Dear Sunset Church Family,

Looking back at the past fiscal year (from July 2023 to June 2024), two spiritual lessons stick out in our memory. The first was our focus on prayer. We spent time unpacking the Lord’s prayer to fully understand and move towards a whole-hearted dependence on God in all things, from the forgiveness of our sins to the provision of our daily bread. As a result, we are working hard to build into our regular rhythms a tradition of prayer by committing to gather as a congregation (from young to old) at least once every three months to pray.

The second spiritual lesson we focused on in the last year was generosity. Considering the passage from 2 Corinthians 8:2-5

2 for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 3 For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, 4 begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— 5 and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

We learned that we can live out and remember the generosity of Christ by being generous with our entire lives - from our resources to our finances to our time.

And now looking forward to the next fiscal year, we consider Psalm 100:5.

5 For the LORD is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

I love how this passage reminds us of God’s hesed. Or, as the Jesus Storybook Bible translates it, God’s “never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love.” And that hesed; that steadfast love has been evident in our community as God continues to make gospel-transformed disciples at Sunset Church. And so we strive to serve God with gladness and come into His presence with singing.

In the next fiscal year (July 2024 to June 2025), we hope to bring on more leaders (amongst the elders and ministry leaders), bring on more staff (a women’s ministry director), and support more missional work (with new local partnerships, increasing long term missionary support, and starting a medium-term missions program). So remembering God’s hesed and the reality of Jesus’s generosity all resulting in our response of a whole-hearted dependence and reliance on our Heavenly Father as we challenge and stretch ourselves in the next fiscal year is vital.

We thank God for each and every one of the body of Christ at Sunset Church. We are so excited about all that God has in store for your community in the next. Year. Thank you for your continued faithful support, prayers, service, and giving. Every one of you is an integral part of God’s kingdom being built in San Francisco and to the ends of the earth.

To God be the Glory,

The Pastors and Elders of Sunset Church