Broadway excels at loving one another. I have said this before, and it bears repeating, not to boast in
our strengths but to emphasis the importance of extending this tradition of caring well for our church family.
How we love one another lays the foundation for how we will love those we reach out to and those who find their way into our fellowship. While loving friends and family within the church often happens in private ways, we also weave it into the fabric of our ministries. Every member and regular attender is assigned to a Care Facilitator as part of our Care Ministries, under the leadership of Marcia Johnson and Nancy Ilgen. Care Facilitators pray for, visit with and provide special attention during challenging times to each person under their care.
We also provide another care ministry that goes unnoticed, intentionally. For many years, the church
has collected the Deacons Fund to offer financial assistance, confidentially, to people in our church during times of hardship. Recently, the Leadership Team renamed this resource the Care Fund, appointed Nancy Ilgen to serve as the Care Fund Administrator, and brought the funds under the church’s financial oversight (in place of a separate bank account).
I want to highlight this important ministry, partly to encourage donations to build up the fund
(currently, around $2,800), and also to make sure that everyone in the church is aware that the Care Fund is available for those facing a financial need.
It’s important to understand that the Care Fund exists to help people within our church. We support
ministries for people in need in the community through our missions budget, but the Care Fund focuses on church members and regular attenders.
If you are in need or know of a pressing financial need in our church family, please contact Nancy or
me. We will work together to determine how the Care Fund can help. Our priority is to meet short-term, occasional financial needs, like a utility bill or rent payment.
We will do our best to maintain your confidentiality. Nancy and I should be the only ones to know who
has requested and received assistance. Whenever possible, payments from the Care Fund are made directly to a billing company (utility, landlord, bank, etc.). In some cases, we can use the Care Fund to purchase grocery store or gas station gift cards, but we try to avoid, for the sake of accountability, giving money directly to a person or family need.
The Care Fund is not designed or financially able to meet on-going or large needs but should be able to
help in smalls ways during times of financial crisis. Often people just need help to make it to the end of a
month, and removing the burden of one bill or a week’s worth of groceries can make a huge difference.
If you are facing a need, please don’t hesitate to ask for help. The Care Fund is one way we turn our
love for each other into useful action. In the same way, if you are aware that someone else in our church family could use assistance, please encourage them to talk with Nancy or me.
Finally, thank you for supporting the Care Fund with your donations. This ministry is supported by
designated giving, not through the annual church budget. In recent years, we have not regularly asked for contributions to the Care Fund (formerly, Deacon Fund), and yet the church has been faithful to maintain a healthy balance. If you would like to give to the Care Fund, you can designate an amount on your offering envelope or the memo line of your check made out to Broadway Covenant Church.
