Telling Our Story: Mission & Outreach Committee
Please note that this blog post was shared in 2021. The rosters of the committees have (likely) changed since this was published, but the goals of each committee remain!
Whenever I talk with members of City Church’s Leadership Committees, I ask if they have a favorite Bible verse that frames their work. The responses are always revealing, but they were particularly so when I heard from members of the Mission & Outreach Committee.
Alex Brito, a City Church deacon and the committee’s chair, referenced 1 Peter 4:10, which shows us that God has given us gifts to serve others, and Acts 20:35, which embodies the way we are to serve and give of our time and resources.
Jamie Mock called on Matthew 28:19—“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”—and Psalm 67, a song that makes frequent use of the word all…all the peoples, all nations.
Marjorie Blanton looked to Revelation 21:5: “And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’”
That’s quite a variety, isn’t it? We see references to individuals, to the church, to the world, and to the coming of God’s Kingdom.
Now take a look at the committee’s stated purpose:
“The Mission & Outreach Committee guides City Church’s involvement with God’s global mission through partnership with ministries/missionaries and fosters relationally-driven outreach to our own community.”
Hold that statement and those Bible verses all up next to each other and you start to see the both/and nature of what the Mission & Outreach Committee does at City Church.
It’s big and small, global and local, looking in and looking out.
The Mission & Outreach Committee focuses its work on three areas:
Global Mission
Local Outreach
Community Events
Key to each of these efforts is not limiting them to the members of the Mission & Outreach Committee; they need to involve City Church as a whole.
As Blanton explains it, one of the main purposes of the Mission & Outreach Committee is “to find and communicate opportunities for the congregation to be outward-facing.” Brito adds, “The Missions & Outreach Committee shows us that everyone has a role in furthering the Kingdom and that no job is too small in that mission…just because you don’t have an ‘official’ title doesn’t mean you aren’t a crucial part of the missional work.”
That desire to foster engagement within the church informs many of the committee’s goals for the coming year, particularly since the events of 2020 made the church’s usual outreach efforts impossible and revealed even more profound needs in the Richmond community and beyond.
In addition to continuing City Church’s partnerships with local and global missions and missionaries, the Mission & Outreach Committee looks forward to organizing and facilitating more opportunities for families and City Groups to serve together as it is safe. Committee members also hope to add more people to the teams they supervise in an effort to nurture relationships with our current partners and seek out new ones as they expand City Church’s outreach to places that are most in need. Additionally, the Mission & Outreach Committee plays a key role in the commitments City Church’s session made in response to the recommendations put forth by our Racial Reconciliation Task Force, one of which states, “We commit to adding members to the Mission and Outreach Committee tasked with leading the church in ongoing engagement with matters of reconciliation.”
When talking about the important work the Mission & Outreach Committee has on the horizon—that good both/and work within the church walls and outside of them—Blanton calls on a powerful quote from The Just Church by Jim Martin: “The God of scriptures is neither silent nor absent, and neither should the people of God be.”
“I think the Missions & Outreach Committee is important for our church in staying committed to our own mission to worship God, serve Richmond, and work for its renewal, “ she says. “Life is so much harder and better when we follow Jesus to places that need good news of the gospel.”
Current members of the Mission & Outreach Committee are Alex Brito (Chair), James Murphy, George Davis, Stephen Day, Marjorie Blanton, and Jamie Mock. For more information on this committee, please contact Alex Brito at email@alexbrito.org.