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Connexus Church surprises attendees with 'reverse offering'

Those in attendance at recent service were invited to take money, do good in community
2022-12-01-jeff-brodie
Pastor Jeff Brodie is shown at Connexus Church.

NEWS RELEASE
CONNEXUS CHURCH
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Rather than ask for donations, Connexus Church gave a total of $15,000 to those in attendance on Oct. 16.

This church in Simcoe County invested money back into its people through a reverse offering.

In a teaching series called Scandalous, Pastor Jeff Brodie had been asking Connexus Church to consider the question: “What if your life was shocking for all the right reasons?”

Talking about complex topics like anxiety and money, Brodie encouraged people to live in ways that strike others positively and powerfully. To close out the series, the church’s leaders decided to do something big.

Pastor Jeff commented, “We have an incredibly generous church, and we wanted to equip our people to make a difference across Simcoe County.”

In church settings, collection buckets are commonly passed through the rows of people as an invitation to donate money in support of the church and its initiatives.

On this particular day, however, Connexus invited each attendee to take one of the 550 envelopes filled with $25, $50, or $75. With the money, they were charged to find a way to be for the community.

Here are some of the creative stories people submitted:

“We gave the money to our child’s biological mother. We want her to know we are in her corner, God is in her corner, and we love her.”

“A guy posted to Marketplace that he and his kids needed groceries. He has a full belly tonight and is looking forward to good things to come. This was perfect timing.”

“We found a neighbour whose spouse is deployed. We were able to bless her and her children with a meal and some gift cards.”

“A colleague (who also attends Connexus) and I decided that this year had been tough for our staff. We surprised everyone with coffee.”

“I bought yarn for my nana to knit mittens for children who need them this winter. There isn’t a final count yet, but lots of kids are getting nana’s mittens.”

“My sister is housing a family from Ukraine. We purchased an entire ‘cleaning kit’ for this woman that she’s proudly using to start her own cleaning business. She cried tears of excitement.”

The stories keep coming from people who are choosing to make a difference in others’ lives.

Check out Connexus Church at 9 and 10:30 on Sunday mornings in Barrie and online and at 10 a.m. in Orillia to learn more about their heart for the people of Simcoe County.

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