Missions

 

Our church life would be incomplete without opportunities to share Christ’s love with our  community.

This congregation cares very much about putting faith into action. Engraved on the wall at the front of our sanctuary is "Let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth." (1 John 3:18) Engraved over the front door is "Bless thou the work of our hands." (Job 1:10) These quotes are not just pious decorations but important priorities for us, as individuals and as a congregation.

Many of our members are involved in community service. As individuals, we serve on school boards, city councils, county boards, boards of local non-profits and foundations. Church members participate in numerous civic organizations. Many of our members give their time, energy and money to agencies that help those who are hungry, homeless, imprisoned, victims of violence, destitute or struggling.

As a congregation, we participate regularly in Monday Meals – preparing and serving a free meal for 80-100 people approximately every 8 weeks. We also frequently help build a house with Habitat for Humanity. Every fall, we participate in the CROP Walk, sponsored by Church World Service. Twenty-five percent of the funds stay in the community, while the rest of the money helps with disaster relief, hunger, clean water and other needs throughout the world. We collect mittens/hats for the Family and Children’s Center, donate food to WAFER, deliver Mobile Meals, help people through Causeway, serve on the Board of United Campus Ministry at UW-La Crosse, and more. Financially, we support the work of local organizations, including: New Horizons, Causeway, Salvation Army, Family and Children’s Center, St Clare Health Mission, Options for Reproductive Care, WAFER, and the Jail Ministry.

Each summer, our high school youth go on a week-long mission trip. Our youth went to Logan, West Virginia in June 2009, Biloxi, Mississippi in 2008, and San Antonio, Texas in 2007. Destinations in past years have been Florida, New York City, Denver, San Antonio, and Appalachia. The middle school youth go on a weekend mission trip each year, usually to inner-city Minneapolis or Milwaukee.

Recently, some adults have decided they don’t want the youth to be the only ones to experience a life-changing mission trip. In Spring of 2009, a group of adults went to Back Bay Mission in Biloxi to help with storm damage repair. In 2003, they joined hundreds of others from throughout the country who traveled to Georgia for a Habitat for Humanity building blitz. Another Habitat for Humanity trip, to Michigan, took place in June 2005.