Beyond These Walls
What it is
Beyond These Walls was originally the name given to a three-year initiative that sought to eliminate the mortgage on Chapel Hill Church’s physical campus and redeploy debt-service funds into service for God…investing those newly available resources to be a blessing beyond the walls of our church.
Now, Beyond These Walls is the name of an ongoing commitment for our church to generously live out God’s call for making disciples, sending leaders, and loving our neighbors. We are guided by the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 13:8: “Owe no one anything, except to love each other.”
Learn more about what God has done with this debt of love in our 2022 Gratitude Report and 2023 Blog. Scroll down for video stories!
How it works
Now that our debt is retired, the annual budget reserves 15% of our general fund to go “beyond these walls.” Chapel Hill has established a process to evaluate BTW investment proposals and to assess those approved. The Session (the body of elected, governing Elders) of Chapel Hill has appointed an Advisory Committee to screen opportunities, review existing projects, and cultivate future opportunities according to BTW Policy. The Senior Pastor is responsible for staff administration of the Policy, and the committee reports directly to the Session.
There are three criteria for how Chapel Hill wants the Beyond These Walls funds to be distributed. We want to fund projects that will:
Make disciples:
This is a major part of our church’s mission, from empowering and equipping LifeGroups, focusing on evangelism in our weekend worship services, hosting Alpha courses, and perhaps most significantly, planting strategic new worshipping communities.
Send leaders:
Chapel Hill has always been committed to leadership development, and now we want to do more by raising up church-planting interns for multiplying churches, helping more who feel called to ordained pastoral ministry recognize their call and respond to it, and working to develop new approaches to pastoral training.
Love our neighbors:
We hear God’s calling to be even more intentional in how we love our community, including helping local and regional organizations, and empowering and equipping our people to show the love of Jesus Christ to our South Sound neighbors.
Each year, we will make specific BTW investment decisions for the coming fiscal year, while keeping a reserve for opportunities that arise during the year. Agencies or individuals with inquiries about the program should contact Cara Taylor, our Outreach Director.
To ensure our investments align with Chapel Hill’s mission and the BTW mission to make disciples, send leaders, and love our neighbors, the program is administered through seven distinct funding categories:
- Faith-based initiatives: investing in community organizations in alignment with our beliefs through large, pledged gifts of significant impact (like Habitat for Humanity, Tacoma Rescue Mission, FISH Food Bank)
- Community initiatives: supporting community organizations with whom we share alignment in community impact regardless of belief system (like local service clubs, Peninsula School District, municipal projects, nonprofits)
- Evangelistic initiatives: growing evangelical opportunities through various environments with the purpose of advancing God’s Kingdom (like Alpha and livestream resources)
- Leadership development: training and developing the next generation of church leadership
- Church planting: investing in new communities and leaders to spread the good news in unreached spaces and to support EPC planting movements (like Kitsap House and Mercy Spokane)
- Member-empowerment grants: providing smaller grants to Chapel Hill member-led initiatives (like LifeGroup-initiated ministry opportunities, Empowerment Groups like Street Ministries, Comfort Quilters, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, etc.)
- EPC and church grants (Evangelical Presbyterian Church): providing high-impact/”tipping point” grants to churches and EPC-supported initiatives (like Living Waters Wendell and Camp Levi)
Where you come in
Do you have an idea for a Member Empowerment Grant? Learn more about Member Empowerment Groups and consider submitting an application for a Member Empowerment Grant at the link below.
