Outreach

      I once heard someone in a discussion about a church budget, when the suggestion was made to decrease some of the contributions to denominational missions and locally determined mission project, blurt out, “but our missions are our only product; everything else is just overhead!”

      I have discovered the depth of congregation members’ devotion to others in the community and world through the acts of compassion and concern, and, yes, justice which are grouped loosely under the heading of FCCI’s “outreach.”  As I was learning about the congregation when I arrived, things members do for other people came up time and time again.  It is a distinctive feature of this congregation to reach out.  If it stopped happening, it just wouldn’t “be First Congregational.”

      There are a decent number of outreach programs that the congregation participates in through its structure (connected through the Outreach Committee, mostly) such as the Protestant Cooperative Ministry on campus, Area Congregations Together, Boy Scout Troop 2, Kitchen Cupboard, Feed My Starving Children, and others.  We contribute quite generously to the national denominational offerings like One Great Hour of Sharing, Neighbors in Need, and Our Church’s Wider Mission, and major mission partners like Church World Service and Heifer International.  A rather distinctive form of outreach and mission here is how the Endowment Income Committee directs a significant portion of our investment income toward several projects, typically international programs and recently focused on water projects (for example Agua Clara).  Not many churches have such a sophisticated way of reaching out to help others.

       But the most significant form of outreach here, to me, is the widespread individual participation in works of compassion and hope and help.  The breadth of this involvement is nearly as broad as our membership!  So many people are engaged in serving others, in reaching out, through a whole host of community organizations, many taking leadership roles in addition to the hands-on sharing of time and help.  We have folks involved in educational programs like the reading partnership or volunteering in schools, in medical services to the underserved in the community, in Hospicare, in hunger alleviation programs, in support for families dealing with mental health concerns or aging, in family and children’s services, in alleviating homelessness, and in truthfully a dozen other organizations making a difference.  Our annual report will describe much of the outreach which happens beyond our doors.

      Members here really hear Jesus’ call to help the least of our neighbors have better lives, not just spiritually (although we surely do that, too!) but practically and personally.  We share our resources and money, but just as importantly, we share our time and our presence in so many, many ways.  Outreach is an outgrowth, a natural product of our faith.  It is really, really impressive!

       What we do outside our church building is not an afterthought… it is the thought that counts.

                                                                                                In Christ,
                                                                                            
                                                                                                 David


There is a rumor that for the annual meeting Sunday there will be one “golden ticket,” a meeting agenda on gold paper for one blessed soul… be sure to attend!
                                       

Texts For Sunday Worship:
      From the Hebrew Bible         Jonah 3:1-5, 10
      From the Epistles                  I Corinthians 7:29-31
      From the Gospels                 Mark 1:14-20