Westminster Presbyterian Church in Fort Collins has started the giving season off on a good start.

Through a giving program dating back to the 1990s, the church gives $ 40,000 to the Highlands Presbyterian Church in Cheyenne to continue its giving and growth.

Over 25 years ago, a parishioner at a church in Waterloo, Iowa, donated his church’s money to be used “for non-local missions,” stipulating that the The church shares the gift with other Presbyterian churches in increments of $ 40,000.

In 2008, Westminster Presbyterian Church became part of the program.

Mark Kenning, who was pastor at the church at the time and is now retired, said the selection process was easy enough as long as they agreed to a few requirements.

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When accepting the initial donation, the church had to agree to invest the money and donate half of the profits each year to its mission team. The other half continues to grow in the investment account – known at the Westminster Presbyterian as the “Bethel Fund” – and when the money saved reaches $ 80,000, the church must find another congregation to donate to. half the money with the same requirements.

“It is certainly a time of celebration to reach this point,” said Reverend Eric Sunderland of the Westminster Presbyterian. “This gift is just going to keep on multiplying and continuing to impact people beyond what we can even imagine, which I think is just an amazing thing to see this genre carry on and Continue.”

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Kenning, who is now president of the church’s Bethel fund, said they entered the program with a “we’ll see where this takes us” mindset. Now that they have reached $ 80,000 and are in a position to donate money to another church, Kenning said the team that oversaw the investment are very happy to see the growth.

“We’re excited and maybe even more excited that maybe in less than 13 years we can do it again,” Kenning said.

During her time in the program, the Presbyterian Church of Fort Collins Westminster made annual donations to missions near her home in Denver and overseas in places like Africa, South America and the Caribbean. . Kenning said the church has helped fund everything from a car seat in Greeley to the construction of wells in Zimbabwe.

Kenning said that when deciding which church to donate the money to this year, the team looked for one that would likely still be operational in another decade, has the manpower to actively manage the account. investment and is small enough that the $ 40,000 would make a real difference.

“We wanted it to be something like in our church that is celebrated,” he said. “We’re pretty small, we can make a big deal out of it. “

While searching for a location that met the criteria, Kenning and his team found the Highland Presbyterian Church.

“For us, this is an affirmation of our commitment to the mission,” said Reverend Rodger McDaniel of Highlands Presbyterian, who added that the gift gave them yet another reason to be thankful this year.

“And then the idea that at some point we will be in the same position as Westminster to find another congregation with a missionary commitment to give the gift to pass the gift on… this is really an exciting opportunity.”

Molly Bohannon covers education for Coloradoan. Follow her on Twitter @molboha or contact her at [email protected] Support his work and that of other Colorado journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.