CMU and the Church Community

The need:

  1. There is a wealth of great ministry going on around Richmond, but there is little communication and coordination within the greater Church community, diminishing the potential impact of the Church on the world.

  2. Many churches want to be more involved in service ministry, but do not:

have the resources to do so by themselves effectively;

know how to fully utilize their specific gifts and talents;

know where or how to work with existing ministries;

have the confidence to cooperate without compromising their distinctiveness.

The solution:

CMU responds to these needs by standardizing and facilitating:

  1. Resource distribution, including:

facilitating specific joint ventures

grant writing and development to fund ministry and city wide initiatives

speaking engagements at churches and community organizations

creation of "packaged" opportunities for volunteer support

streamlined methods for individual or corporate/congregational giving to ministries

  1. Centralized information sharing across the community, including:

publishing a community events calendar

a directory with concise information about each participating ministry

facilitating church communication

hosting a web site linking all local ministries with the greater Christian community

organizing community-wide events, such as ministry conferences

  1. Unity in purpose and strategy throughout the Body, including,

facilitating position papers on critical topics

mediation between organizations

providing forums for dialogue, visioning, and reconciliation

How CMU can help your church:

Youth pastor: "I'd like my kids to find an opportunity to do some tutoring once a week."

Benevolence coordinator: "How can I know if the people we help are truly in need?"

Facilities manager: "What can we do with all this empty space during the week?"

Sunday School teacher: "We're studying the Good Samaritan, but most of the people in my class has never been in the city. Could we just have a tour of some ministries?"

Finance committee chair: "How can we find good local ministries we can trust?"

John Q. Christian: "The Lord is leading me toward work with prisoners. What can I do?"

Marsha D. Bigheart: "I want to volunteer one Saturday a month. Who can use me?"

Pastor of Education: "Could someone come and talk about the need for service ministry?"

Outreach committee: "The state says churches can adopt a family on welfare. How?"

Sr. Pastor: I have lots of ideas, but we need expertise in developing a vision for our church."