When the Church Commits

by Chris Millheisler — 20 April 2017

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Tutoring at an inner-city schoolI was surprised to learn that over 150 identifiable church/school partnerships currently exist in the Seattle area! The benefits are so apparent that Seattle's superintendent recently expressed his desire to see a church partnership with every public school in the city!

One of our church partners regularly leverages our Compassionate Products™, like Boxes of Love® and Homeless Care Kits, to connect with the neighborhood. One of their best sources of connection is through the local elementary school. This particular school has a whopping 376 kids out of 485 enrolled who are on free/reduced lunch. Through consistently and regularly offering practical aid to struggling families in dignity-building ways, this church has formed a trusting relationship with the school.

It's pretty incredible. The school will let the pastor know which families are in greatest need and the church will mobilize to respond. This pastor once told us, "Every product you resource us is another touchpoint to the community, another excuse to demonstrate the gospel in word and deed."

Learning at an inner-city schoolRecently, this elementary school let our pastor friend know about Sarah*, a struggling single mom whose child is having significant challenges at school. The school wanted to know if the church would be willing to provide some care, counseling, and emotional support to Sarah. During the initial visit, Sarah opened her pantry to reveal only one can of food in her whole apartment. She is open to life-changing help so this pastor, along with his wife, will begin to invest time with Sarah regularly.

This is just a small example of what can happen when a local church commits to serve a school in the name of Jesus. In fact, when churches, commit to serve and love their poor neighbors we see three important things happen simultaneously:

  1. The poor get what they need most: access to real relationships that create real options. Churches are full of life-giving relationships that can support, encourage, advocate, and open doors for the poor.
  2. The church does what it does best: loves those who are hurt, downcast, and discouraged. When a church makes a long-term commitment to serve a specific area it lays a foundation for life-on-life relationships, a necessary ingredient for discipleship.
  3. The world sees what it most needs to see. In short, that the Jesus-empowered church has loving, multi-layered solutions to address complex problems. In this example, school faculty members who had some hesitancy about school/church partnerships are warming to the church.

When the church serves the poor, everyone gets what they most desperately need to grow in Christ!

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Chris MillheislerChris Millheisler serves as the city director for Cru® Inner City Seattle/Tacoma.

 

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