A Transformative Opportunity
Sanctuary@SACC (SACCPhilly) has received a 1:1 matching grant for $222,500 from the National Fund for Sacred Places, a program of Partners for Sacred Places in collaboration with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
This funding will support restoration work on our 130-year-old neighborhood church, breathing new life into part of its core structural foundation: the church’s roof and masonry, including its four iconic spires.
How You Can Help
We’re kicking off our Restoring Sanctuary@SACC Campaign. There are ways you can help:
- Please pray for our Steering Committee and for Sanctuary@SACC to reach our fund-raising goal by year’s end.
- Consider how you might help financially.
- You can give a one-time gift, monthly, or even quarterly. Please prayerfully decide how much to give and then use the donation form on this page. There are other ways to donate to the campaign as well.
- We will be updating the amount raised weekly.
- Please spread the word… Do you know of others who share your passion to serve the refugee and immigrant among us through gospel ministry? Share our website with them and, in the meantime, check out our Restore Sanctuary@SACC Campaign Talking Points page.
- Finally, please subscribe to our quarterly e-newsletter. Subscribe here.
Thank you!
A Word from our Director…
Restoration for
Future Generations of Refugees & Immigrants
South Philly is a wonderfully diverse place. On any given Sunday that diversity is seen and experienced through the worship services of our 7 ethnic congregations that meet in our beautiful late 20th-century church.
Although our church building is historic and functional, it is in need of urgent repair. Over the past 10 years we have undertaken several projects to stabilize the building. One major project remains: the sanctuary roof with its perimeter masonry, internal gutter system, and 4 spires.
I believe that one of the ways that a church or ministry is essential to a community is to answer the question: Would anyone miss us if we closed our doors?
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Without a doubt, we serve a crucial role in our community:
- We are building a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural expression of our united worship and stronger community care.
- We are bringing our diverse communities together in order to learn from each other– sharing knowledge, relationships, and hope.
- We are serving the greater community by opening the facility up to community meetings, resource distribution, voting (we serve 3 divisions in our ward), and Bible-based trauma healing groups.
We are bringing our diverse communities together in order to learn from each other — sharing knowledge, relationships, and hope.
Our many communities have come to Philadelphia to get a foothold in their new home country. Even as federal funds for re-settlement are being reduced, we offer free services that foster community and promote knowledge, networking, and safety.
As our diverse communities come together, we are learning from each other how to better worship our great God. We also have much to share with our congregations as they make their way in America. Networking is a big blessing that happens when we come together.
It’s been said that South Philly is more like a tossed salad than a melting pot. Indeed, it seems like each group tends to stay a part while still being part of the whole. We can learn much from each other as we become a picture of the new humanity that our Lord came to establish.
The Apostle Paul in the Bible writes: For he [Christ] himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility…that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility (Ephesians 2:14-16).
The hope of our faith is the eventual unification of humanity. We look forward to a future day when every tribe, nation, and tongue will worship at the throne of God in heaven. In the meantime, we’re called to light the way.
We work together, on our knees, and before the Lord who gives his Spirit to teach, unite, and ultimately transform us. Our church is for all the people. We seek one community of believers who worship the Lord and love one another.
The grant from the National Fund for Sacred Places will secure our future while acknowledging our past. The urgency of our project requires diligent and urgent attention to the challenge before us.
Together, our communities, our friends, our 1:1 matching grant from the Fund for Sacred Places and God’s provision will secure a good future for the next generations.
– Pastor David Grainge, Executive Director of Sanctuary@SACC
How You Can Donate to the Restore Sanctuary@SACC Campaign
Current Goal Status
Finally, we would ask you to add our campaign to your prayer list.
Restore Sanctuary@SACC’s Campaign Team Members
Steering Committee Members:
Jill Duink
Kim Garrity
Daniel Lee
Andy Owens
Matt Peace
John Sykes
Please pray for our steering committee members as they help lead our fundraising campaign effort.
The Restore Sanctuary@SACC Campaign is being conducted in cooperation with the Partners for Sacred Places and under the direction of Sanctuary@SACC Board of Directors.
