From golf ministry to moving into your church neighborhood, let's discuss how churches can engage.
Lisa
World Renew
Staci
Wendy
Karen
Bates Place Neighbors is the community center through which First CRC in Grand Rapids is building relationships with neighbors. This newsletter is a great example of how it is done and how progress is being made.
Here's a review of Brian Fikkert and Kelly M. Kapic's recent book, A Field Guide To Becoming Whole. The book and field guide are helpful in understanding where traditional responses to poverty have missed the mark.
When Gateway CRC decided to host an Extreme Weather Shelter in their building, staff and volunteers knew there would be a lot to learn. Here are some learnings they wanted to share!
This video resource is a great tool for Deacons and Community Engagement Teams as they educate their church membership on how to be meaningfully involved in community.
Whether you are a deacon looking for ways to connect with community or a team commissioned to do the same, these resources will help you through the planning and programming.
When is a case management program appropriate? This book will help you assess the needs, gifts, calling, and hopes of the participant; develop a Development Covenant between mentor and participant; and follow up and evaluate the process.
This book will help you determine whether your church programs adequately recognize and utilize the gifts that God has already placed in the people you serve.
Few churches would say they aren’t interested in sharing God’s heart for their community. This workbook provides those tools and resources that will help you imagine your community the way God sees it.
This book will help you learn what your church can do to tackle injustice in your community.
This book will help you discover the difference between relief and development ministries, and assess your church’s programs.
How does a church organize neighbors to work together toward their common goals? That is the focus of this workbook.
This workbook will help you understand the role of the church in strengthening community, discover what your church’s reputation is in the neighborhood, and more.
This is a seven-lesson series designed to help participants deepen their biblical understanding of Christian mission and community development.
Homeless people are using our church campus as a place to sleep or stay. What should we do?
Mission statements are wonderful, aren’t they? They tell us exactly what an organization is all about. For First CRC in Brandon, Manitoba, they’ve been discovering that one way practical way for them to fulfill their mission is to partner with a community ministry where one of their members is already serving!
In your church, who equips, encourages and empowers your members to live on mission (aka "do outreach", community engagement, etc.)?
What if, as deacons, we actually took the time to sit down and listen to the people we are trying to serve? This could potentially change the entire way churches engage with their communities!
Here's a PowerPoint presentation about the changes in church order made by Synod 2015. It explores how these changes can enhance the role of deacons at all levels of the church — local, regional, and beyond.
In January 2016, the leadership of the CRCNA posted an announcement to all the CRC churches in the US. The announcement drew attention to the changes Synod 2015 made in the Church Order.
We need to shift from viewing community or diaconal ministry primarily as something done “to” or “for” others to more of one which does ministry “with” our neighbors, communities, businesses, and churches.
10 important paradigm shifts needed by those of us engaged in community diaconal work.