Are you ready to make your Commitment to Grace Upon Grace?
Click the link above to make your commitment online. You can also complete a paper card. Cards are available at the church and will be mailed to the congregation.
Email finance@graceavenue.org with questions.
Please watch these video messages about what God's grace is helping us imagine at Grace Avenue!
A History of Grace Upon Grace
What God has invested in humanity through Jesus Christ cannot be overstated. Grace is not a one-time occurrence. It is the nature of God that is with us every step of our lives. This is why 22 years ago we named our congregation Grace Avenue. Our church’s history is layered with story after story of how God has called us, led us, guided us, inspired us, nurtured us, comforted us, challenged us, equipped us, and promised that we would always have our home in God. We know the truth of the statement:
“From Christ’s Fullness we have ALL received, grace upon grace.”
A Call to the future
When Grace Avenue was launched in 1999, Frisco had approximately 30,000 residents and one high school. Today the population has grown to 200,000 residents with 11 high schools. Even with this immense and rapid growth, one-fourth of Frisco’s land mass is still undeveloped, and continued expansion is assured in Frisco and the surrounding areas. This includes the Highway 380 Corridor to the north where Grace Avenue has followed God’s call to establish a second campus called Grace Chapel. Our community continues to grow in population and diversity, bringing new neighbors to us every day.
As a church, it would be easy to become overwhelmed by statistics and change. It would be easy to look backwards and seek the comfort of nostalgia. But, our community’s new phases of growth offer the people of Grace Avenue the opportunity to bear witness to God’s grace upon grace. From this place of blessing, God calls Grace Avenue United Methodist Church into a bold new future.
Since January 2021, an in-depth strategic planning process has been taking place, seeking to follow God’s call into the future. From this plan, we reaffirm our mission: To eradicate homelessness in whatever form it presents itself. We believe everyone needs a Spiritual Home, an Emotional Home, and a Physical Home.
IMAGINE
As we seek to ensure that everyone has a spiritual home, an emotional home, and a physical home, we encounter God’s grace upon grace. We are inspired to imagine a way forward in which we live into God’s calling.
Through the process of strategic planning and the input of church leaders, we have identified six core strategies to focus our next 3-10 years. Each connects to our mission to eradicate all forms of homelessness.
INVEST
By faith, we respond to God’s grace by investing in this bold vision for the future through a three-year investment campaign called “Grace Upon Grace.”
This campaign does not begin with calculations of our bank accounts, but through our committed faith and prayers. Throughout the campaign we will offer the prayer, “God, what do you want to do through me?” Each of us will be called to respond differently, but we will all be called to respond. We are called to invest in the future of our church.
The proceeds of the Investment Campaign will be used in four ways outlined below.
IMPACT
What does all of this look like? What is the impact on our church, our community, and our world? Our 6 core strategies have poured forth 29 potential initiatives. Each is an answer to a need in the world and a passionate response to God’s grace upon grace.
Where Do We Start?
All 29 of these initiatives are vitally important to our mission and vision. But, not all things can happen at once. To help prioritize, we will use these four factors:
-Movement of the Holy Spirit
-Congregational feedback
-Timing and opportunity
-Motivated leadership for the initiative
What is the Cost?
This campaign is about more than money. It is about how we live into our faith and respond to God’s vision for our church. However, the practicality of resources to do the work is part of that response. We need every person who considers Grace Avenue their spiritual home to ask how God is calling you in this moment.
By raising $ 1.5 million over three years we can adequately service all four funds to fully support the vision of this campaign.
However, with faith in God and belief in this bold new strategic plan, we are hopeful for an outpouring of generosity that could produce a “grace upon grace” harvest of $2 million to $3 million. We are inspired by the possibilities.
We are asking for 3 year financial commitments, above your regular giving, to allow us to embrace this bold calling for the future of our church.
Campaign commitments totaling over $3 million would allow for each fund to receive a percentage allocation of that total.
Campaign commitments totaling less than $3 million would utilize a “waterfall” process which allots percentages based on total commitments to resource each fund, while ensuring that required amounts are addressed first. We need approximately $600,000 to meet interest requirements of the Frisco Campus, a minimum of $300,000 in the Grace Chapel fund (to fully leverage the ACE program), and $300,000 in the Ministry Impact Fund to move forward with key initiatives.
PRAY...ENGAGE...RESPOND
Do not let the details of the campaign, the structure of the finances, or the influx of information distract from doing the work of the heart. Let’s join together by putting our faith in God’s promise, that we have all received and will continue to receive, “Grace Upon Grace!”