3 Ways Your Generosity Made a Difference This Year
Between November 20 and December 31, 2022 our community gave generously and sacrificially, over and above our tithes, towards the Legacy Offering. The Soul community contributed $150,000 towards the offering, allowing us to fully fund all three planned initiatives. We’re excited to say that as of October 2023, all three initiatives have been completed! Here is a breakdown of how the funds we gave are making a difference in our community.
1. The hiring of Piper Naim as our Children’s Ministry Director
Recognizing the need for intentional investment in our Children’s Ministry, we came together to fund the salary of a dedicated Children’s Ministry Director. The raising of these funds has allowed us to hire Piper Naim in this role, and provides the time to engraft her salary into our regular operating budget.
Since hiring Piper we’ve been able to complete a series of important projects, including: a) open two new classroom spaces for Sunday morning ministry (ages 1-2, and age 4), b) have grown and strengthened our team of Servant Leaders, and c) have rewritten our Children, Youth, and Vulnerable Adult Protection Policy in order to better serve and protect our families, children, and Servant Leaders.
In 2023 and 2024 our Family Ministry Team plans to continue to make positive changes that improve our Sunday ministry effectiveness and empowers parents to effectively disciple their children in the context of a loving and supportive church community.
2. The Renewal of our Atrium Space (And Good Coffee!)
Recognizing the need to refresh our atrium space, we spent the summer executing plans that serve to make our atrium more functional and welcoming. The changes that have already been made to our atrium include:
Painting of atrium wall and staircase/second floor railings,
Purchase of commercial grade coffee machine and accessories for Sunday coffee break and facility coffee service,
Purchase and delivery of commercial grade conversational sets that provide atrium seating options.
In the next few months there will be a few other changes that you’ll notice, including:
New commercial grade cafe style tables and chairs in the atrium,
New commercial grade counter height tables and bar stools in the atrium,
New facility signage, including first floor and second floor legends,
A large feature art piece on the main floor wall opposite the lift.
Our atrium is a natural gathering space that serves our church community on Sundays and our local south Winnipeg community throughout the week. These changes allow us to meet the needs of the various community and ministry groups that use our space.
3. Technology Upgrades (And Improvements in our Soul Kids Room)
We’ve used the $50,000 earmarked for production upgrades on replacing technology that we’ve used at Soul since 2004. We first completed a stage lighting upgrade that updated all of our stage lights to LED fixtures, greatly reducing our power consumption, all the while providing more consistent stage lighting for our in-person and online participants. Our online gatherings are regularly viewed by those with mobility constraints who cannot attend in-person gatherings, these changes have helped improve the viewer experience all the while ensuring operational consistency for our Production Team members who control lights, cameras, sound, and visuals every Sunday morning. We also updated a computer in our Production Headquarters that presents lyrics and slides.
In our Soul Kids Room we upgraded our sound system, removing a bulky system that we’ve used since 2004 and installing a modern in-ceiling system that meets the needs of our space and ministries. We will look forward to future improvements in our Soul Kids Room and Student Centre.
