One of the key initiatives of our church is called, “We Love Mountain View!” Mountain View is the most neglected and underfunded elementary school in our city. In response to the great need this school has, our church has adopted this school and created this initiative. Throughout the year we provide school supplies, donate box tops, pack meals for under-privileged kids to have something to eat on the weekends, etc.
I have wanted our students to catch this vision for Mountain View and create an opportunity for involvement that they would get excited about it. It made sense, then, for us to pick a local neighborhood that is part of the Mountain View school district and host a backyard Bible club as part of church’s ECHO Week.
As you can see the opportunity to serve this community was a huge blessing to our students. They fell in love with the kids in this neighborhood. We have already had discussions planning and plotting our return to this community during the school year to do things like Trunk-or-Treat, Thanksgiving meals for the families we connected with, Christmas gifts…the ideas are continuing to flow.
Adopting this neighborhood is just one more way that our students are living THE Cause of Christ. It’s opportunities like this that continue to fuel the fire in their lives to see a lost and broken world hear the Gospel and come to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ!
How are you getting your students involved in ministering to your community? What things do you do locally to get your kids out of their comfort zone? If you have done a Backyard Bible Club before what are some ideas you can share with us to improve on this experience in the future?
That is so awesome, Jason! Your teens were a real inspiration to us during our week together. We are hoping to carry some of your fire through our town, too! We’ll keep you posted!
Mary Lou – thanks for the encouragement!
We just had a meeting yesterday after church with some of the core students and leaders who were a big part of the week we spent in Lakewood Village Apartments. We are getting ready to launch a strategy to keep us plugged into that community on a year round basis and we have the blessing of the community to do so! It’s going to be an amazing year.