As 2026 draws to a close and we look to the year ahead, we thank God for the many ways He has provided for us this year. Pastor Jeremy, on behalf of our elders, shares some points of thanksgiving and encourages us to continue to trust and look to God for the future.
Our offering is an act of worship to the Lord as we acknowledge that all we have is provided by Him. As members of this church, it is our duty to steward our offering faithfully and responsibly, so that we may glorify God.
Today, I would like to share with you how your generous and regular contributions to the church this year have supported the ministry of the Word, the relief of the poor in our midst, and the spread of the Gospel to all nations.
God’s provisions this year
God has graciously tripled our regular attendance at Grace over the past 5 years (212 adults and 37 children in 2021 to 596 adults and 96 children this year).
We thank God for adding 58 new members this year.
As such the pastoral needs of the church have grown exponentially.
Our elders and staff have been spending more time reaching out to members, caring for those in need and actively discipling others.
We have revamped the way we deliver Christian Education. Whereas we had an average of 15 adults attending Equip last year, we now have an average of 200 adults and children at Training Days. Praise God that a great number of us are being built up by learning about different topics of Christian growth. We are actually in need of larger rooms to conduct the various tracks. We even contemplated hosting 2 tracks last Training Day in the carpark.
We have launched a more holistic Sunday School curriculum that will teach the next generation God’s Big Picture from Genesis to Revelation as well as key theological truths that will aid them in living for Jesus. Praise God for the opportunity to pass on our faith to the next generation. We are now in need of more teachers and more space so that we can open up new Sunday School classes.
We have also equipped several members to journey with those who are suffering by subsidizing counselling courses.
More people are open about their personal struggles and welcome pastoral care. To this end we have also disbursed over $60,000 this year to help members in financial need.
More members are part of CGs. In fact, we have no more available rooms on Sundays after service.
110 women from 17 churches attended this year’s women conference and 75 ladies attended the recent Women of Grace event.
We are thankful for the Filipina ministry and for the opportunity our pastors had to teach them more about the church and faith this year.
We are thankful for the increased opportunities God has given us to minister to the girls at Gladiolus Place. Your contributions have enabled us to provide 600 hot meals to the girls and staff this year. We give thanks for the relationships that we have been able to build with the girls.
We had the opportunity to host the Spurgeon conference that encouraged 150 people who represented 30 churches to understand what Scripture teaches about the church and how we can be faithful members.
Through this year’s Weekender, we as a church were able to encourage 120 ministry leaders from 68 churches to press on in faithful ministry and equip them to help their churches grow in spiritual health and maturity.
We have also had the privilege of supporting 10 missionary partners and sponsoring another 10 translation and gospel ventures.
Church, there are many more wonderful ministry reports to share but my hope is that you are greatly encouraged by the work the Lord is doing in our midst and to see how God has used your offering for His glory.
All these wonderful ministry reports happened because you contributed generously and regularly to the church. Your offering has enabled us to support our full-time workers and missionaries, as well as cover the costs associated with the upkeep of our facilities and conducting ministry.
Trusting God in the year ahead
May this encourage us to continue contributing cheerfully, generously and regularly to the church so that we can continue to carry out the ministry that God has entrusted to us in 2027.
The budget packet that went out gives you more details about the various ministry ventures, so I will briefly highlight a few key ministry areas:
Firstly, we want to set aside sufficient funds to train more gospel workers for ministry as the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Many churches are without a pastor and our own church is in need of a steady pipeline of gospel workers. It is because of your faithful giving that we have trained and sent out 4 from our midst to pastor or strengthen churches both in Singapore and overseas.
Secondly, we want to continue investing in building up our church through His Word and relationship building. Hence we have several training platforms that require funding like Training Day, Theological Education for gospel workers, Counselling courses for our lay counselling team and Church Camp in June where we invited our gospel partners to be our speaker and lead the children’s program. We will also host a conference next September that will help us grow in being a "gospel-revealing" community.
Thirdly, we want to embrace the opportunities God has given us to partner with other Christians to strengthen churches around the region. To this end we want to support new missions’ ventures and host another Weekender that will equip another 100+ ministry leaders from the region. The testimonies from past participants about how much they have learned and how it has helped their local church abound. Sign up requests for 2027 are already happening.
I cannot emphasize enough the impact of each Weekender. By providing a few meals and several books, the attendee’s love for the Lord and His church is deepened, and he is equipped to strengthen His church that may have 50 to a few hundred members who in turn begin to impact other neighbouring churches.
Fourthly, we want to continue caring for members who are facing financial challenges. Hence, we continue to provision adequately for member care.
Fifthly, we hope to grow our culture of hospitality and engaging visitors, especially during Easter and Christmas. We want to steward well the evangelistic opportunities God has given us and facilitate more fellowship amongst members.
So let us praise God for what He is doing in our midst and prayerfully commit to contributing cheerfully, generously and regularly to the church to support the ministry God has entrusted to us.
Let us prayerfully affirm our budget for 2027.
May the Lord continue to use us for His glory.