04 Jul Outreach in Charleston
Outreach has been a focus of ours in CHS this summer. Whether it’s a tool like 3 Circles or sharing your testimony, we want to put handles on all of our content. We want those in Summer LINK to be continually sent out into the city for the sake of the Gospel.
One of the church partnerships Centerpoint has is with St. John’s Chapel, a black Anglican congregation on the Eastside of the peninsula. We have had repeated opportunities to serve in this community already, and have been blessed by the relationships God continues to build into Gospel partnerships. Previously, our team served at the 1Charleston prayer gathering – an event for downtown churches to pray together on the anniversary of the Emanuel tragedy.
The most recent opportunity our Summer LINK team had was to host a Sports Camp in the heart of the neighborhood. A team from Uncharted Waters and Summer LINK Anderson came into town to help us more effectively reach into the community. By the end of the week, we had seen more than 50 different kids from the Eastside come out to St. John’s to learn about Jesus through sports.
Each day campers are given the choice between basketball and cheerleading. The Uncharted Waters team leads in drills and games that are both fun and developmental for the kids as athletes.
At different points in the day, campers come together as a group. Part of this time is given to different sports stories and scripture that illustrate the gospel in a fun, creative way.
The rest of that time is spent singing and dancing to songs that celebrate the truth of the gospel. Coaches are able to demonstrate for campers what it means to worship our Father in Heaven.
Then we break into small groups. Here, the Bible story for that day is elaborated upon, asking questions of the campers and practicing the memory verse for the week.
We wouldn’t be able to pull off something like a Sports Camp if we didn’t have volunteers and partnering ministries. We’re thankful for the Lord bringing the Anderson team to volunteer for the week, and for St. John’s Chapel allowing us to use their facility. Uncharted Waters has facilitated an incredible week of ministry and outreach on the Eastside, and we pray that the gospel will continue to impact the community long after the camp is over.
