Crosslink
we serve
Because of God’s generosity to us, we want to pay it forward and be generous to others. That moves us to serve in all kinds of situations. As a church, we love focusing our resources to make a real difference to real needs, with strategic service projects played out around our neighbourhoods, our city and our world. Feel free to join in – generously.
Read Tim Keller’s article The Gospel and the Poor.
A key verse..
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Note: This verse is treated in the Talk, but not in the study. You might think it’s worth discussing with your group.
Galatians 6:9-10
Some Proposed Strategic Principles for Service Projects
*CHURCH TO CHURCH if possible; helping the family of believers (Gal 6:10)
*PROJECT BASED… short term, high focus, periodic. High attention, high support.
*CONNECTING WITH REAL PEOPLE IN REAL NEED… the more direct, the better. *LOCAL COMMUNITY… better served individually and through growth groups in our local communities.
*STRATEGIC… means making as big a difference as we can with the resources we’ve got, to bring praise to God through the compassion of his people.
*CAREFULLY PLANNED, WELL CO-ORDINATED… because resources are limited, so we don’t want to waste them. And because when we co-ordinate, we can do much more together than we can on our own.
*CO-ORDINATED THROUGH THE CARE TEAM in consultation with Session
How Care Works at mpc
Here’s a quick picture of how care projects work at mpc. Using funds from the Christmas and Easter Care offerings, the Care Team is able to provide community care (food parcels etc) as well as some degree of ad hoc support for wider needs. For example, the Care Team has contributed on our behalf to the Sudanese Aid appeal. Larger projects, like the 2010 Orphanage Bus appeal, are initiated by the Session (our elders), and promoted to the congregation for support. We carefully assess needs and opportunities before launching major appeals. Growth Groups often take the initiative to become involved together in community service projects, and also liaise with the Care Team in providing community care on a rostered basis.