When churchgoers hear the words “capital campaign,” fundraisers for large building projects likely come to mind – replacing a leaky roof, broken boiler or constructing a new education building.
Lancaster First United Methodist Church is no stranger to capital campaigns of this sort. Over the course of seventeen years, beginning in 2005, the church held five consecutive, successful capital campaigns. But in January of 2024, the church’s Generosity Team had a new vision: What if they used the church’s demonstrated gifts of generosity and capacity to launch new capital campaigns—this time not for their own projects, but for others’? What would it look like to turn capital campaigns into a mission?
When Rev. Kent Kroehler, a retired elder who worships at the church and serves on its Generosity Team, took the idea to two consultants for feedback, neither had heard of a church doing anything like it. That’s when Kroehler realized that Lancaster First might be on to something new.
After careful discernment, the church selected three projects to fund through capital campaigns of $100,000 each. The congregation had personal connections with all three projects.
One of the projects was local. Anchor Lancaster is a nonprofit organization that provides hope to community members in need—serving breakfast five days a week, providing showers, laundry, a day center, case management and access to medical support. Anchor Lancaster provides many of these services out of Lancaster First’s facility. The organization had no immediate capital needs, so the campaign funds were designated for an endowment—its investment income to support operations and its principal reserved for future capital needs.
The other two projects were international. One of them is Serving Sierra Leone, a mission founded by Lancaster First member, Rev. Dorcas Kamanda—retired elder, nurse and midwife. Serving Sierra Leone has built and operates a community-based medical clinic, schools, and an orphanage, as well as working to provide scholarships, clean water, and baby food to Sierra Leoneans. Lancaster First’s gift was one of many that contributed to the organization’s capital needs.
The church also chose to raise funds for Africa Sunrise Communities, an organization founded by another of its members, Rev. Jacob Thon Guot. Guot is a South Sudanese Episcopal Priest who came to the United States as a refugee in 2003. The campaign funds from Lancaster First would allow Africa Sunrise Communities to outfit a small medical clinic in Bor, South Sudan with equipment that the local hospital does not have so that residents would have access to expanded medical care.
With a goal of $300 000 total, Lancaster First’s Generosity Team got to work in February, 2024 asking for lead gifts—significant donations from leaders that help to launch and set the tone for large fundraising campaigns. Kroehler explains that a few decades ago, the goal would have been to raise one third of the total goal from lead gifts, but it has since shifted closer to two thirds. In an outpouring of generosity, a handful of donors pledged gifts of $25-30 000 each, followed by several more in the $1000-$10 000 range who had been inspired by the first. Overall, $255 000 were raised in lead gifts alone.
In its final weeks, the campaign went public, prompting many donors to step forward with gifts ranging from $40 to $1,000. Kroehler recalls one of the most moving moments: a woman who, along with her husband, had just lost their jobs came forward with a check. Their trust in God’s provision and radical generosity echoed the widow in Scripture whose small offering of two coins Jesus praised, a reminder that generosity is more a spiritual gift than a material one.
To the glory of God, all three campaigns were not only successful but exceeded their goals! More than $481 000 dollars have been pledged to the campaigns and Kroehler expects total funds raised to exceed $500 000.
When asked why he thought the campaigns were so successful, Kroehler didn’t skip a beat: “God’s inspiration of people to give! We put the stories out there and hoped that the Spirit would inspire people to give at all levels.”
Kroehler notes that it was powerful for people to hear the stories of these mission partners from real live people—not just in print. Plus, the Lancaster First community were personally invested in them before they were financially invested; several members participate in Anchor Lancaster’s ministries and others have gone on mission trips to Sierra Leone with Kamanda.
Of course, when it comes to money, there is always some level of worry. Kroehler shares that the sociopolitical situation in South Sudan, for instance, caused some potential donors to be understandably doubtful about the viability and longevity of that project. In response, the Generosity Team was honest and direct about the risk, emphasizing that God calls us to operate by faith and reminding people about Lancaster First’s history of bold, Spirit-moved mission.
Lancaster First may be among the first to undertake capital campaigns for others, but Kroehler hopes they won’t be the last. “I’m convinced lots of churches could do something like this,” he says, noting that even smaller or aging congregations have unique gifts to offer—especially when it comes to generosity.
In the end, Lancaster First’s capital campaigns for others became more than a fundraising effort. It became a testimony to what happens when a church turns outward—when stewardship becomes service, and generosity becomes mission. In a world often focused on scarcity, Lancaster First dared to trust in abundance. And through that trust, lives are being changed—both near and far.