This Sunday is the culmination of our stewardship program here at Esperanza
Lutheran, as we receive in worship the financial intent cards for 2025 that were sent out
to our community this past week.
If you are joining us in person for worship, please come with your financial intent card filled out for collection during our worship service. Blank intent cards will be available in the Narthex prior to worship. If you can’t attend worship this weekend or would prefer to provide your giving intent online, you can do so by visiting Make Your Intent Here or by visiting our Stewardship Page.
Please note, to simplify our collection process, if you’ve already filled out your intent online, it is unnecessary to do so with a physical intent card even if you plan to attend worship in person.
Below is a compilation of our 2025 Stewardship Program with links to weekly documents.
When we think about faithfulness, we often think about it in terms of how we are faithful to God. But when we hear the song, “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” we find that faithfulness is just as much about how God is faithful to us! This stewardship season, we’re going to focus on the faithfulness of God, and how we are then invited to respond to that faithfulness. This year, we will be focusing on three primary topics related to how we live into the faithfulness of God.
Our first topic is called Deepening Our Wells of Faith, focusing on how we are invited to delve more deeply into our connection with God and with neighbor here in our Esperanza community. Through intentional involvement with the various programs here at Esperanza, we experience new ways in which we encounter the faithfulness of God. This faithfulness can be witnessed through Bible Studies, where we encounter stories of God’s faithfulness in scripture, fellowship events, where we are invited to live into the mutual fellowship that Christ sets before us in servant communities, and through worship, where we experience the sacred through how God is proclaimed in messages, music, and through the sacrament of Holy Communion. As we look toward 2025, what new ways might you encounter God and deepen your faith?
Our second topic is called Building Bridges Into Our Community. Esperanza has become a very generous congregation – especially when it comes to ways in which we reach out into the larger community that we are a part of. As we consider how God has been generous with us in so many ways, we are invited to then be generous to our neighbors – to be God’s hands and feet in the world. As we find new ways to partner with the community, there are financial commitments that we have and hope to continue to make to strengthen these connections. In what ways have you experienced Esperanza in our community, and how can you be a part of that impact moving forward?
Our third focus this year is Investing in Our Future. As we anticipate celebrating 35 years of being Christ’s presence in Ahwatukee, we have a calling to continue to proclaim Christ’s faithfulness that we have experienced. This happens in part by ensuring that Esperanza is well situated to thrive in the future to come. There are practical ways that this occurs – through thoughtful maintenance on our aging facilities, as well as making improvements to increase energy efficiency, and there are also more aspirational ways that we can do so, by exploring practical questions about what the future of ministry is like at Esperanza, and considering how the community around us and its needs might change in the coming years. As we look toward the future with hope, how do you envision Esperanza’s presence in the community changing and remaining the same?
Every week in worship, we’re handing out information notes on some of the ways we have and continue to experience God’s faithfulness. We hope you’ll spend some time exploring them to learn more about what Esperanza has been up to, and what we are hoping to do next. Your financial support makes these hopes possible, and opens the door to new opportunities.
To access this year’s stewardship letters, hand outs and mailings please visit our Stewardship page.
In the Fall of 2022, we received 56 giving intent cards. This past year, we received 66. This year we are hoping you will help us reach our goal of 73 giving intent cards returned! We are thankful for all your continued support of the ministry of Esperanza. We pray that you experience God’s faithfulness, and use that faithfulness to joyfully share the many blessings that God has given us all.
Visit our Community Involvement page to see how the People of Hope, through Time, Talent & Treasure, impact our community.