First Christian Church in Rock Port certainly holds mission as a very high priority! Their Women on a Mission group started five years ago with the desire to join together and reach out to others. They meet at least once a month to sew, stitch, type – whatever needs doing! Ranging in number from four or five to twelve or more, the group shares a meal and tackles the task at hand. Some of their projects include handmade pillow cases, fleece/flannel blankets for hospitals/babies/preschoolers, sending cards and gifts to active military and veterans, Valentines for nursing home residents, scarves for women, and pillows for St. Luke’s Hospital (pictured).
Another group effort within the congregation is the collection of shoes for the Rock Port Rotarians’ annual Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls shoe drive. In this twelfth year of their involvement, the church contributed 224 pairs to the cause. The 2016 drive yielded a total of 517 pairs of shoes and 236 pairs of socks. These were sent to the Buckner Family Hope Center in Guatemala, an organization that also offers ongoing ministry in the areas of foster care, preventative healthcare, child care, residential care, and social services. These are all vital services where locally 75% of the population falls below the poverty line, and sex trafficking is a very real and ongoing problem for many.
One of the church’s biggest endeavors of the year is Operation Christmas Child, which they’ve been doing for about ten years now. This Samaritan’s Purse project is a favorite as it provides not only material gifts, but a Christian educational message as well. Members collect items for the boxes all year long, let each other know when they find bargains on the perfect box fillers, keep track of the collected and still-needed items, and then hold a packing party in November. Before delivery, the boxes are all taken to the sanctuary for a worship service where they are dedicated and filled with prayer for their recipients.
If you’d like more information about any of these projects, please use our contact form.