• The five Legacy Lanes are International Missions, Domestic Church Planting, Local Outreach, Growth and Expansion, and Leadership Multiplication. We have God-sized dreams for each of the Legacy Lanes that the Lord has put on our hearts. We’ve listed a handful below to give you a taste of what we have already been able to do and what we are dreaming about next.
• For International Missions we partnered with the Museum of the Bible and IllumiNations to fully fund two Bible translation projects in two of our strategic locations overseas, providing a copy of the Bible in their native language. Something we’d love to do next year is a retreat overseas for all of the international missionaries we have sent out, which numbers about 300. A retreat for that many people to come together from around the world would cost about $500,000.
• In Domestic Church Planting, we planted 15 churches last year and have committed $1M to them over the next three years. We now want to multiply our capacity to plant churches by starting not just new churches, but five new collaborative training centers across the country to multiply leaders. Each of these costs about one million dollars.
• When it comes to Local Outreach, some of our members had a dream to partner with North Carolina prisons to provide individual tablets with Summit sermons and Christian life resources specifically curated for prisoners. This innovative plan has been fully funded at $200,000. We are currently dreaming about setting up something called a “Summit Family Life Center”in the Triangle that will serve as a headquarters for ministering to the homeless, orphan, prisoner, unwed mother and high school dropout in our communities. Think everything from daycare facilities to emergency food supply to tutoring services to job training to healthcare offerings. Imagine a Jesus-center committed to ministering to the most broken places in our city! That will cost close to $40M.
• For Growth and Expansion, which we also like to call Triangle Growth Expansion, there are a few specific projects the Lord has put on our hearts: We’ve purchased land for campuses in Fuquay Varina and Chapel Hill. Those land prices were $3M and $6.4M respectively. Through God’s grace, local support, and your continued generosity, we hope to start building on those soon.
• For Leadership Multiplication. we wanted to mobilize not just those called to fulltime ministry but also those gifted in the marketplace who wanted to use their talents for the Kingdom of God. So, we started something called the Renewal Residency, a 3-year program where young professionals get trained to use “secular” skills in the Great Commission. The first year of that program was fully funded at about $100K, and we have our first class of 11 young adults in it learning to do business as mission. We hope to see this, along with other training programs like the Summit Institute, grow and expand.
• If you’d like more specifics about our vision for the Legacy Lanes, you can join the Legacy Team to get access to our Legacy Lane Reports to learn more.

• During the year, we take a one-fund approach to giving, meaning your giving goes toward everything we do in our congregation approved budget.
• Out of that, 65% runs the church--that is, all the ministries, all the salaries, all the bills, etc. The other 35% goes to fund the ongoing kingdom ministries and God-sized dreams he’s given us in what we call our five Legacy Lanes:
  • International Missions
  • Domestic Church Planting
  • Local Outreach
  • Growth and Expansion
  • Leadership Multiplication
• This December 11-14, during our Legacy Offering, everything you give to The Summit Church will go directly to projects in our Legacy Lanes, truly changing the world around us.
• After December, we will resume our one-fund approach. For more information on how to give toward specific Legacy Lanes beyond December, join the Legacy Team!

Our Legacy Lanes are primarily supported throughout the year by direct gifts from members of the Legacy Team, who give over and above their tithe. To learn more about how to directly give to a specific Legacy Lane, please contact Blair Graham.

If you meet the requirements stated above, click on this link to commit to joining the Legacy Team.

• Absolutely! As Paul says in Romans 12:6, 8, “In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well…If it is giving, give generously.” God gives varied gifts to the body of Christ found in people from all socioeconomic backgrounds and walks of life. Our prayer is that our church reflects the diversity of our community and declares the diversity of the Kingdom. The Legacy Team is for any Summit member who wants to give over and above their tithe to accelerate the mission and vision of The Summit Church. It’s an invitation for everyone in our church.
• As members of the body of Christ, we should help our brothers and sisters identify the spiritual gifts that the Lord has given them and help them steward those gifts to build up the body of Christ. Just like we would encourage someone in our small group who seems to have the gift of worship to get involved in our Worship Team, or someone with the spiritual gift of teaching to learn more about our preaching cohorts or teaching track in Women’s Discipleship, we should encourage those with the spiritual gift of giving to consider joining the Legacy Team.

Legacy Team members generally self-identify and already operate in the spiritual gift of giving above and beyond their tithe. The Legacy Team is composed of Summit members from all walks of life, including young professionals, widows, single moms, married couples, and grandparents. One’s career path does not define a Legacy Team member, and it can include anyone—small business owners, executives, mid-level managers, teachers, college students, hourly wage earners, or retirees.

We often say around here that someone likely has the spiritual gift of giving by either position or disposition. Think of the widow who gave her two mites. She was celebrated by Jesus as an example of someone with the spiritual gift of generosity. She had the disposition, or the desire, to be generous with the little that she had been entrusted with. Contrast that with someone who has been placed by God in a position of managing large amounts of financial resources. We would say that it’s likely that person has the spiritual gift of generosity by position, as the Lord expects them to be a generous steward with what he has entrusted them with. As you consider that framework, ask yourself the question of if you fit into either one of those. Do you have a longing or desire to be generous with what God has given you? Do you see how God has entrusted you with much and stirred in you the question of why he has entrusted so much to you to manage?

• You can absolutely fulfill the requirements of being on the Legacy Team by giving over and above your tithe to the Summit One Fund instead of to the Legacy Lanes. We’ve heard from other Legacy Team members that they love how the Summit is stewarding their gifts and may continue to give over and above their tithe to the Summit through the One Fund, as they have done for years.
• Everything given to the Summit One Fund will continue to fund our mission and vision through our annual budget, which is recommended by the directional elder board and presented to the congregation for their approval by a ballot vote.
• Our Legacy Team members are encouraged to learn about the vision the Lord has given us and prayerfully consider if the Lord is directing them to accelerate the vision through giving over and above their tithe directly to Legacy Lanes or to continue to do that through our One Fund. Ultimately, we want our members to ask the Lord how he wants them to steward what he has entrusted them with and to be faithful to what he says.

• At the Summit, we’ve had a one-fund approach to giving where all our members give goes to all we do. Over the years, we’ve intentionally discipled our church to understand that the Lord has appointed elders to direct and lead his church. Just like in Acts 4 when the early church laid down their offering, we encourage our members to submit to the elders as they follow the Holy Spirit and submit themselves to the Lord to guide and direct his church.
• The Legacy Lanes create an opportunity for our members to follow the Holy Spirit as he leads them to give over and above their tithe to specific Legacy Lanes, giving them an opportunity to give through their local church instead of outside the church.
• Legacy Team members are encouraged to continue to give to the Summit One Fund for at least their tithe, and beyond that as the Holy Spirit directs.

• Before joining the Legacy Team, we encourage those interested to commit to the practice of bringing their tithe to their local church. That means that for a Summit Covenant Member who has not yet started tithing (giving the first 10% of their income) to the Summit, we encourage them to begin that process before they apply to join the Legacy Team.
• Summit members can give over and above their tithe directly to the Legacy Lanes once approved to be on the Legacy Team. Legacy Team members are expected to continue giving to the Summit One Fund for a minimum of their tithe at summitchurch.com/give

The Legacy Team is a ministry that allows anyone at our church with the spiritual gift of generosity to use their gift to accelerate the church’s vision. The Legacy Team is one way covenant members of the Summit can use their gift of giving to serve the church.