Summer is coming down upon us. But, when? Does summer begin at the conclusion of school? Or is it jump-started Memorial Day week-end? Do we even think of its beginning as of June 21 anymore? Or is summer really an endless state of mind, conjuring up thoughts of bare feet, cold watermelon and refreshing shade? It’s all a little confusing to me.
But one sure thing about summer is Mission: Chattanooga. Our pattern here at CPC over the past several years has been for most of our Wednesday church activities to take a break, remembering the Sabbath principle that we rest from one thing in order to give ourselves more fully to another.
With the suspension of most Wednesday evening classes, our church has increased opportunities during the months of June, July and August for ministering in our community. Mission: Chattanoogais our effort to facilitate service and outreach opportunities for anyone and everyone — young, not-so-young, singles, individuals, couples, families — during the summer, in and around Chattanooga — home missions, if you will.
These scheduled opportunities are by no means exhaustive. Service and outreach ministries by our church and people have been taking place and will continue. Mission:Chattanoogais just a means for organizing our efforts a little more. Hopefully, peoples’ participation in some of these areas will not just be seasonal. Familiarity with some of these ministries with which we partner may lead to greater involvement year around.
We’ll work with local ministries and agencies — AAA Women’s Services, National Memorial for the Unborn, Volunteers in Medicine, Widow’s Harvest, Hope for the Inner City, Community Kitchen. These are folks we know and have supported actively and financially.
We’ll have cooking and craft classes at the church for the making of items to share with others. We hope to have a group doing kids’ Bible clubs off campus. We’ll have a “missions support” group for letter writing and working with our stamp ministry. We’ll have visitation teams going out and a home repair / maintenance team for those who have such a need. We’ll engage in short-term mission team support for groups who may be coming to Chattanooga this summer. And, undoubtedly there will be other needs and opportunities that God will providentially place before us.
These Mission: Chattanooga opportunities will be scheduled mostly on Wednesday evenings, beginning May 28, from approximately 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM. We’ll also have some Saturday opportunities. Some may only be able to participate in shorter time increments and some not every week. That’s fine. Come when you can, for as long as you can and as often as you can. Childcare for small children will be available at the church, but children are encouraged to engage in these services with parents. Participation by all is heartily welcomed. Please help us meet the challenges of the opportunities to which as a church we are committed.
Again, most regularly scheduled Wednesday evening activities here at the church take a summer sabbatical. But please note that some groups will continue to meet regularly on Wednesday evenings such as the prayer group and choir.
Choose areas of service that you and yours would like to be a part of this summer and join us as we minister here and beyond our church campus in the Lord’s name.
Pastor Mullinax