Renewal & Nurture

[Sue]

Here goes. We need for each of our churches to survive and tosurvive
well...'to have life and have it more abundantly'.

After our initial meeting, we are seeking from each CCINVA (Christian
Church in VA) a synopsis of one (1) program that works for you area at
this time in the congregation's life. These we will share with our
brothers & sisters in multiple ways, internet, email, and snail mail,
to perhaps affirm and/or inspire others.

[Wes Jamison]

Here's my first offering for this project:

Two of the congregations that I've served (one Presbyterian and one
UCC) have been heavily involved in Interfaith Hospitality Network.
IHN is an interfaith (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist,
Unitarian-Universalist) program that brings together local faith
communities to house homeless persons and families in their area.
Congregations with shower facilities agree to house three to five
homeless families for a week at a time (usually one week every
quarter). These families only stay overnight at the church and are
hosted by members of the congregation who also stay overnight, fix
dinner (usually with help from smaller churches who can't house
overnight guests), fellowship with the guests, and fix dinner in the
morning. The families are very carefully screened to ensure that they
will have the greatest chance of success. During the day, the
children either go to school or a day center with their parents where
the parents work on finding a job. At the center they receive
instruction in resume writing, interviewing, money management, and
life skills. Most families stay in the program for anywhere from one
to three months before they have a job, an apartment, and the ability
to succeed. Many of them end up coming back to the churches that
helped them, joining and becoming active in the IHN program
themselves.

For more information, go to the national IHN site:
http://www.familypromise.org/program/interfaith-hospitality-network