Can you believe we’re already here, in 2024? We’re so excited about what’s been happening with the Go & Make initiative! As we look to the year ahead, here’s where your giving has been moving us forward as we continue taking steps toward this God-given vision:

CAMPUS COMEBACK
We’re finishing up the design phase of the campus comeback refresh and are moving to the construction phase in the next month. As we move into this new phase of development, we just wanted to give you a heads up that there will be adjustments to how we’re using our current spaces, in order to accommodate all the updates that are planned. So don’t be surprised if rooms shift a bit, or something is temporarily not where you expect it to be—this is all part of the fun and the adventure of refreshing our spaces. We’re so excited for all the visible changes you’ll be able to see in the days ahead!

BIBLE REVIVAL
We just experienced a powerful baptism weekend in December and gave out 85 Bibles to those who were baptized. You should know, we’re not just giving out Bibles without any follow-up or points of connection—every one of those Bibles is prayed over and includes a personal note and helpful steps for each person who receives one, to start their reading journey.

We also kicked off a 75-day Bible reading challenge, where we’re attempting to read through the entire Bible in 75 days! We’re a few weeks in now, and it’s not too late to jump in! You can read or listen in a version of your choice (we recommend our free Granger Community Church app) and download our handy calendar as a guide. It’s not easy, but we think it’s going to be life-changing.

MISSIONS FOR ALL AGES AND PHASES OF LIFE
In January, we packed, loaded and delivered 82,000 pounds of food, to 16 food pantries, 3 homeless shelters, 11 neighborhoods and across 10 cities in Michiana. This effort supported 6,400+ families and was made possible through your generosity in the 2023 Christmas Offering. The Food Drop is a wonderful experience for families to serve together and we saw all ages working together, coloring boxes, packing food, supervising trucks, unloading and sharing food and joy with our community. What a great day!

There are also more mission trip experiences coming up this year, one in a new location: Honduras. An adult mission trip to Honduras is coming up July 13-19, as well as adult and family trips to Chicago in March and November of 2024. Students are also in on the action, and will have the opportunity to go on a summer trip to Chicago (middle school) and Honduras (high school). If you’d like more information about joining an upcoming trip, get details and apply.

GROUPS
People are gathering in groups—there are 13 NEW life group leaders who have been trained and who are excited to lead life groups this year. There are currently almost 700 people who are plugged in and participating in a Granger Community Church life group.

We’re nothing but excited for all that God is going to do through the people of Granger Community Church in 2024 as part of our vision. Let’s go, Church!

It’s that time again…let’s talk about what’s been happening with the Go & Make initiative! As we press into Spring, here’s where your generosity has been helping us take steps towards accomplishing this big vision God has given us:

CAMPUS COMEBACK
We’ve engaged in a few days of special brainstorming and visiting with Storyland Studios, as we engage the process of figuring out what a refresh of our Granger and Elkhart campus spaces will look like! We’re excited to have renderings and more to share, coming soon.

BIBLE REVIVAL
We launched Midweek Bible studies this year including Ephesians and Lamentations.  Coming mid-April, we are launching another Bible study focused on having a Reasoned Faith. This is a practical, six-week experience of table conversations and study. There will be more midweek Bible studies to come later this year!

YOUNG ADULTS
2023 has seen us offer more events specifically for young adults (ages 19-29) to connect and find community with one another. Between Ice Skating at Howard Park in South Bend, a five-week study on Ephesians, or a watch party for March Madness, there have been ways to connect with other young adults helping them find each other. To join a young adult life group or look for young adult monthly activities visit grangerchurch.com.

MISSIONS FOR ALL AGES AND PHASES OF LIFE

• MC3 CHRISTMAS STORE
  Looking back to Christmas, the Monroe Circle Community Center (MC3) hosted their annual Christmas Store and served local families by providing Christmas gifts for their children at a reduced cost. The store was filled by generous gifts from the Christmas Offering, as well as donations from the Re-Entry Center in South Bend. It was a wonderful time of celebration and support, helping parents and grandparents make their kids’ Christmas very merry! Volunteers helped with everything from set-up to check-in to acting as personal shoppers, to serving coffee and café treats while guests shopped.
• FOOD DROP
  Thanks to your generosity during our 2022 Christmas Offering, we were able to provide 80,000 pounds of food for 6,400+ families, through 18 area agencies in 13 neighborhoods. We had over 1,400 volunteers from the Granger Campus, 500 of which helped deliver boxes to the sites AND 150 volunteers from the Elkhart Campus, 75 of which helped deliver to the sites. (150 dozen donuts helped fuel our volunteers that morning!) We purposely time the Food Drop to happen at this time of January, in order to support local food pantries and organizations who are often running low and in short supply going into the New Year. It was another amazing opportunity to show our community God’s love and care for them in a tangible way.
• UPCOMING MISSION TRIPS
  In February, 63 people came to the Missions Trip Info Meeting, to express interest in the upcoming student, adult and family trips we’re offering in 2023. Parents and students were able to learn more about summer trips to Chicago for middle schoolers and to Florida for high schoolers. There’s also an adult and family trip coming up to Chicago in November.

Stay tuned for more updates on how together we’re advancing step by step into this new vision. We’re so glad you’re here!

It’s time for another update on what’s been happening with the Go & Make initiative. We know that, in order to accomplish this big vision God has given us, it will take all of us giving our T.E.A.M. (Time, Energy, Attention, Money) effort! As summer is reaching its peak, so many steps have been taken to help make this new vision become reality.

TOOLS FOR GrangerU
We are in the early stages of investing in a tool that is currently being built that will allow us to create GrangerU, an online, interactive platform where we can offer more classes, Bible studies and teaching content. We’re so excited for the ways this tool will allow us to reach and support not just those already in our circles, but those beyond, who don’t yet know they matter to God.

LIFE GROUPS
Since focusing on this new vision, we’ve known that life groups must play a critical role in the health and discipleship of our church family. So much so, that we have allocated resources to be able to hire a Life Groups Director. And it is with great enthusiasm that we announce we’ve hired John Kaehr! John comes with a great deal of ministry experience over the past 16 years where he served in many different roles in the church and at Bethel University. He brings a huge passion to see people connected in community and to grow in their relationship with God and each other.

YOUNG ADULTS
This summer we’ve had several events for young adults in the 19-29 age range. They’ve hung out after the 5 p.m. Saturday services in July and, in August, gathered for a picnic, sports and some community time. Many also took part in Core Class 101 that was just for students and young adults. We love seeing them connect with and support one another in these new environments.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
We’re in the process of doing research about how to be present in our community in a new way. Showing up and serving at local events that our community is already doing will help us even more to be the Church outside of our four walls. If you’re interested in being a part of our Community Engagement Launch team that will look to serve and partner with local events and brainstorm ways we can better be involved in our community, email community@grangerchurch.com. There are some events coming up this fall that we are excited to be a part of!

Additionally, it was an honor to serve both the Michiana community and the family of the late Indiana Congresswoman Jackie Walorski after her tragic passing in August. We are so grateful we were able to provide a safe, sacred space for the Congresswoman’s life to be celebrated throughout the visitation and funeral.

Stay tuned for more updates on how your generosity is rolling out this new vision. We’re so glad you’re on the journey with us.

We are so excited to update you on what’s been happening with the Go & Make initiative. In case you missed any of the weekend messages in the series, you can catch up here. As a church, we’ve been so inspired to see the joy and anticipation that has spread as so many have stepped out in faith and made their pledges. Here’s a quick recap and overview of all the action:

KICKSTART WEEKEND
Back on April 23-24, we kickstarted the Go & Make initiative by bringing a portion of our pledges for that whole week. And if you remember, thanks to generous donors, anything given during that week was matched, up to $1.4 million. We’re excited to share that during this Kickstart timeframe, we received a total of $1,001,500 and were able to receive a match for that amount!

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Recently, we identified that the Sunburst race would be a great event to partner with our community. We had an amazing opportunity to support our neighbors in South Bend and serve during the 2022 Sunburst Marathon as “Hydration Heroes” on June 4! It was a great chance to show God’s love and care for many.

This new vision is just getting started! We’re so glad you’re on the journey with us.