Thank you for giving of yourselves to the life of this church over the past year. In 2025, our stewardship theme was “The Stewardship of Believing.” Across those three sermons, we reflected on biblical characters whose lives were transformed through faith — through believing in God’s work and trusting that God is able.
To paraphrase Maimonides: not every biblical story must be factual in a modern sense, but every one of them teaches truth — truth meant to shape individuals and transform society. So, the real question is not whether every detail happened exactly as written. The real question is this: Do we believe God is able?
Not only able to help us meet a stewardship goal, but able to move among us, to act, to work and to live through us — through our ministries, our missions and our meaningful worship together. My hope is that we left each of those services believing and proclaiming: “God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”
I continue to believe deeply in us as a church and as a congregation — our willingness to do the hard work, to say the hard things and to live out an authentic faith in a God who loves, cares, acts and moves for all people. Wilshire, we are something of an anomaly in a harsh world, and that is a good thing. May we continue to think differently, never grow weary of what we believe, and — most importantly — never lose sight of whom we believe in.
Thank you for your love, dedication and faithful support in making this year’s budget possible. But more than that, thank you for believing in a God who is able.
We will share more details and exact giving numbers later this month, including at our Annual Church Conference on January 18 right after 11 a.m. worship.