How One Church Redefined ‘Loving Thy Neighbor’

At a Christmas Eve service in 2020, Pastor Joe got his congregation excited to serve vulnerable children and families in the community through the use a new ministry tool called CarePortal. Since then, small groups at Mosaic Church in Milford, Ohio have used the platform to meet needs and connect with families in a big way.

 This church, just like many others, has a heart to serve their neighbors, driven by the love of Christ. As Mosaic set off to meet their goal of serving one family per month, they realized that the needs they were seeing and meeting were for families located a distance away, rather than in their own backyard. This discovery led them to reflect upon and expand their definition of ‘neighbor.’

The parable of the Good Samaritan in Mark 12:31 says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Mosaic embraced this reading to mean that your neighbor is not just the family next door; your neighbor is every one of God’s children.

Driven by this new definition, the church’s small groups have been able to provide and move in furniture for a single father, deliver gently used school clothes for a local family, and purchase a new oven for another family to enjoy warm, home cooked meals. Meeting these needs showed these families that their community cares about them, and also opened the door for them to connect with church members to build ongoing, meaningful fellowship.  

Is your church ready to respond to real-time needs of children and families in your community? Visit CarePortal.org to enroll your church and respond to open requests today! Or you can support the CarePortal platform by joining Care Circle to ensure kids and families are connected to local churches and community members that want to help.