At Central Christian Church in Las Vegas, Nevada, ministry to the broken has become a main focus. The church has started ministries such as Celebrate Recovery, God Behind Bars, People of the Second Chance, and an outreach to female strippers in the city.
“My philosophy is if you speak to the broken, you”ll always have an audience,” says senior pastor Jud Wilhite. “I want not only to speak to the broken, but have ministries that reach people at their point of pain and brokenness””and we”re all broken at some level.”
Since beginning these ministries for broken people in the community, the church has reversed an attendance slide and grown explosively. When the Great Recession hit, and donations plummeted, attendance really took off.
“We were growing like crazy because there were so many hurting people and so much need, and we were doing it on less and less staff and less and less resources,” Wilhite says. “It was one of those seasons where we were just so dependent on God, and as I look back, I don”t actually have any idea how we survived it. We just got through but by the grace of God.”
According to a recent church survey, 90 percent of the congregation said God “saved their lives” through the church. “That was amazing to us,” Wilhite says. “God has done such an incredibly redemptive work in their lives, and I think that”s because so much of our ministry is targeted to hurting and broken people. In those places of transition and pain, people are very open. We want to be the first responders.”
“”www.outreachmagazine.com/ideas/10693-central-to-restoration-central-christian.html
0 Comments