented facilities, we’re eager to become fully Planted in our city and region as a long-term disciple-making presence. We conclude our Planted series by making a 2-year financial commitment so we can take this historic next step together. But we do so as Paul urged the Corinthians, giving ourselves - all we are - first to the Lord. We remember all we have in Jesus, secured by his sacrifice and loss, and we submit ourselves to him as our Lord. We consider ourselves as stewards, entrusted with the resources of our King, and eager to joyfully and generously sow them into this initiative. In our final look at 2 Corinthians 8-9, we’ll summarize all we’ve learned and gather to prayerfully commit to Jesus and one another. Joyful Generosity is a way of life rooted in the grace of Jesus in which you freely and proactively seek to give money away, seeing yourself as a steward of God’s resources for his purposes, and do so until it makes a measurable difference in your lifestyle, to the glory of God.

Planted is a means of furthering the vision of Soma, which we find in Habakkuk 2.14: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” If we’re going to commit to Planted, we need to first be convinced that God is in this and that financial generosity to this initiative leads to that great end! As we conclude our study in 2 Corinthians 8-9, Paul describes the reciprocal nature of generosity, showing how both givers and receivers bring glory to God and declare the gospel to a watching world. Financial giving meets material needs, leading to a groundswell of thanksgiving to God from those who receive. Those who receive grow in trust and love, and give spiritual resources through prayer to those who give, building up the giver’s faith and leading to their spiritual growth. According to Paul, this circular nature of generosity is a wonderfully good gift of our generous Father, whose glory will fill the earth through the praises of his people!

In just 2 weeks we’ll be asking everyone in the Soma family to make a 2-year financial commitment to our Planted initiative and the vision of being a long-term disciple-making presence in our region and beyond. Our hope is that these 2 years will grow us into a more joyful, free, and generous people all across the board. In this section, Paul urges the Corinthians toward bountiful, cheerful, abundant giving by reminding them how the economy of God’s Kingdom works. All we have has been given by God, and he gives abundantly to us so we can give abundantly to his purposes. Our resources belong to him, and when we’re not generous we’re not just greedy but also thieves, taking what was entrusted to us for ourselves! Paul reminds us that God promises to enrich us in every way so we can be generous in every way. God will multiply our seed for sowing, entrusting us with greater resources to steward, as we learn to step courageously into joyful generosity.

Over the next 2 years, we’re hoping to raise $1 million above our regular budget for the vision of Planted. That’s a wild and audacious goal, and we’re asking the whole Soma family to participate. But to be honest, fundraising is a really strange part of ministry, and can get really confusing for everyone involved. In this section we see Paul trying to walk a fine line as he raises funds for the ministry need in Jerusalem. While it is necessary for him to share the need and equip the Corinthians for financial generosity, he doesn’t want to manipulate or coerce them, as that would entirely miss the point. He really believes that generosity is a result of genuine love for Jesus, echoing Jesus’ words about how what we do with our treasure reveals the state of our hearts. Once we have the right heart motivations in place, we’re ready to start taking practical steps toward greater generosity. Joyful generosity involves looking at our abundance, planning proactively so we are ready to give willingly and freely as opportunities arise.

After 17 fruitful years of being a family on mission, we’re ready to make a faith-filled journey toward permanent facilities. Our goal is to lean into being a long-term disciple-making presence in our region and beyond, and so we’re dreaming together and raising the funds we need to make it happen. To that end, we’re asking the Soma family to spend a month considering the biblical teaching on generosity and to make a 2-year financial commitment to the vision of Planted. Our aim is to grow into sacrificial and joyful generosity, rooted in personal experience of the sacrificial generosity of Jesus Christ. Without deep knowledge of his work for you - all he gave up on your behalf, and all you’ve been given in him - living a life of generosity will never make any sense. Paul urges us to reflect on the grace of Jesus until we’re transformed, leading to a radical, sacrificial, and joyful lifestyle of generosity.

We end our series, “Vintage Faith: Following the Way,” with a summary of what we’re calling Great Commission Christianity, looking at all Jesus packed into these few words at the end of Matthew’s gospel. Each phrase of the Great Commission speaks to an absolutely essential aspect of what it means to know, trust, and follow Jesus in a wholistic way; lose any aspect of the Great Commission and you have a deficient form of Christianity that will inevitably result in deformed disciples. In the difficult, draining, and confusing time we live in, what a gift Jesus has given us in this simple but rich framework! Together we’re partnering as a church to live into this vision and mission for the coming year.

Following the Way of Jesus can’t be done in our own strength or wisdom, so it is really good news to know that Jesus promises to be with us always. The same Jesus we see in the gospels — flesh and blood human; teaching, serving, and suffering; rising in glory — is the same One who comes to be with each and everyone of us by His Spirit. As the church steps out into mission, the Holy Spirit leads us, reminding us that we are adopted, leading us into all truth, filling us with God’s love, and emboldening us for witness. We’re invited to increasingly rely on the empowering presence of God as he sends us to fulfill the Great Commission together.

Following the Way of Jesus encompasses all of life, bringing significance to even the most mundane and normal parts of our days. Jesus came to make us fully alive, to teach us to live abundant life, and obeying him is not a burden but a release and a relief. Followers are learning to engage everyday practices — eat, listen, story, bless, celebrate, recreate — as followers of his way, infusing every aspect of life with Jesus. To that end, we want everyone to craft a shared set of practices around the way of Jesus together, and commit to following the way of Jesus together.

Following the Way of Jesus begins with baptism, the public declaration of what Jesus has done in us. At the same time, baptism also functions as an immersion into the life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and the beginning of a new way of life. The command to make disciples is accomplished as we form people into their new identity built on their new relationship to the Father, Son, and Spirit. In this way, we are shaping a disciple’s sense of identity — who they are and to whom they belong — as we help them learn to obey Jesus. Together we’re living into our new identity in Jesus Jesus as Family, Servants, and Missionaries, and helping others to do the same.

Following the Way of Jesus is about making Jesus and his disciple-making mission the organizing principle of our lives. Jesus supplies everything we need to re-orient the whole of our lives around his mission, to step into the places he has sent us with courage and conviction, and to bring the presence, kingdom, and message of Jesus. Together we’re orienting our real, everyday lives around the mission and purpose of Jesus, and increasingly surrendering all of life to him and his way.