Giving at Grace
2 Corinthians 9:7
Giving, or offering as it is often called in churches, is an act of worship whether you give at church or online. It’s about giving back to God a portion of all he has given us and asking him to help us bless others with it. Some give 10%, others more or less. Most importantly, we give cheerfully as part of our overall stewardship of God’s gifts.
View your giving and create/manage your recurring gifts:
Don’t have a Realm account? Email realm@gcconline.org
End of Year Giving & Statements
- If you are interested in donating stock to Grace before the end of the year, now is the time to begin that process. Please contact Amita Mackin at amita.mackin@grace.community, or call her in the church office at 240-553-1090
- To be considered contributions for a calendar year, donations must be received in the office, submitted online, or postmarked by 12/31 of that calendar year, regardless of the date on the check.
- You can view your donations in Realm. This includes donations received in the offering, in the mail, as well as online gifts. Just login at onrealm.org/gcconline and click the Giving tab on the left-hand side of your Realm screen. You will be able to download and print your final annual contribution statement in January. Once all donations have been recorded, you will receive an email indicating that your statement is complete and ready for download. If you don’t have a Realm account, email realm@grace.community to create one.
- All donations made to Grace’s short-term missions fund for mission trips are being recorded and receipted separately through Managed Missions and will not appear in Realm. Receipts will be emailed and mailed (if no email is on file) in January each year. See FAQ below for details and instructions on how to view your donations in Managed Missions.
Things You Should Know About Giving at Grace
Our pastors do not know the amounts that people give, only who gives in order to thank them
We publish financials (giving totals in relation to budget) each week at grace.community/weekly-financials
Grace Community Church is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), an accrediting organization that is dedicated to helping Christian ministries and churches uphold high standards of responsible stewardship. For more information, visit ECFA.church.
Stewardship
When we talk about stewardship, we’re talking about the fact that all that we are, all that we have belongs to God and we want to make sure we’re using all of that for Him. Our time, our talents, our treasures—all of it.
Stewardship includes our time—our days are numbered and how we use our time matters. God is interested in how we spend our time working, how we spend our time playing, how we spend our time serving. It is something God has given us to steward well.
Stewardship includes our talents—He’s given us all skills, abilities, and knowledge, and wants us to use them to participate in his mission. They weren’t things given to us to use solely for our own personal purposes, satisfaction, or fulfillment. They were given to be used for the body of Christ and for the world.
Stewardship includes our treasures—this is our money. Even this belongs to God. It is so easy in our culture to be convinced that the money we have is ours because of what we’ve done to earn it. And yet, God wants us to steward our resources through our generosity. Generosity is so important. And it’s important because it’s a reflection of Jesus. His generosity towards us is unmatched and we want to be like Him in that.
Why do we need to be thinking about stewardship?
Because it’s deeply connected to our discipleship, as we grow more into the image of Christ.
Generosity is the natural outflow of a person who understands all that Jesus has given them and all that he has done for them.
We need to talk about stewardship because it is an indicator of where our hearts are. And that’s what we care about. We care about the hearts of people. We want to be people whose hearts are sold out for the gospel.
FAQs
What options are available for giving?
You can give one-time gifts or you have the option of setting up recurring gifts on a weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, semi-monthly, or quarterly schedule. To create and manage recurring gifts, click on the links above. It’s easy to sign up, it saves the church processing time and money, and your information is kept confidential and secure.
Text
Text “GCCONLINE” to 73256 to give via text message.
Weekend Gatherings
As a part of worship during each of our weekend gatherings, we have a time of offering. There are also Giving Stations in the lobby where you can place your check or cash donations. If you’d like your cash contribution recorded, be sure to put it in an envelope with your name and address.
You may mail a check directly or via your online bill payment through your bank. Checks can be mailed to: Grace Community Church, 8200 Old Columbia Road, Fulton, MD 20759.
Stock, Bonds, or Mutual Fund Contributions
For gifts of stock, bonds, or mutual funds, please contact Amita Mackin (amita.mackin@grace.community).
I want to give online to a missions trip, but I don’t see that option when I click Give Now.
Online giving to our short-term missions fund for missions trips are done through Managed Missions, instead of Realm. Please contact the trip participant or leader for the link to give online.
I created a Realm account, but I don’t see my gifts. What should I do?
It’s likely that we have you in our system twice, especially if you started giving before you created your Realm account. Simply send Amita Mackin (amita.mackin@grace.community) an email so she can be sure all your contributions are merged under one account and you have access to them.
How do I acquire my annual giving statement for my regular giving?
You may access and print your giving record at any time by logging into your account in Realm (Giving – Printer Icon). If you do not have a Realm account, or if you do not see your donations once you’ve set your account up, please email realm@grace.community.
For everyone who has an email address in Realm, giving statements will be emailed mid-January. For those without an email address in Realm and who gave $250 or more during the year, a paper statement will be mailed at the end of January.
If you did not receive a giving statement and would like one, please contact Amita Mackin (amita.mackin@grace.community).
Note: this does not include donations given to the short-term missions fund. See FAQ below.
How do I acquire my annual giving statement for donations I made to missions trips?
Donations made to our short-term missions fund for missions trips are being recorded and receipted separately through Managed Missions and will not appear in Realm. Receipts will be emailed and mailed (if no email was on file) by the end of January.
If you donated electronically (i.e. there’s an email address on file), you may login to Managed Missions to view/print your giving statement.
- If you have a Managed Missions account, you may click HERE to login.
- If you do not, click HERE to create one with the email address that was used to make your donation.
- If you did not give electronically but would still like online access to Managed Missions to view your missions donations, please email Amita Mackin (amita.mackin@grace.community).
If you have not received your giving statement(s) via email or mail and would like one OR all of your donations are not on your statement as expected, please email Amita Mackin (amita.mackin@grace.community).
Who do I get in touch with if I have more questions?
You can contact our Sr Director of Finance and Operations, Amita Mackin, via email (amita.mackin@grace.community) or by calling the church office at 240-553-1090.
