Did You Know….That the Church IS The Answer?
What if I told you that your church has an opportunity to understand the needs of struggling families in the community? Would you want to know?
Really, though. Let’s consider that thought. Let’s imagine that there is a medium by which needs – vetted by an independent, reliable source – could be easily passed to your church. Would you dare to receive notification? Or would you prefer to remain unaware?
The Care Portal ministry is designed to facilitate such local church awareness of community needs. Through partnerships with respective state child welfare agencies, social workers are communicating the needs of struggling families to Care Portal enrolled churches. One social worker from Jackson County, Missouri, recently quoted, “I have never seen such willingness to reach out with kindness to meet the needs of our struggling families and children. The response time is incredibly prompt and timely. Thank you with all my heart.”
Yet, despite The Care Portal’s dynamic growth in recent months, we continue to pray for the Spirit’s movement on the hearts of churches across the nation. Currently, there are three states that are active in The Care Portal: Kansas, Missouri, and Texas. For each state, we compared the number of Care Portal enrolled churches to the total number of IRS enrolled churches, noting the following:
For Kansas City, that reality appears as the following (with those markers in gray representing those churches who have not enrolled):
Looks like opportunity, doesn’t it?
What if all of these churches dared to help meet the needs of its community? What would be the story of the city then? What would be the testimony of the church?
So what can you do? In sum, it all boils down to one simple Biblical mandate: love your neighbor.
Spread the word. Pass this email on to church leaders and ask them to consider enrolling their church at careportal.org. For more information, please contact Adrien Lewis at [email protected].