Mid-City Christian: Pastorgraphs: “The 7 Day a Week Church”

Pastorgraphs: “The 7 Day a Week Church”

At 9:30 a.m. Friday, I was in my office listening to the sounds of distant voices and activity around our building. I realized at least 100 people were in the building. Some were preparing to distribute groceries for countless others who would be arriving at noon. The Choice School teachers and students were conducting physical education in the parking lot. And a new support group was meeting in the Welcome Room.

100 people engaged in learning, growing and serving; all before 10:00 Friday morning! I thanked the Lord for allowing me to serve a 7-day-a-week church, and for the ever increasing outreach opportunities and contacts that come our way. Each and every one is a blessing.

Over the past week or so, we have forged strategic alliances with several groups that strengthen our mission. Let me share a few of these “God things”.

We are in discussions with Welcome Home Ministries about being the first re-entry point for women coming out of Los Colinas jail. The number one factor in women returning to jail is what environment they return to upon release. If there is no support system in place, a large majority of women have no choice but to return to the circumstances that led them to jail in the first place. What an opportunity, working with Welcome Home’s trained and dedicated staff, to share God’s love with these women. Just letting them know someone cares makes an amazing difference.

I signed an agreement with Alliance San Diego’s Immigration Rights Consortium (SDIRC) after attending their meeting last Monday night. This is a group of over 30 agencies that help the strangers in our midst. The Alliance SDIRC includes lawyers, social service and religious agencies who offer caring services to refugees and asylees. We have our own experience with the Haitian asylees, but want to be engaged with the ongoing community efforts to “entertain angels unaware”.

We have a GOOD problem. It is that parking on Sunday mornings is becoming more difficult around Christ Ministry Center. Just in time, another “Good/God thing” happened. We signed an agreement with a nearby non-profit that provides health and human services to under-served Asian, Pacific Islander, Latino, Middle Eastern, East African, African American and other ethnic populations of San Diego. They have two parking lots they do not use on Sunday mornings less than a block away from Christ Ministry Center. They graciously agreed that we may use those parking spaces between 9 a.m. and noon on Sundays, almost doubling our parking capacity! AMEN!

Goodwill Industries will conduct a Job Fair at Christ Ministry Center on May 6, 2015, from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm. This event is FREE and open to ALL Employers and interested Job Seekers. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to call 619-225-2200 x511. Thanks to Sonia Gomez Newbold, a longtime member of Christ United Methodist for arranging this, yet another, community service and outreach.

There is no short speech to describe who we are, what we do, and how we do it. After trying to tell our story several times to different groups last week, I came up with the six-pillars model above. One was an interview conducted with Cal-Pac Conference Communications about the trifold story of CMC-Exodus Church-The Fount. The week wound up with a productive hour-long conference call with leaders from the Northern Illinois United Methodist Conference about bringing The Fount of Blessings to Chicago! AMEN again!

As this model shows, Christ Ministry Center focuses on meeting the six needs Jesus described in Matthew 25:35-37. (And thirst is “spiritual thirst” that gets quenched by the ministries of our dozen churches). For good measure, we added “women and children” (or as the Bible would say, “widows and orphans”) who stretch across all of the other six pillars.

The agreements with Welcome Home (Prison Pillar) and San Diego Immigration Rights Consortium (Strangers Pillar) will allow us to have greater outreach and more consistent support in these areas. Plus for several years, we have had a working relationship with Crossroads for food and grocery distribution (Hunger Pillar). Linda DiGiorgio estimates that Crossroads reaches over 400 people a week from their Tuesday, Friday and Saturday food ministries here at Christ Ministry Center. Through Dress for Success and My Brother’s Keeper Clothes Closets, we help provide clothing for those in need (Clothes Pillar). We are a regular location for Life Line Screening and satellite campus for two neighborhood Medical Clinics (Wellness Pillar). And Waters of Jordan, a charity that calls Christ Ministry Center home, has as their primary mission, helping abused women and battered children.

Many urban churches are finding it difficult to get 100 people to worship on Sunday at 11:00. Maybe they can borrow our model to reach that many and more every day of the week. If you are interested in how it can be done, I would love to talk with you more.

For Christ’s sake,
Bill Jenkins

From The Quote Garden:

“What if church was less about Sunday, and more about the other days of the week?What if church wasn’t just a place we go, but something we do.A menu of adventure. An active verb. Instead of a noun.

What if Church wasn’t just a building, but thousands of doors, each opening to a different concept or experience of church? So that whoever knocks might find a journey to call their own.

What if church was the way church was in the beginning? Outbound. Unbound. Active.

Human beings from completely different worlds, united by common purpose, experience and belief. Creating real solutions for their daily lives.

What if church looked at itself with seekers’ eyes? Recognizing that even the smallest step through one of our doors is an act of courage, a moment of vulnerability. That solving a secular need can lead to spiritual interaction. That social relationships can offer opportunities for discussions of faith, and provide inspiration for discovery. And that for a skeptical world, actions often do speak louder than words.

What if church was more of an out-of-church experience? An opportunity to prove what we say we believe, with our lives.

Then, perhaps, Sunday could be a day of rest and reflection on all that we had accomplished Monday through Saturday.

What if we rethink church? Not in terms of what it is, but what it could be. And what if we can convince the world to do the same? Together we can open hearts, open minds, and open doors.”

~ The people of The United Methodist Church