Mercy

Vision

Two Cities Church will be known as a loving Christian community, serving those inside and outside the church in the name of Christ, being motivated by a love for Christ and others, and the fact that we have received mercy from him.

Purpose

Understanding the practical needs of our church and our two cities, developing plans for our church to help meet these needs, and engaging the whole church in the work of carrying out those plans in the name of Christ.

Principles

  1. Building relationships in a Christ-like manner to provide the proper context for ministering to the whole person in a practical way.
  2. Showing the truth of the gospel through compassionate words and deeds so that a watching world will give praise and honor to God, and be drawn to him.
  3. Encouraging all members of the church to make use of their unique gifts and abilities to extend the love and mercy they have received in Christ by serving others in need.

An Overview of Mercy Ministries at Two Cities Church

By Jerry Mott, Chairman of Mercy Ministries

Our mercy ministry team has constructed a statement for this web site that gives their vision, purpose and principles for ministering to the mercy needs within our church and our community. In addition, our team has been reading the book by Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert, When Helping Hurts – How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor and Yourself; if you have an interest in mercy ministry, I would recommend this book to you. [For a summary of the book, see A Digest of When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert (PDF) written by Adam Brice.]

Our team meets monthly to consider how our efforts are working. We have established links with the YWCA’s shelter for battered women and have developed a tutoring ministry for the children there. We have also contributed school backpacks for the children and held a Christmas dinner party for these families.

We actively support the local Habitat for Humanity in its efforts to offer low cost housing for poor families and have joined with a group of local churches to provide funds and volunteer labor to build a habitat house this year.

We encourage our members to become actively engaged in ministering to needs in our community. The Lafayette School Corporation has a web site for people interested in volunteering their time to help mentor needy children in the local schools; you can access this site and go to the page for the school closest to you to find volunteer opportunities.