Starting With (and Continuing) Service
On Saturday, January 13th, we held our second annual Start With Service event. This was a chance for people from City Church of all ages and from all life stages to spend the morning together working on projects for some of our Ministry Partners in an effort to posture our hearts for service in 2024.
In order to keep that going, we wanted to share a few reminders and resources related to our projects from that day. Whether you were able to participate in Start With Service this year or not, you’ll see plenty of opportunities to connect with the organizations we partnered with.
The day was centered around around Matthew 25:35-36:
“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.”
Each service project centered on one of the aspects of care Jesus speaks on in those verses. Read on for how you can stay involved!
WATER
During this portion of the morning, we learned about the Mabere Water Project, an effort taking place through Serge and with the help of Boas Opedun, one of our Ministry Partners. In order to make us more mindful of our access to clean water, and to help raise money for the Mabere Water Project, each household was given a mason jar to keep in their kitchen or bathroom. The idea is to put some change in the jar each time you turn on the faucet, run the shower, flush the toilet, etc. throughout the week. Then, on Sundays, you can bring your change to worship and drop it in the large water bottle in the Narthex. After a few weeks, we’ll add that change up and pass the funds along to this important effort.
If you weren’t able to attend Start With Service but would like a jar for your household, please find Katherine Malanoski (she’s usually at or around the Children’s Ministry check-in cart) during Sunday Worship or email her at katherine@citychurchrva.com.
CLOTHING
Patty’s Hope is opening a second-hand store, Patty’s Thirft, to help fund their work caring for women with children in foster care. Our time with them during Start With Service was spent sorting through donations of men’s, women’s, and children’s clothes. If you are interested in making future clothing donations to Patty’s Thrift or offering your time and/or talents to their efforts, you can learn more on their website or contact Pete Gunning at peter@pattyshope.org.
SHELTER
Lawson Wijesooriya from Urban Hope joined us to tell us about the importance of access to quality, affordable housing, and we had the opportunity to put together 20 Welcome Home Baskets for those served by Urban Hope to make their transition into their new homes a little more comfortable. Urban Hope hosts volunteer days throughout the year; their next event is on March 23rd, 9AM-1PM. To stay updated on volunteer opportunities (and how to sign up for them), you can sign up for their newsletter on urbanhoperva.org. If you’re interested in learning more about how you can get more involved with Urban Hope, get in touch with Lawson at lawson@urbanhoperva.org.
Thank you again to everyone who was able to attend Start With Service this year. We hope you found the morning and meaningful as we did.