I'm very excited about the new series we're starting up this week. We're calling it IMPACT. I know it might sound grandiose for a small church like we are, but ultimately, that's the goal. We don't want to be a church that just keeps to itself, but we want to reach out and make an impact on our community and we'll start by doing it in small ways.
Right now, we don't necessary have the resources to form an organization to do this or that, but what we can do is partner with organizations that are already doing great things in the community. So, strategically we've made the decision to partner with three local organizations (in addition to the international ministries we support).
The first is Breaking Free. Breaking Free is an organization that fights the evil of human trafficking, particularly the sex slave trade. I think most Americans don't realize how prevalent this is around the world and in our own back yard. We don't want to stick our head in the sand and pretend it's not a problem. Even though it's something much bigger than we could fight on our own, we can partner with a great organization like Breaking Free to provide them with support they need.
The second is City Life Works. City Life Works is actually a ministry of the Evangelical Church, and we've been able to get to know the people over there and have been very impressed with their love for Jesus and their desire to serve the poor. We've been serving meals once a month on Thursday nights for the last seven or eight months which is great. But I also know they have plans to expand. They do more than just serve meals on Thursday nights. They also run a program called Pure Life Builders which is an intensive discipleship program for men who need to get their life on the right path and even find practical things like the skills for a career of their own.
The third organization is Northeast Middle School. I know we have to be careful when we're partnering with government. Separation of church and state is how it should be. (Discuss among yourselves.) However, our schools have a huge impact on the present and the future of our community and we know funding for schools is getting less and less and it's becoming more difficult for schools to provide the things that boost morale and make the school a place that's life-giving.
That's where we see an opportunity to step in and support our local school. The staff and teachers work hard to make the school a place that provides kids with a bright future. We've made it our goal to support them in that quest. We want to be like the men in Exodus 17, who held up Moses' arms. As long as his arms were up, the Israelites won. When they were down, they lost. We want to hold up the arms of the staff and teachers of Northeast because we care about our kids and our community.
Who knows what the future holds for our outreach, but for now, these are the organizations we want to support and walk with as we seek to bring the life of Christ to our community
