Love at Work: Second Presbyterian Church Endowment Fund
Ensuring a Legacy of Active Love, Hope, and Grace
Founded in 1882 with 14 charter members, Second Presbyterian Church of Little Rock has grown into a vibrant, loving congregation that makes up the largest Presbyterian Church in Arkansas. As a growing and inclusive community, Second Presbyterian Church strives to actively care for the spiritual, physical, and intellectual needs of all people, not just in their congregation, but also locally and throughout the world. They believe that God’s greatest command is to love—and it is this belief that drives their ministry of Jesus Christ in the world.
And how do they support these efforts? With the generosity of their members and the Second Presbyterian Church Endowment Fund. Having recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, the Endowment was created to secure the continued support of all of the church’s ministries, including Worship, Outreach, and Christian Education. It is with additional support from the Endowment that Second Presbyterian Church can designate over 25% of their operating budget to support more than 20 local ministries and agencies. This includes dedicated service to such organizations as Family Promise, Bale Elementary School, Habitat for Humanity, Arkansas Rice Depot, Stewpot, and many others. Additionally, the Endowment supports spiritual growth of their congregation and community by supporting ministries of Second Presbyterian Church through various efforts such as Sunday school classes on current ethical issues, multiple choirs, over eight areas of pastoral care, and a performing arts program, Praeclara.
Additionally, Second Presbyterian Church supports this Endowment with The Birthday Fund. Started in 2009, this celebration of the lives of church members has raised more than $97,000 for the Second Presbyterian Church Endowment Fund. Each church member is invited to give the dollar amount of the age they are turning during the month of their birthday. With participants ranging in age from pre-school to senior church members, The Birthday Fund allows everyone to participate in creating the legacy of active love that is Second Presbyterian Church.
Since 1995, Texas Presbyterian Foundation and Second Presbyterian Church Little Rock have worked together to carefully manage this Endowment. Malinda Kirchner, Director of Planned Giving, is passionate about this partnership. “Texas Presbyterian Foundation has been our partner in the ministry of permanent funds since our planned giving program was just an idea conceived by a committee of members to grow the Endowment. Our team at Texas Presbyterian Foundation, led by our representative, Melinda Hunt, has guided us through all the stages of developing our program to grow our Endowment. I most appreciate the prompt, professional responses to my questions involving gifts from our passionate and generous members. Our members feel that their gifts are secure and will grow with Texas Presbyterian Foundation because of its almost 100-year history of managing funds for ministry and its knowledgeable and professional staff.” Texas Presbyterian Foundation and Second Presbyterian Church look forward to ensuring their legacy of active love, hope, and faith for many years to come.