January 2021 - December 2022
Over the last thirty-eight years, God has remained faithful to Peninsula and has established a firm foundation for our ministry. For nearly four decades, our church family has worked to make disciples and point our community to the Gospel. We are thankful for this past faithfulness and thankful we continue to see the Lord at work within Peninsula. Over the last two months we have celebrated as twenty individuals publicly professed their faith in Jesus through baptism. What an amazing story we have to tell.
Additionally, the Lord has continued to strengthen our foundation for the work of making disciples. Our building project is complete and we will retire all construction debt in December of 2020. Over the last two years we have made many needed renovations and capital improvements to existing facilities while providing over $100,000 in missions funding above our normal giving. All of this in addition to the daily ongoing ministries of our church family.
As 2021 approaches, we expectantly look to the future and want to grow beyond what we dreamed, hoped, or even imagined (Ephesians 3:20-21). As we pursue the Lord’s vision for Peninsula, we are announcing a new initiative – Grow Beyond. The Grow Beyond initiative will allow us to fully fund the vision and ministries of our church in a strong and effective way for the next two years.
The GROW BEYOND two-year initiative will start by funding (through the annual budget) the daily ongoing work to cultivate a disciple-making culture in our church. This includes our weekly worship gatherings, our family ministries, community through connect groups, discipleship classes, short-term mission trips, and a staff empowered to equip our church family for the work of disciple-making. Additionally, your generosity enables us to GROW BEYOND our existing ministries through further developing four key ministry areas:
EQUIP – We believe in order to grow as a disciple of Jesus we must grow in our knowledge of the Scriptures, our knowledge of God, and the practical implications of our faith (Ephesians 4:11-16). To further this discipleship work, we desire to establish the Peninsula Equip Center to provide opportunities for every individual in our church family to deepen their faith and their love for God. No matter what stage of life you are in (a new believer, a busy parent, or a senior adult) the Equip Center will offer training (live and/or streamed) in areas of Bible, theology, apologetics, and practical aspects of the Christian life. Because we desire that our beliefs change how we live, every topic we cover will connect its teaching to everyday life. These opportunities will take place through classes, seminars, forums, and internship programs.
CARE – We desire to expand our ministry of care to orphans, widows, seniors, the poor, and to those who are incarcerated. We will grow beyond our current ministries to bring hope, healing, and change to a broken world through the Gospel of Jesus (Psalm 68:5-6, James 1:27).
STEWARD– In order to grow beyond we will need to steward our physical resources. We will perform needed upgrades and renovations to our current facilities, responsibly build operating cash reserves, and plan for the future by developing a fund for future construction/expansion projects (Proverbs 21:5, Colossians 3:17) .
SEND – Peninsula will grow beyond the ministry of our local church by maintaining a focus on missions and
taking the gospel to unreached people (Acts 1:8, Matthew 28:16-20). Our Missions Strategy Team will strengthen existing partnerships and establish new partnerships here and abroad to impact our community and world for Christ. While we support ministry partners, we will offer new opportunities to send our church family to the nations.
The Lord will continue to use the ongoing ministries of Peninsula to make disciples for the glory of God. The Lord will also use these four “buckets” to strengthen our ministries and grow beyond existing efforts to equip, care, steward, and send far beyond this two-year initiative. As we pursue this vision for Peninsula, we believe the Lord will allow Peninsula to GROW BEYOND anything we could ask for or imagine as we answer Jesus’s Great Commission call to make disciples.