I love our church. We are a predominantly young, passionate and motivated group living and working in a major city. There is an energy and authenticity to our community that I’ve never experienced before. And there is a common thread among those that call Center City Church home: We want to change the world. And we believe that we can do this through obedience to Jesus and the power that’s found in Him.
As the first year and a half of our church unfolded, we took a pretty passionate approach to making a difference in our community. We served at a bunch of different community organizations and non-profits. We partnered with families and schools for landscaping projects. And we found out pretty quickly that by taking a shotgun approach, we were doing good, but we weren’t going deep anywhere.
In the winter of 2011, I felt like God asked me to focus on one thing. I went on a search for an organization that matched our heart for the community. We wanted to go deep with one place instead of going wide with several places. We wanted a place that we could serve and make an impact. We wanted a place that would allow us to learn as we grew as a church family. Learn what it meant to stay committed. To stick around, even when serving wasn’t fun. Even when it didn’t give us goosebumps.
I met the executive director of Charlotte Family Housing, Darren Ash, when we toured their facility toward the end of last year. We immediately connected. I love their vision: working to solve family homelessness. They have a long term approach to fix the problems associated with homelessness and poverty.
CFH is our first official Outreach Partner at Center City Church. We have a whole slew of people that are serving meals at the shelter and acting as overnight hosts this week. We are building relationships with the residents and learning how we can make a difference. Instead of trying to change the whole world in a blur of passion and excitement, we are trying to learn to impact lives one act of service at a time.
I’m so grateful for Darren and his team. I pray that we can be as much of a blessing that they have been to us. We have the passion to change the world. Charlotte Family Housing is helping us to learn the discipline necessary to do just that.
