Sometimes fear and anxiety can blind us to God’s abundance.
I [Jeff Taylor, UMF President] recently scheduled a meeting with a church finance committee based solely on the pastor’s email that the finance team wanted to meet with me. This particular church had established its first custodial account with the United Methodist Foundation a few years ago, and I assumed the meeting was about their fund’s investment performance.
As I prepared for the meeting, I printed a “since-inception” statement to take with me to show them that, even with the negative investment performance of the past year, their fund has an overall positive investment return from the date they opened the account.
When I arrived at the meeting, the pastor introduced me, and I began with my defensive posture by distributing the return. That’s when the chair of the committee said, “Oh, we aren’t concerned about that; we have another $50,000 we want to invest.”
By assuming the meeting with an existing client must be about concern about recent negative investment returns, I had fallen into the trap of scarcity thinking. I am grateful for this church for reminding me that even in the midst of pandemics, war, political strife, and disagreement within the Church, ministry in the name of Jesus Christ continues. The signs are all around us if we will just open our eyes to the abundance.
Throughout this year, our eyes have been open to the abundance of God around us. The United Methodist Foundation celebrates the distribution of over $237,972 in funds to grant recipients who are addressing the needs of the poor, lost, and marginalized in their communities. We also celebrate the establishment of new endowments and custodial accounts that will continue the legacy of ministry, and we are thankful for the churches and donors who gave abundantly.
This mission of the United Methodist Foundation of West Virginia is to create a culture of generosity that transforms the world by raising, managing, and distributing funds that meet the needs of all people. As we create this culture in our Annual Conference and beyond, we give thanks for the reminders of God’s abundance even in times of fear and anxiety.