The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood
John 1:14 (The Message)
This is a ministry that has grown organically out of relationships that we have built in the local community and the desire within the church to show Jesus’ love by giving practical help to those who need it.
Impact is:
Practical
The jobs that teams get involved in are hands on, such as tidying up gardens, painting and wallpapering homes and other general handyman jobs
Relevant
We respond where asked, so that our help is appropriate, we try not to make assumptions about what we think is needed or would be helpful
Enabling
We provide the manpower (and womanpower!) to get the job done, generally asking the person we are working with to provide the materials for the job. Where there are difficulties with this we work with them, often being able to direct them to organizations operating in the local community who can provide grants.
Relational
We do not advertise or flier estates around the church. Instead it is through word of mouth and relationship that the teams are known about, and our help sought.
I think a lot, I get lost in philosophical discussion about what life’s about, who God is, what church is suppose to be… and most of the time it gets me down. Then days like yesterday make more sense to me than little else and I experience more of God, and life and love than any sermon can bring. Yesterday felt like a heart-felt worship session, an extravagant act of kindness, showing love cos Jesus first loved us.
Richie Somerville
See the video on YouTube of Richie and his small group repainting one of our neighbours’ homes.
Skills, Set, Match
Sometimes we receive requests for help that require a level of skill beyond that of an enthusiastic volunteer! A recent example was an elderly lady who needed someone with plumbing skills to fix up the new washing machine the council had given her.
If you are interested in being involved in an Impact team and have specific skills that might be useful, please let us know these on the form below
How to get involved
Currently we flag up opportunities to get involved with an Impact team in the CORE Newslink and ask people to contact Paddy if they can help, but we’d like to build a database of people who we can contact directly.
We send people out in teams, so your small group might decide to volunteer to take on an Impact Project all together (it’s also a great opportunity to get to know each other better)
