Dear Friends, October 2026
“You will always harvest what you plant,” Paul says to the church in Galatia, and it’s harvest season in Michigan! The colors are radiant, the pumpkin patches are full, the apples are at their most delicious! It is a season of bounty, fullness, and celebration. We at Haslett Community Church have much to celebrate. We are in a season of abundant life and new growth!
Our Generosity Campaign again seeks to fully fund the church that we love in 2027. By that we mean gathering resources to pay our regular monthly and annual bills, to fairly and appropriately compensate our skilled and passionate staff members, and to fully fund our vital programs. It is through your financial generosity and investment that we do this together. There are no other sources of income the church utilizes for our basic operating expenses. So, thank you for all that you have done, and all that you plant this season!
This campaign, however, is not only for this harvest and the next. The wonder of communal ecology, like the natural world, is that we harvest fruit with seeds already inside it. If we do not eat the entire harvest, we can save the seeds and plant again what generations before us planted. Therefore, each harvest is not only ours, but also the harvest of those who came before us, and if we do well in our day, our harvest might be the planting of generations to come.
“You will always harvest what you plant.” We know an apple seed will never produce a pear tree. A carrot seed will never produce a potato. In this way, we will always harvest what we plant. We have planted care for children and youth, we have planted love for our neighbor, we have planted hospitality and welcome, and we see the fruits of these efforts sprouting in many ways!
At some point you may realize that only some of what you harvest, or reap, or are nourished by arrives directly from the seeds you plant. Our collective labor, presence, money, energy, and care do however, always become part of a planting that nourishes something beyond ourselves. What you plant nourishes something larger and may be harvested by another, for your benefit and for theirs.
As we consider what each of us can offer this season to sustain the life, ministry, and mission of Haslett Community Church, consider how your generosity is not only for self and for today, but participates in a lineage of harvests that will be collected by those who follow. As we harvest, and as we plant, may we be as ancestors tending to our resources as though they are for harvests yet to come.
It’s harvest season here in Michigan. How do the fruits of generosity, compassion, and community feel in our hands? Feel their weight and delight in their sweetness! Let’s plant the seeds within them once again. We know that Jesus and his first followers had practically no resources whatsoever to begin their movement of love, care, and welcome two millennia ago, and yet we continue it still today. Let us faithfully cultivate our resources to plant a harvest that will reproduce again and again until everyone has a place to belong!
Details about giving and communicating your 2027 pledge can be found on the following page, and the 2027 pledge card can be found at church and online HERE. Generosity Sunday is November 8!
Faithfully,
Kyle Carnes Rev. Betsy Aho
Finance Chair Pastor
