The Results of our 2022 Legacy Offering
As we look ahead to our 2023 Legacy Offering, it’s important to take a moment to step back and look at the fruit of Soul Sanctuary’s generosity in our 2022 Legacy Offering. Last year we set out a goal of raising $150,000, over and above our regular tithes, to fulfill three vision-based initiatives that would help us better actualize our vision of being a community of refuge, repair, and rejuvenation for all people. We’re excited to say that all three of our initiatives have been completed! Here is a breakdown of how the funds we gave have made a difference in our community.
1. THE HIRING OF A CHILDREN’S MINISTRY DIRECTOR
Recognizing the need for intentional investment in our Children’s Ministry, we came together to fund the salary of a dedicated Children’s Ministry Director. The raising of these funds has allowed us to hire Piper Naim in this role, and provides the time to engraft her salary into our regular operating budget.
Since hiring Piper we’ve been able to complete a series of important projects, including: a) open two new classroom spaces for Sunday morning ministry (ages 1-2, and age 4), b) have grown and strengthened our team of Servant Leaders, and c) have rewritten our Children, Youth, and Vulnerable Adult Protection Policy in order to better serve and protect our families, children, and Servant Leaders.
In 2023 and 2024 our Family Ministry Team plans to continue to make positive changes that improve our Sunday ministry effectiveness and empower parents to effectively disciple their children in the context of a loving and supportive church community.
2. THE RENEWAL OF OUR ATRIUM SPACE (AND GOOD COFFEE!)
Recognizing the need to refresh our atrium space, we spent the summer executing plans that serve to make our atrium more functional and welcoming. The changes that have already been made to our atrium include:
Painting of atrium wall and staircase/second floor railings,
Purchase of commercial grade coffee machine and accessories for Sunday coffee break and facility coffee service,
Purchase and delivery of commercial grade conversational sets that provide atrium seating options,
New commercial grade cafe style tables and chairs in the atrium,
New commercial grade counter height tables and bar stools in the atrium,
New facility signage, including first floor and second floor legends.
Our atrium is a natural gathering space that serves our church community on Sundays and our local south Winnipeg community throughout the week. These changes allow us to meet the needs of the various community and ministry groups that use our space.
3. TECHNOLOGY UPGRADES (AND IMPROVEMENTS IN OUR SOUL KIDS ROOM)
We used the funds earmarked for production upgrades on replacing technology that we’ve used at Soul since 2004. We first completed a stage lighting upgrade that updated all of our stage lights to LED fixtures, greatly reducing our power consumption, all the while providing more consistent stage lighting for our in-person and online communities. Our online gatherings are regularly viewed by those with mobility constraints who cannot attend in-person gatherings, these changes have helped improve the viewer experience all the while ensuring operational consistency for our Production Team members who control lights, cameras, sound, and visuals every Sunday morning. We also updated a computer in our Production Headquarters that presents lyrics and slides.
In our Soul Kids Room we upgraded our sound system, removing a bulky system that we’ve used since 2004 and installing a modern in-ceiling system that meets the needs of our space and ministries. We will look forward to future improvements in our Soul Kids Room and Student Centre.
As we celebrate the way our community’s generosity has made a difference we also look ahead to a series of new initiatives that we intend to complete with our 2023 Legacy Offering, including local and global missions initiatives and important upgrades to our Soul Kids room and Student Centre. Thank you to all those who contributed to the 2022 Offering. We look forward to our how community’s generosity will continue to make a difference in 2023.