liberti year-end letter

Dear liberti friend,

2011 has been a breakneck year for liberti church! Think back over the year with me...

It’s been a memorable year in liberti’s worship life.  Over the past 12 months, we estimate that our worship service attendance has grown by almost 50%!  And last spring, the Lord opened the door for us to forge a partnership with First Baptist Church and rent facilities from them.  This has enabled us to continue to welcome new friends and neighbors, and expand our ministries.  liberti’s community life has continued to develop, too.  We’ve launched several new home meetings over the past calendar year, with more to follow early in 2012.  And, about a month ago, our church commissioned Brian Savage and Scott Jennings as pastors to our congregation!

Perhaps most exciting has been all of the energy and new initiatives of mercy to the city and beyond that have been birthed through this past year.  Our efforts to serve have multiplied exponentially... We held a summer camp, “Life Nights,” for underprivileged children; expanded our work with Alpha Pregnancy Services and several different Bethesda Project homeless shelters; raised over $20,000 with the other liberti churches to distribute meals to hungry families last Easter; began regularly sending teams of people to visit men incarcerated in a prison on the edge of the city; and, together with First Baptist, have started serving a bi-monthly meal to upwards of 100 homeless men and women at our church facility.

As all this has gone on, we’re also praying and preparing to multiply the life of liberti: there are now close to 60 people who have signed up to be a part of the launch of liberti’s main line campus, which we expect to happen early in 2012!

As we look back gratefully at 2011, and look ahead to 2012, will you do two things with me?  First, humbly thank God. We have such an excess of God’s grace to be thankful for!  Second, consider financially supporting liberti in December. As a church, all of the expressions of mission and ministry we’re engaged in are funded entirely by the giving of the church community.  We need the committed participation of everyone who attends liberti to be able to carry out the mission he’s called us to in Philadelphia and beyond.

As I write these words, our church is currently carrying an operating deficit of $42,474.47.  In order for us to keep and develop staff and ministry, and pursue all of the opportunities God’s placed before us, it’s imperative for us to wipe out our deficit to continue to operate effectively.

How can you partner with us?  Glad you asked!  First, consider liberti in your year-end giving. Every dollar given counts, and impacts the lives of hundreds and hundreds of people; so, consider how you can give through liberti this December.  You can find out about giving options here, and give in whatever way makes the most sense for you.

Second, if you’re a Christian, and you don’t currently practice a pattern of giving, you can begin to give regularly, worshipfully, and generously. You can read more here about how giving to, and through, liberti is biblical, wise, and strategic.  And when you give to liberti, God makes you a part of all that he’s doing here!

Who knows what awaits us in 2012?  What might God do through us if we all committed our time, talents, and resources to pursuing the mission of Jesus together?  I can’t wait to find out, and I want you to be a part of it!

Merry Christmas!

Jared Ayers

preaching pastor, liberti church