The history of Village Bible Church is composed of countless defining moments. God’s work has helped us launch new services, commission local and global outreaches, adopt multiple campuses, and most importantly, introduce hundreds to faith in Christ and ongoing discipleship.
The powerful story of Village is made up of your stories. God’s work in you is what makes Village amazing. You can probably identify your own defining moments over the years you’ve been at Village, and these come together to form our unified story of an awesome God transforming His people.
In the last ten years, we’ve grown from a single-location church of 300 people to a five-campus church of 1,500 people. As a result of this growth, we’re experiencing constraints in our worship spaces, deficiencies in our fellowship areas, and limitations in parking accommodations.
Thanks for joining this journey to discover the vision God has called us to as we seek to address the needs this growth has created.
ALL IN for Tomorrow is a two-year generosity initiative that will allow us to update our worship spaces, create new welcoming environments, and provide desperately needed parking so we can better engage children, students, and adults in our community with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
ALL IN for Tomorrow will help us leverage our church and facilities to faithfully disciple the people God is bringing to Village.
We want to see more stories of life change as we each rise to the challenge of living radically generous lives.
Our prayer is that every family who calls Village their church home will join us in this act of worship by giving back to God from the financial resources He has provided. While this helps us to accomplish our financial goal, the purpose is much bigger. Jesus says that our heart follows our money. We are trusting that as we each take this step, God will use those acts of obedience and faith to draw us closer to Himself, to grow our priority for His Kingdom and do great things through us.
As we each begin taking steps of growth, we believe that we’ll also see a movement of generous giving as Kingdom-minded families continue to join God in the work He’s doing through the ministry of Village.
This goal includes all current giving as well as $3 million in additional giving over the next two years.
Supportive Ministries Everything needed to catalyze discipleship and ministry at Village
Weekend Services Communication with the congregation, delivery of the weekly message and worship
Family Discipleship Discipleship and ministry for our children, middle school, and high school students
Adult Discipleship Small groups and ministries for all life stages
Missions & Outreach Directly set aside for outreach and missions expenses and opportunities
Church-Planting & Resurgence Financial support for campuses that we are currently revitalizing and reserves for future opportunities God may have planned for us
You may have participated in church campaigns in the past in which you were asked to give a second gift “above and beyond” your usual gifts to make special initiatives like new ministries and new facilities possible. Normally, you gave that above and beyond gift to a Building Fund as you also continued to give to the General Fund. This two-fund approach can be confusing, especially to those who have not yet engaged in giving. The two-fund approach also excludes from participation many of those not yet giving.
We’re taking a one-fund approach. The Village family is on one mission to extend the glory of God by making disciples through the gospel of Jesus Christ. To reflect that one mission, we will give to one fund.
The ALL IN for Tomorrow initiative covers a two-year season that begins in December of 2019. Throughout these two years, every gift given to Village Bible Church will go to ALL IN for Tomorrow to help us cultivate ministry, plant the gospel, and put down roots.
We’ve included a sample commitment card so you can begin to pray about your step of faith. We’re encouraging everyone in our church family to go before the Lord with open hearts as they discern their generosity commitment for the next two years. We will provide you with a new commitment card on Commitment Sunday, November 17, 2019.
Our Aurora Campus needs more seating, and our other campuses need other overdue updates. We’re planning a worship center overhaul at Sugar Grove, expanded worship center at Aurora and El Camino, and updates to Indian Creek and Plano.
Our Aurora and El Camino Campuses have no dedicated fellowship space, and our Plano, Indian Creek, and Sugar Grove Campuses need updates to crowd flow, conversation spaces, and ministry environments. We’re updating and expanding spaces to help relationships flourish.
Our Aurora, El Camino, Plano and Sugar Grove Campuses are in need of parking improvements and expansions as well as exterior building updates. We're implementing new and improved external aesthetics in addition to sufficient and safe parking to help our guests worship and grow throughout each week.
Seeing our spaces support our discipleship support our discipleship is the vision.
We’re thrilled to address the challenges and create versatile spaces. Our focus remains faithful discipleship, and we’re so eager for the day that our facilities will be better equipped to support Christian community at Village.
At our Aurora and El Camino campuses, we’re building a new entrance space to address our lack of important connection space, the unsafe and unconventional current entrance, and our hidden children’s ministry check-in. We’re adding two convenient single bathrooms on this ground level, lots of intentional conversation spaces, and plenty of windows to communicate light and life to our community, and to make the space bright and cheery, demonstrating warmth and hospitality.
We’ll also address our crumbling and flooding parking lot by re-leveling and repaving, adding critical drainage, adding a sidewalk along Galena Boulevard, installing lighting poles in curbed islands, and installing a basketball court at the far end. This will help us be great hosts and great neighbors.
At the Indian Creek Campus, we are doing some work to address our heating and cooling systems. We are replacing our boiler system, which has developed some leaks, as well as replacing old air conditioning units that have quit working. Additionally, we are looking to replace some of the windows in the sanctuary to help brighten the space and make the room feel more welcoming to our guests.
Beyond the needs of our building, we are looking for new and unique opportunities to engage our surrounding communities with the gospel of Jesus Christ and continue to seek to build God's Kingdom here in the Indian Creek community.
In the year since the launch of our Plano Campus, God has seen fit to triple the size of our Sunday morning worshipping community. This incredible growth presents some unique challenges, a major one being the challenge of parking all of the cars! While we still have space to gather together to worship and learn, the current parking lot is filled to maximum capacity every Sunday. We will address this challenge by adding a parking area on the north side of the building which will add 60 parking spaces.
Along with this new space, we will transform the north side of the building into a second main entrance. This will allow easy access for the physically challenged, and present a new face of the church toward our community's main thoroughfare: Rte 34.
We are expanding and renovating our lobby and creating new relational areas to foster deeper relationships and fellowship. A new front entrance will be welcoming and inviting for all our guests. The lobby expansion will include a new reception area and a large multi-purpose space to benefit Student Ministries, Awana, Mom Village, and more. We’ll also renovate our worship center, allowing multi-use functionality for various ministries. A new stage with updated lighting and improved sound will help our services be carried out with excellence, and will enable worshipers in each seat to engage in worship.
We'll add 90 new parking spaces, expand our entrance widths, and add lighting to create a bright and worry-free parking experience. These updates will foster a fresh, wonderful place for our church family, as well as guests, to gather and grow on Sundays or throughout the week.
We are asking you and your family to step out in faith and take the biggest step of generosity you’ve ever taken. Let us move together to accomplish all He has for us through ALL IN for Tomorrow. We’re specifically asking you to take these four steps.
No initiative of this magnitude can be accomplished without fervent prayer. We need you to commit to an extraordinary season of prayer for our community and church family. Pray that God will move in and through us as a church body to accomplish all that He has planned through ALL IN for Tomorrow. Pray that He would be glorified, that more disciples would be made, that He would provide the resources needed for the projects, and that each campus will be a home for greater worship, missions, and disciple-making.
Help us reach our goal of 100% participation in this life-changing experience. Go ALL IN alongside your church family and commit to do whatever God leads you to do. We want you to be ALL IN for these next two years so that you too can experience the spiritual growth that comes from trusting Jesus.
Own the ALL IN for Tomorrow Initiative and become a cheerleader for it within your spheres of influence. Engage in the accompanying small group study. Commit to being at every service from October 13 through December 15. Share with your church family what God has done in your life and how He is challenging you to be ALL IN.
Ask God to show you during this season what a sacrificial gift looks like and take whatever bold steps are required to see it through. Making your ALL IN commitment will not be easy. It likely will require much sacrifice and faith in God. However, God desires us to give in this way, because it honors Him, and we grow in our faith when we stretch and step toward Him in ways we never have before. Be encouraged in Christ. He always provides even as He calls us to go deeper than before.
The Generosity Ladder focuses on behaviors and attitudes of our hearts rather than on amounts or percentages, further transforming us into the likeness of Christ.
Scripture encourages us to grow in every facet of our walk with Christ, including the area of giving (2 Corinthians 8:7). Each rung of the ladder represents growth in a lifestyle of generosity and sacrifice. These are not rungs you slowly ascend to get to God, but simply a way to evaluate your growth in generosity. We’re challenging everyone to identify which rung on the Generosity Ladder they most closely identify with, and then, by faith, take a next step on their personal journey of generosity.
As you begin your personal exploration with the Generosity Ladder, it’s most important that you first spend time in prayer, asking the Lord where He is leading you to grow in your generosity and dependence on Him.
This type of giver is someone who decides to give for the first time and trust God and the leaders of the church with their gift. During our ALL IN initiative, many will take their first step of faith by making their first gift to the Kingdom of God through Village Bible Church.
HOW
To become an initial giver, consider making your first gift to Village Bible Church.
This type of giver is someone who decides to give on a consistent basis. This is someone who thinks of their giving in the same way they would about other expenses in their budget that are paid regardless of seasons of feast or famine. This often requires planning, and sometimes this might be a reason for someone to set up recurring gifts online or to become disciplined with giving through envelopes or checks during Sunday services.
Budget specifically for giving in the same way you would your other monthly expenses (1 Cor. 16:1-2).
Proactively schedule when you’re going to consistently give on your calendar.
This type of giver begins asking the question, “Why am I giving more to my cell phone company than to God?” This giver makes financial choices that reflect how they feel about their giving in relation to other things they spend their money on.
This is often the point when someone begins to give a portion of their income, maybe even a tithe (a tenth), back to Jesus.
HOW
Determine the next step to grow the priority of your giving. Give in relation to other monthly financial commitments (such as entertainment, cell phone, rent, mortgage, etc.) or choose a percentage of your income, potentially a tithe (Malachi 3:10).
This type of giver begins to ask the questions, “Am I giving in a way that changes me? Am I giving in a way that causes my lifestyle to change to reflect the transformation Christ is making in me?” A priority giver’s commitment to giving actually governs the rest of their lifestyle. A priority giver has a giving commitment that is “larger than their current situation” so that they must adjust the rest of their expenditures to meet that commitment.
HOW
Look at the dollars you are not giving and prayerfully consider if God is asking you to release a portion of those back to Him.
Evaluate whether your giving is really costing you something or if it has become comfortable or routine (2 Samuel 24:24).
Determine if there are resources God has blessed you with in the past (savings, stock, retirement, etc.) that God is asking you to release as a sacrifice to Him.
This type of giver is no longer asking the question, “God, how much are you asking me to give?” A legacy giver is asking the question, “God, how much are you asking me to keep?” They ask this so they can release the rest for Kingdom purposes. Much like a sacrificial giver makes a commitment that will govern his or her monthly and annual decisions, a legacy giver makes a long-term giving commitment that governs long-term decisions like cars, investments, projects, homes, etc.
HOW
Put a cap on spending and saving so every additional dollar goes to Kingdom giving.
Set a lifetime generosity goal (a specific number) for your family’s Kingdom giving over the course of your life.
Engage in estate planning (or revise your current plan) to accurately reflect your Kingdom giving priorities.
Leverage your own journey of generosity to encourage and inspire Kingdom generosity in the next generation.
During our Sunday services on November 17, we will celebrate and commit ourselves to the vision God has called us to. It won’t be the end of this journey, but it will be a mile marker in the life of Village Bible Church. Together, with God’s power, we will continue in our mission to make disciples of Jesus as we go ALL IN to increase our efforts to spread the Gospel in our community and to the ends of the earth.
As you pray and discern how God would ask you to give during this time, allow this gift chart to be a discipleship tool for you. Allow the gift chart below to inspire and challenge you towards greater generosity for Christ’s Kingdom as you go ALL IN.
Tom and Kathy Barron have warmly welcomed my Wheaton College friends and me into their home many times, and the Lord has taught me much about hospitality through their heart for multicultural ministry.
At their home, I met my dear pal, Zuzu Rutare, who has allowed me to fall more in love with both the African food fufu and the heart of our Heavenly Father. I love listening to her never-ending testimonies of God's faithfulness. She is truly a soul sister, and I am so grateful for Village Bible Church being the avenue for us to meet and grow in the Lord together!
I think the new spaces designed for better personal connection, the streamlined entrance, and the expanded capacity in the worship center will help us better minister to our multicultural community for years to come!
Our very first Sunday at Village, we were warmly greeted. We felt welcome. We felt like people were glad we were there. After the service, we were again spoken to and acknowledged. People engaged us in conversation and we ended up talking with people in meaningful conversation until 1:30pm! We were almost the last ones to leave. I didn’t even want to leave. It was so good to be in the house of the LORD!
We have an exciting opportunity to help create a more useful and safe environment for the church body and our visitors. It’s often challenging to our sensibilities to spend money on physical things, but the needs we are addressing are well thought out and purposeful. This project will facilitate our ability to grow the Kingdom of God and love people under our care.
We moved from a small town, and our first impression at El Camino was very good. We saw kind people and smiling faces, and it was very significant for us that Pastor Nico came to personally meet us. We love the preaching and the worship services because they speak to us with the real truth of what the Bible says.
We love reaching out to our community through outreaches and sharing Jesus Christ at work, teaching in our small group on Wednesdays, and now, Octavio serves as an elder at El Camino.
We are very excited after seeing the plans for the building project. It will be great to get a better parking lot and more comfortable areas for all people to get to know each other. I think this project was first on God’s heart and now is on the hearts of our leaders and people.
Over the last two years, Village has been very supportive of our family. In the same year, we experienced two deaths in our family. The first one was my dad. The second was quite a bit more traumatic because it was our adult son.
Village came alongside us. When our grandsons moved in with us, the pastors stepped in to help. These boys needed godly men in their lives, and these men stepped into that role for them and have become great mentors.
I am excited about the upcoming projects. Taking care of what needs to be fixed and updated is wonderful and needed. I am blessed by our church community and I’m thankful that we are going to take the time and effort to fix the windows, replace the heating, and update whatever else is needed to keep the building maintained.
The Spirit is definitely working through Village as we navigate the challenges that come with being a blended family. We spend more time now in family devotionals than we ever had while attending other churches. Our two teenage daughters love attending and participating in Wednesday night youth group. We have seen exponential spiritual growth in both of them as they step up as leaders both in church and school.
We believe that the Plano Campus is in the middle of a season of extraordinary growth. We are seeing attendance grow every week! This is with a building that is rather hidden in the neighborhood. The new entrance, new parking lot, and new look of the building will bring attention to this new church to those driving by on Route 34.
God is using Village to make a difference in our lives through the excitement of attending a local church that teaches God’s Word from the Bible without reservations. We’re thankful to be in a church that continues to teach God’s Word, even when it conflicts with the culture around us.
Howard has served at Village by caring for the facilities, and Susan helps by providing meals and working in the kitchen. After the building project at Plano, the church will be more visible to visitors, the front entrance will be inviting, and we’ll be able to provide better parking.
We’re excited that Village is investing in the future of our church to encourage the study of God’s Word, to be a lighthouse to the community, and to support the present and future church body.
The first time I walked into Village, I was welcomed in a warm, genuine fashion. Pastor Tim and the leadership team show their authenticity through a true love of our Lord, a true willingness to help, and a true demonstration of humility.
The renovation project recognizes that creating an environment that engages both young and old equally well is necessary to cross-connect generations and to prevent the church from becoming stagnant.
Although change can be difficult, we must be willing to create an environment that will make younger generations feel as welcome as it has for our own generation if we are to grow the Lord’s kingdom.
The Lord has used the people of Village Bible Church to work in our lives in so many ways, from praying for us through many sicknesses and surgeries, helping us build an addition to our house, allowing us to grow and serve as we taught Sunday School to their children for many years, and enabling Carol to serve the Lord as secretary for 25 years. We have been blessed and humbled by the love, prayers, friendships, and help of the people of Village since we began attending 44 years ago.
We are excited about the total project at the Sugar Grove campus. Expanding the parking lot and driveway will be extremely beneficial in helping ease the frustration of finding a parking place and getting in and out of the property safely.
Our Aurora Campus needs more seating, and our other campuses need other overdue updates. We’re planning a worship center overhaul at Sugar Grove, expanded worship center at Aurora and El Camino, and updates to Indian Creek and Plano.
Our Aurora and El Camino Campuses have no dedicated fellowship space, and our Plano, Indian Creek, and Sugar Grove Campuses need updates to crowd flow, conversation spaces, and ministry environments. We’re updating and expanding spaces to help relationships flourish.
Our Aurora, El Camino, Plano and Sugar Grove Campuses are in need of parking improvements and expansions as well as exterior building updates. We're implementing new and improved external aesthetics in addition to sufficient and safe parking to help our guests worship and grow throughout each week.
