Dear Beloved Community,

As 2024 draws to a close, I am filled with gratitude for the love and dedication you’ve shown to our work of justice and transformation this year amidst all the upheaval in our world. Together, we are a movement of Just Love, and even more important now than ever is your support that enables us to continue this vital work for a more just, equitable world. This has been a tough year for our fight, and not one most of us feel great about. Yet the fight must go on, even though we are not always sure of next steps.

Here is a step you can take; Middle Church is where you can invest yourself and your resources, for good.

To level set with you, Middle family, we are in the final year of our Middle Rising Capital Campaign where your funding goes to ONE FUND covering both our operating costs and our rebuilding gap. You heard us celebrate this fall that we are at 90% raised of the three-year campaign goal. But outside of our recurring donors and campaign pledges, we are pacing about 35% behind on what we need from our physical and digital community to fuel our operating budget. Can you help us stay on track?

We are asking YOU to help us raise $275,000 by Dec. 31stto sustain Middle’s ministry locally, nationally, and globally. While you help us hit that mark, please know our team is hard at work canvassing for a match from foundations (and a few deep-pocketed donors) to support us. Below are three key areas where your generous giving directly impacts our ministry:

1. Empowering the Movement for Justice: Your Gift Fuels Local Organizing

Your donations help fund our community organizing initiatives in the East Village and beyond. For example, $25,000 of our budget each quarter covers the cost of training local activists, organizing rallies, and hosting community forums where people can speak out against gentrification, racial injustice, and police violence. Your gift allows us to continue leading campaigns that push for affordable housing and equitable access to resources for Black and Brown communities!

2. Nurturing Spiritual Growth: Your Gift Strengthens Our Ministries

Middle Church is a sanctuary of hope, outside and inside our walls, and your support helps keep our ministries thriving. Programs like our Freedom School, New Adventures, Jerriese Johnson Gospel Choir, New New Yorkers and Children & Youth programming account for $75,000 of our budget each quarter to allow us to offer safe spaces for our people to cultivate spiritual resilience. Did you know that we saw a 30% increase in youth participation in our Freedom School this year? Your generosity ensures we can continue providing spiritual mentorship, leadership training, and emotional support for our young leaders.

December 2024

3. Expanding the Digital Church: Your Gift Supports Outreach & Education

The future is now and Middle has members in 47 states and 22 countries! Roughly $250,000 of our annual budget goes to media production and technology to enable us to produce high-quality content, from podcasts and webinars to live-streamed worship celebrations and community education programs. These digital tools give us the ability to reach thousands of people around the world, especially those who are unable to attend in person. Your support allows us to expand this critical platform and grow the movement for racial, gender, and economic justice.

As we approach our year-end goal of $275,000, I ask you to consider what you can give to support this critical work and help us close this 35% gap. Whether it’s a one-time donation, a monthly recurring gift, or a planned bequest, every contribution moves us closer to justice.

Thank you for your faithful partnership in this movement, for fulfilling your pledges, maintaining your recurring donations and for helping us hit our mark! I am grateful for each of you, and together, we will continue to build a world that reflects God’s love and justice for all.

With deep gratitude,

Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis

Senior Minister, Middle Collegiate Church Founder, Freedom Rising

P.S. Every gift counts in our pursuit of justice. Your donation before Dec. 31st will help us reach our goal and ensure that our ministries continue to flourish in 2025 and beyond!

HOW TO GIVE

1. Use the enclosed envelope to send in a year-end gift to support Middle’s work in the world.

2. Consider a Gift of Stock, Qualified Charitable Distribution or Planned Bequest. Email stewardship@middlechurch.org for more details.

3. Click here to make a gift directly online

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We believe in the power of Love. Period.

Through Love, we are each created in God’s image and filled with the Divine Spark. No matter whom we love, no matter how we look, no matter where we are on our journey, God’s imprint is in every person of every race/ethnicity, every gender, and every sexual orientation. We believe God speaks many languages and is calling us on many paths to peace—Shalom. We believe that Love put on flesh—brown, poor, Jewish baby flesh—and came to live among us. We believe God lives among us still; we are the living body of Christ. We are the hands, feet, and heartbeat of God. We believe the Spirit of God calls us to freedom, and we are not free until all of us are free.