Jesus said, "… the poor you always have with you …"

People are "poor" in many ways and there are many poor people in our community.  Since God is a god who cares for all people and works to provide resources to meet real needs, and since He usually does this through His followers, we make ourselves available to Him for this ministry.

However, this is a difficult ministry to describe since it is always in a state of change.  Most of our community ministries are begun and managed by individuals in our congregation who sense God’s call to help a certain group of people.  They let others know what God is leading them to do and some join in to help . We encourage people to do this so that God may direct people into the particular ministries for which He has equipped them.  Because these ministries are individually managed, they change as the people in our congregation change or are moved to serve in a new area of need.

One of the most consistent community ministries in our church is our general assistance to the financially poor.  Our volunteers receive requests for help, screen the applicants and decide how to best offer assistance. In general, our congregation supports this ministry through their financial gifts and offerings.

Another consistent ministry to our community is that of regularly hosting workshops on forgiveness, which is one of our separate ministries.  These workshops help people learn how to better receive God’s forgiveness, forgive other people and ask other people for forgiveness.  The practice of authentic forgiveness is at the heart of recovery, healing, deliverance and reconciliation.  In general, people are extremely "poor" in this area of life and need to be ministered to.

Some of the other community ministries include providing Christmas gifts for the children of mothers or fathers in prison, sending kids to summer camp, food drives, serving meals at a local homeless shelter, blood drives and visiting the elderly.