Engaging Community
Helping that HELPS During Christmas (and beyond!)
We all like to be helpful, don’t we? Opening a door for the elderly man walking with a cane, making a meal for a neighbour or friend when they are sick or just overwhelmed with life, lending a hand at the school fundraiser, and the list goes on. These kinds of ‘helps’ are wonderful and meaningful and are a wonderful way to bless another person.
So as we enter into the Christmas season, many of us are looking for even more ways we can help those who are less fortunate than us. But what if I told you that some helping doesn’t really help?
Ongoing Care and Connection Despite Covid Helps London Ministry Thrive
Sanctuary London has always at its core been about creating relationships with people experiencing oppression and exclusion. Overnight Covid changed the way Sanctuary interacted with each other. In many ways, they went from being intentionally and intensely relational to a service-driven, needs-based ministry. Despite the many challenges, Covid has affirmed their mission and they have continued on!
Read MoreNewGround Helps London Church Offer Affordable Counselling
Good News Church recently received a NewGround grant in order to partner with the Community Counselling Centre of London, which offers affordable counselling services. This partnership has become a beautiful, reciprocal relationship that is bearing all kinds of fruit. Check out the story now!
Read MoreApart, Yet A Part of God’s Kingdom Work
One of the key components of a NewGround partnership is how it supports its partners with learning and networking opportunities; the main one being the annual Ministry Networking Day!
For the first time ever, the annual Ministry Networking Day was held entirely virtually. And while participants were apart and were unable to gather in the same room due to provincial restrictions, one theme resounded during the afternoon spent together: while we remain apart, we are still a part of God’s great Kingdom, serving in a variety of spaces and places in His name!
Read MoreCommunity Garden puts People before Plants
When asked where the idea for a community garden came from, Pastor Marcel deRegt noted that the idea came to him as he was looking out over some of the church property, wondering how that “resource” could be better utilized to serve their broader community. He also shared about Gateway’s desire to be so involved and impactful in the community, that if they were to close their doors, the broader community would not just notice the vacant building, but would be grieved at the loss. He wondered if the community gardens could be another way the church could invest in and work with their local community.
Read MoreBowmanville Church Remains “Wide Open” to Local Community During Pandemic
As the pandemic closed the physical doors of Rehoboth CRC last spring, the church continued to look for ways to be ‘wide open’ to their local community in new and creative ways.
They were able to do this with the help of a Covid-19 Grant from Diaconal Ministries Canada and World Renew Canada.
Read MoreBC Youth Centre Provides a Safe Harbour with Help of NewGround Partnership
Mission Youth House, also known as MY House, in Mission, BC, is a collaborative initiative to provide a place for youth to eat, shower, do laundry, access medical care and other services and receive help from caring adults. Mission Hills Community CRC has been a key partner in providing counseling to staff, prayer support, financial donations and volunteer support. In order to grow the ministry and move more into the spiritual transformational work within the ministry, they knew they needed some help.
Enter NewGround…
Teen from Sonlight CRC Cares for Homeless with a Covid-19 Grant
Hope Booy is a young adult at Sonlight CRC in Regina. She was awarded a COVID-19 grant from World Renew and Diaconal Ministries Canada to put together a backpack of essential supplies for the homeless people she saw in her community.
Watch this story now!
Covid Grant Helps Church Address Mental Health
Video Produced by; Victoria Veenstra We recently chatted with Jenn Burnett, the lead pastor from The Well in Kelowna, BC. Their church received one of our Covid-19 grants last fall to address mental health with their community. In spite of changing lock down protocols, The Well has continued to be creative in the use of…
Read MoreCarePortal Equips Churches to Care for Vulnerable in their Community
The world of social justice and charity can feel overwhelming. There are so many options of where to get involved and how. Doing a fundraiser is great, but are you fostering relationships with the recipients? Doing a food or clothing drive is good, but how is the church learning to walk alongside the people who are in need of that support?
Often when we look closer at issues of justice and care for our communities, we recognize how interconnected many aspects of poverty are. These aspects create cycles that are very difficult to leave behind. One crucial characteristic of those who are able to step out of those cycles of poverty, is the presence of healthy and supportive relationships and community.
Enter Forever Families Canada- a ministry that aims to connect, equip and mobilize churches to effectively journey with vulnerable children and their families…
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