How We Serve
FEEDING THE HUNGRY
Our church is very active in supporting hunger action ministries in both the Manteno and Peotone communities. We support the Manteno Interfaith Food Pantry (205 N Locust St., Manteno) with volunteers and donations. And with the help of our neighboring churches in Peotone, we operate the Helping Hands Food Pantry (200 W. Crawford St., Peotone) out of our Peotone building. If you’re looking to get involved or if you have any questions either email the church office or call the number for Helping Hands at (708) 258-9204.
LOVING THE NEXT GENERATION
We want every child to know that they are loved by the God who made them, and as a church we do our best to make that a reality. Whether it’s through the care and dedication of our Sunday School teachers on Sunday mornings, the time and effort that goes into Community Bible Camp every Summer, the backpacks and Christmas gifts that get distributed to those in need each school year, or the various opportunities for learning, fun, and service that we provide for our kids, we’re willing to partner with any and everyone to ensure that the next generation knows God’s love.
WORKING WITH OUR NEIGHBORS
As a church community, we believe wholeheartedly that cooperating with others to do the work of God’s Kingdom is not only the best way to reach our community, but a command from Jesus himself and a sign to a divided world that there is a better way to live together. There’s enough division in the world, so whenever we can, we strive to work in unity with people who are serving the community alongside us. We partner with others for Ecumenical Services, our Community Bible Camp, the Food Pantries which serve so many, the yearly Coat Drive which operates from our Peotone building, and so much more.
caring for one another
The Christian life cannot be lived in isolation, so whether it’s our choir making visits to the area nursing homes, our Friendship Committee working to make sure everyone feels connected, or the greeters welcoming people into our sanctuary, we try to be a place where everyone can remember that they’re not in this alone. Our flexibility and balance classes are a great source of community for many, and our choir’s got a seat waiting with your name on it, but we’re still looking for new ways to get people better connected and we’d love to try out whatever ideas you might bring to the table!
USING OUR GIFTS IN WORSHIP
We believe that worship is not just the work of a select few, but the whole congregation. And if you’re willing to help lead worship in any way, by occasionally filling the pulpit, or joining in with our choir (we take people of any and every level of singing ability!), or providing special music one Sunday, or helping to light the candles to prepare our minds each week, or offering to read the Scriptures some Sunday, we’d love to have your gifts used to build up our congregation and glorify the Lord. We have sign-ups in the back of our sanctuary each week for people to volunteer to help!
supporting other ministries
No single congregation can meet the needs of all people everywhere, so we give in support of a number of ministries that work in places or ways that we can’t. Whether it’s places close by like Fortitude Community Outreach and the work they do around homelessness in Kankakee County or Harbor House and the work they do to help people escape domestic violence, or whether it’s denominational programs like Blackhawk Missions that reach across the country, or our support for our partner church in the Imenti Presbytery of East Africa, we strive to be a community that gives more and more to people doing the work of God’s Kingdom both nearby and around the world.