Articles for tag: Community Service

August 31, 2011

Christian Standard

Church Cancels Services, Urges Members to Help Neighbors

In anticipation of this past weekend”s East Coast hurricane, Mountain Christian Church senior pastor Ben Cachiaras asked the congregation to be the church instead of going to church. MCC, located in Joppa, MD, cancelled its weekend services and urged members to participate in “Operation Irene” by helping neighbors with storm cleanup, groceries, child care, and other needs. “Let’s DELUGE our community with acts of love and service during this event,” Cachiaras wrote. “I want to urge you as strongly as I can to think hard about how you can be a light and a friend and a help to others””and

August 31, 2011

Christian Standard

Proper Care and Feeding of Campus Ministry Graduates

By Gretchen Magruder Dear local church, Let me introduce you to some new members headed your way! My friends have just graduated from college and are looking for a new community to join. They are excited about finding a place to jump in and serve, and will be checking you out over the next few months as they transition from college life to (hopefully) gainful employment. Everyone wants to be known. I know they look young, but please don”t assume they”re with their parents or that they”re just going to be around for a short time. Ask them to tell

March 24, 2011

Christian Standard

Ramping Up

By Jennifer Taylor Before developing a new outreach ministry, DaySpring Christian Church (Fort Collins, Colorado) wisely asked community members about their biggest needs. Although the area is noted for an especially high incidence of multiple sclerosis, many people using wheelchairs said they did not have ramps to their front doors. Jim Stroh and other DaySpring volunteers have spent years changing that, one ramp at a time. The team created a consortium with Volunteers of America and local resource agencies for the disabled. Using a combination of his own skills, online information, and official specifications from the Americans with Disabilities Act,

March 16, 2011

Christian Standard

Milligan Students Helping at Free Tax Clinics

Just one more month to finish your taxes! Milligan College in Tennessee is partnering with Washington County, TN, to offer free income tax preparation for residents. The free tax clinics are hosted by Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA), an IRS-sponsored and recommended program that uses highly trained, volunteer preparers to offer free preparation and filing to qualified people. The team will consist mostly of Milligan business students under the supervision of Harold Branstrator, assistant professor of business administration at Milligan. The volunteers have completed hours of training and are ready to assist taxpayers with returns, including all forms. Returns are

March 10, 2011

Christian Standard

Our Annual Campus Tour

By Mark A. Taylor Several trends are notable in our annual “campus tour” this year. Our colleges have become externally focused. The reports are rich with accounts of mission trips and community service projects. Many of these schools are thrusting their students into the world for a taste of the service they will render after they graduate. Our colleges continue to strive toward excellence. Two are changing their names to reflect a redefined mission. Others describe new degree programs, several building projects, cooperative programs with other universities, and in one case, a total campus move. Although many of these colleges

July 18, 2010

Christian Standard

Dreaming It, Modeling It, and Then Giving It Away

By Jennifer Taylor Day of Fest Mountain Christian Church, Joppa, Maryland, began “ServeFest” in 2003 as an event for Mountain members. The church contacted schools and other local organizations and spent a day landscaping, removing trash, and painting. Within a few years three more churches had joined the party, then 17, then 41. In April of this year 77 churches in five counties participated in the one-day event, unleashing thousands of people to serve across the city in 127 projects. “We have disappeared as owners of the event and it truly belongs to churches all over our region, including some

January 10, 2010

Christian Standard

We Call It Kids Camp

By Dave Smith “I like you Mr. Dave.” I looked down at 6-year-old Max, son of Polish parents, and one of the children at Northshore Christian Church”s Kids” Camp, and replied, “I like you too, Max.” And after a week of shepherding some 15 second-graders, I decided I also liked kids” camp. Many of our new churches throughout the Northeast have a summer kid”s camp. In other places, we call them Vacation Bible Schools. This year I spent a week helping Northshore with its fifth kids” camp. Northshore Christian Church began in the fall of 2005 in Riverhead, New York,

August 9, 2009

Christian Standard

Serving, Reaching, and Transforming in Cleveland, Ohio

  by Scott Pugh I grew up thinking church was boring and irrelevant. My attitude completely changed when I gave my life to Christ at a pool hall after a Christian reached out to me. But a lot of other people still think the way I did. They don”t go to church, or have been hurt by the church, and are just plain fed up with anything religious.  How are Christians going to reach these folks? We know the church must reach beyond its walls to seek the lost like Jesus did. And that”s what we”re trying to do through

June 14, 2009

Christian Standard

A Long Ministry

  By Shan Wood In the summer of 1965, a young, skinny graduate of Ozark Bible College, Joplin, Missouri, moved to a small city north of Buffalo, New York. He was accustomed to life in the Midwest, so becoming minister of a small church in suburban western New York was quite a change. Moving away from family and friends to serve a new church always presents challenges, but adding such complicating factors as a first ministry in an unfamiliar region of the country usually is a recipe for a short “tour of duty.” But somehow it worked, for some 40

May 6, 2009

Christian Standard

Doing Good”“an Earmark of Our Times?

By Mark A. Taylor Could it be that cultural and sociological trends are supporting and energizing the church”s “external focus” that we seem to be seeing everywhere? Our weekly e-newsletter and semiweekly “Buzz” column are filled with stories of churches reaching out to their communities. Youth groups and seniors ministries and whole congregations are organizing themselves to feed the hungry, erect Habit for Humanity homes, tutor in the public schools, build playgrounds in urban parks, and serve in dozens of other ways. Last year”s National Missionary Convention rode this wave with its challenge to “Get Your Hands Dirty.” And we

March 15, 2009

Christian Standard

Christian College: High Value

    These days everyone is thinking about value received for money spent. In keeping with the times, we asked each of the Christian colleges in our annual survey to write a few paragraphs on this theme: “The High Value of Your Education at Our School.” Their reports follow.     Alberta Bible College Empowered to dream! Equipped to serve! Students join Alberta Bible College at different points on their faith journeys, but each is greeted with the same challenging question, “Where does your deep gladness meet the world”s deep need?”But students who are uncertain about attending ABC should ask

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