Fifth Weekend Giving
June 2024
Generosity isn’t just a side gig at Gateway Church in Parkesburg, Pennsylvania—it’s in their DNA. The reason they take generosity so seriously is because they are fully bought-in to the concept that everything they have comes from God. As part of their leadership team, Jonny Damon says, “It really shows how much God trusts us when He gives believers all the resources we have and then asks us to steward them well.” And for Gateway Church, one of the best ways to steward their God-given resources is to be generous with them. Years ago, when Gateway was exploring the best ways to model generosity as a church, they birthed the model they affectionately call “Fifth Weekend Giving.” Four times a year, a month will have five Sundays in it, and Gateway decided to take 50% of the donations they receive that weekend and send it right back out the door. Jonny says, “We use those funds to finance something that God is doing in our community or around the world that would benefit from additional finances.” They often keep the gifts local in hopes of building a stronger community of like-minded Kingdom efforts in their area, but they also enjoy blessing international communities. On one Fifth Weekend a few years ago, they were able to send close to $25,000 to a church plant in Haiti that they had been working with. And in December 2023, they used their Fifth Weekend money to fully fund a “Pack Hope Experience” on their campus. For that initiative, they partnered with UNTO (a CRU ministry) to pack 45,000 meals that were sent to some of the toughest places on earth. Jonny says, “I believe we raised over $30,000 that weekend, which meant we were able to fully pay for the $15k cost of hosting the event, the cost of the materials, and the cost of shipping the meals across the world.” As a result, their church was able to encourage and support many who couldn’t afford some of the most basic living needs. “Year after year, we’ve found that our congregation digs deepest on those weekends, allowing them to participate in what God is doing in big ways!” Jonny says. While giving away half of their income doesn’t necessarily make sense on paper from a “pay the bills” perspective, Gateway has seen over and over again that the more they intentionally choose to “give it away” the more it comes back in other ways. Generosity is contagious, and in God’s economy, it’s the best way to go. If you think your church might benefit from a similar giving initiative, you can connect with Jonny to learn more.
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