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12-31-06 -- Partnership in Nebraska
Saturday Services and Sundaes on Mondays
First German Congregational Church originally served the local German population of Lincoln, Nebraska, but its neighborhood now includes families from many different ethnic backgrounds. After years of decline, First German’s leaders asked Capitol City Christian Church, also in Lincoln, to help them reach their community in new ways. Volunteers from both churches have worked together to minister to the area since 2002.
“I offered to help out for four weeks, and I’ve been there ever since!” says Bev Kellison, a member at Capitol City.
Bev and a small team lead “Kids are Great!”—a program of Bible lessons and fun activities that meets each Tuesday night during the school year.
In the summer the team offers “Sundaes on Mondays.”
“We realized the children in this neighborhood don’t take many summer vacations or have the opportunity to attend camp,” Kellison says. “We wanted to create a special program they could look forward to.”
Using the Narnia books as a theme, this year the team wrote its own curriculum for “Sundaes” and created crafts and games to supplement the lessons. Artists from Capitol City even created paintings, a life-sized lamppost, and doors to the magical wardrobe.
True to its name, each Monday evening ends with ice cream sundaes for all the children and their families.
In addition, the team launched a Saturday evening chapel service to reach parents, many of whom do not attend church. The 45-minute services in First German’s building include Communion, and three men share the week-to-week preaching.
As the partnership enters its fifth year, the team continues to create new outreach activities for the community around First German church; this fall a women’s Bible study and a youth group were added to the Tuesday night programming.
www.capitolcitychristian.com
A “World” of Good
Until this year, Community Christian Church (Naperville, Illinois) held an annual “Market of Hope” to raise funds for international missions. “Although CCC’s shoppers enjoyed the event, we decided to take a new approach this year,” says Kirsten Strand, director of the church’s “Community 4:12” community development ministry. “It always bothered me that the Market lacked an educational component. My husband and I traveled to Rwanda this summer and observed issues like poverty firsthand. We began looking for ways to make these experiences more real and more personal for our church.”
Strand and her team researched four main issues—hunger and thirst, the war and refugee crisis, lack of education, and disease—and worked together to create a “World Bazaar” that brings each one to life.
“The area on education will recreate a third world classroom so people can see just how different those learning environments are from ours,” Strand says. “In many parts of the world people have to lug gallons of water for long distances, so the hunger/thirst area will include 10- and 15-pound weights for participants to carry along a path marked by obstacles. In the area discussing war, one of our staff members will simulate a refugee camp; each visitor will be assigned a name and a story, and will be talked to in a garbled language to suggest the atmosphere of confusion a refugee would experience.”
And attendees will still have opportunities to shop—this time for “lifesaving gifts” such as education for a needy child.
“Some people have commented, ‘The Market of Hope was so festive,’” Strand says. “I’m all for having fun, but we also need to educate ourselves about world issues and our opportunities to help.”
www.communitychristian.org
Jennifer Taylor, one of CHRISTIAN STANDARD's contributing editors, lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
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