Cary Magazine Article on the Body of Christ

Here are scanned images from the November/December issue of Cary Magazine featuring the Body of Christ. This magazine has a paid circulation of about 24,000. Please pray that this article touches hearts for Christ. (You may need to click each page to make them large enough to read).

Support Circles Training

Can you say that you will be in unity with the members of My body? Can you release all offenses and forgive every infraction against you? ... It will be a cleansing and sweet thing and will release the power of My kingdom among you. I am about to release My manifest presence in a new move of My Spirit. I am going to bring restoration to My people, and I am about to do something that you cannot even believe at this moment. -- From Marsha Burns, Small Straws in a Soft Wind.

The Body of Christ met Tuesday for a detailed discussion of support circles as Wake County prepares to reach out to 50 homeless families in the coming year.

Roberta McCauley of Catholic Charities said county commissioners have added support circles to the 10-year Plan to End Homelessness. She provided the following statistics on how widespread the problem is, while acknowledging the statistics don't address ALL the homeless:

• On an average night, 750,000 people are homeless in the United States.
• Over one year, 3.5 million people in the U.S. experience homelessness.
• On any given night in Raleigh, 1,472 people are homeless, including 370 children and 384 veterans.
• There are 4,000 people on the waiting list for Section 8 low-income housing in Raleigh, with an average wait time of four years.

Support circles are faith-based groups of eight to 10 people who agree to help a homeless family or individual navigate life issues including financial planning, finding jobs, finding housing, getting furniture and clothing, finding child care and securing transportation. The aim is to make the families or individuals self-sufficient within six to 12 months.

With so many homeless to help, McCauley said, the top priorities will be those who have children and those who have are enrolled in life skills training from such groups as the Salvation Army and Raleigh Rescue Mission.

Those interested in support circles need to realize that every individual has value, strengths as well as weaknesses; that we respect their abilities and experiences, McCauley said.

Members of support circles must balance the need for constant communication with protection for privacy and confidentiality, she said.

A single mother who has been in the Salvation Army shelter for the past few months will be needing new housing and a support circle on August 27, McCauley said. The woman would be an ideal candidate as she is already applying for jobs and housing and has been through some skills training.

The Body of Christ members agreed to continue looking for people at various churches who might be willing to form a support circle. A group called Women-Ade that helps women in need is considering a mentoring program that might work as part of a support circle, said Cindy Boyce.

The next meeting of the Body of Christ was scheduled for Tuesday, August 8th at the Smart Start conference room.

June 13 Meeting - Bringing Light to Darkness

The Lord continued to work in powerful ways through the Body of Christ group this week, bringing prayer warriors together to walk dark streets, providing a witness for youthful offenders in prison and gathering resources to continue work with the poor and homeless.

Before the meeting was under way, people were sharing how they had prayed over drug dealers in southeast Raleigh.

"Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
They know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken."
-- Psalms 82:3

As discussions turned to a transitional house on Holmes Street, the group felt led to pray specifically that this building become a beacon of God's light to surrounding neighborhoods. Bill Mitchell and Jeff Duffy received hands-on prayer and commissioning to continue this work. We are also praying for financial assistance so that the nonprofit corporation may assume full ownership of the house and begin pouring needed resources into renovating it. The home has a $150,000 note and may need another $100,000 in renovations, but it has the advantage of already being zoned as a group home.

There will be a meeting on the future of the transitional house on June 24th at 9 a.m. The address is 1027 Holmes Street in Raleigh. For more information, visit http://www.homenc.org

Roberta MacCauley of Catholic Social Ministries reported her position has been continued in the Wake County budget, another clear signal that God is blessing this work. She plans to start immediately working with case workers for the homeless and other advocacy groups to expand support circles as the main arm through which faith communities reach those in need.

Roberta said she hopes to be ready by mid-August to provide large group training in support circles for the homeless.

There was considerable discussion of the success of Oxford House in working with drug and alcohol abusers. Oxford House is able to provide housing for $80 to $90 per week in a self-contained, self-governing setting. While Oxford House is not faith-based, the Body of Christ discussed ways to use the same concept to provide Christian housing to those in need. For more information about Oxford House, you may visit http://www.oxfordhouse.com

Fran Ammons, speaking on behalf of Pardoned by Christ, asked for prayer for more male volunteers as she prepared to minister to youth offenders. God immediately provided an answer to that prayer as Ricky Lee, a former offender who was homeless until recently, agreed to tell his story to the youth offenders this coming Sunday.

Ricky also shared how blessed he had been to stay with a Christian family as he was transitioning from being homeless to renting a place and finding a job. His testimony was so moving that several members of the group wanted to learn more about opening their homes to the homeless and about making that a part of the Support Circles.

The next meeting of the Body of Christ was set for July 11th. It will be held at the same location if the room is available. Otherwise, everyone will be notified of an alternate location.

For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
-- 2 Corinthians 4:5-7

C.S. Lewis on the Body of Christ

A member of the Body of Christ found a devotional by noted theologian C.S. Lewis that seemed to describe perfectly how Christians may work in harmony -- and how they might appear to the outside world:

"Their very voices and faces are different from ours: stronger, quieter, happier, more radiant. They begin where most of us leave off. ... They will not be very like the idea of 'religious people' which you have formed from your general reading.

"They do not draw attention to themselves. You tend to think you are being kind to them when they are really being kind to you. They love you more than other men do, but they need you less. ... They will usually seem to have a lot of time: you will wonder where it comes from.

"When you have recognized one of them, you will recognize the next one much more easily. And I strongly suspect (but how should I know?) that they recognize one another immediately and infallibly, across every barrier of color, sex, class, age and even creeds. In that way, to become holy is rather like joining a secret society. To put it at the very lowest, it must be great FUN."

Second Meeting

The Lord again created an awesome atmosphere of sharing during the second meeting of The Body of Christ.

Ben Wickel led off by recounting how Moore Square was blessed with a succession of ministries one Saturday, receiving clothing, prayer, brown bag lunches and even Gideon Bibles!

"We looked and could see church breaking out on the side of the street," Ben said.

Even as people were still arriving, one group was offering extended mattresses and box springs from N.C. State to a transitional house in need of sleeping accommodations. Others were discussing ways to spread the feeding programs to different downtown areas.

Roberta MacCauley of Catholic Social Ministries discussed her experiences helping 1,000 Katrina evacuees in Wake County with the help of 40 church congregations. As God would ordain, her group has been considering what to do once Katrina funding ends on July 1 -- and their emphasis has been on helping the Wake County homeless.

The group discussed ways to use the support circle concept of having several people teaming together to help each homeless person. There was also discussion of the best ways to approach churches -- both those who were involved with the Katrina project and others -- to help in the latest effort.

Ms. MacCauley said some important lessons from the Katrina project included making sure that there are resources to deal with mental-health issues, substance addictions and other things that might come up. She also said it was important to have dedicated case workers to oversee the work and provide support when unexpected things arise.

There were discussions of sending emails to Wake County churches, possibly with personal follow-ups to get them to attend an informational meeting in June.

There were more praise reports -- two couples have moved into a shared apartment and have received donated furniture from the Body of Christ. Members of the First United Methodist Church of Cary are helping to deliver food and other goods to 90 families served by Helping Hand. A new transitional home will be opening in June for men who have been substance free and out of jail for one year.

Among the new needs discussed were needs for:

• Low-cost (below $300 per month) housing for the homeless who are trying to qualify for housing grants.
• Pen pals for 14- to 17-year-old juvenile offenders.
• Drivers for the Church in the Woods bus.
• Prayers for ways to secure a Cary warehouse for the Body of Christ to use in many ways.
• Assistance for a downtown Raleigh transitional house that is in need of repairs.

The next meeting of the Body of Christ is scheduled for June 13th at 7 p.m.

Discussions will focus on new groups and people who should be invited to the meetings and the next steps to pave the way to implementing support circles.

Support Circles

Representatives of the Body of Christ met April 27th with Victoria Tackett of Lutheran Family Services and Roberta MacCauley of Catholic Social Ministries to discuss how they have used Circles of Support in the faith community to help Katrina victims.

They recommend that a group of five to eight people minister jointly to one displaced person or family and that one of the group members act as a coordinator to keep everyone informed of needs and activities as they arise.

Lutheran Family Services publishes some brochures and other information about Support Circles. They also work with Catholic Social Ministries to provide training to teach faith community teams how to work together in Support Circles. Roberta said she would be able to provide training to groups as needed.

Here are some of the guidelines they suggest for forming a Support Circle:

• Publicize the need for Support Circles and who you will be serving.
• Personally invited people to participate.
• Look for people willing to commit to approximately six months -- the time Lutheran Family Services estimates the average displaced family needs to become self-sufficient.
• Define the gifts, talents and resources each team member is willing to share and keep track of them.
• Determine how communication will be handled to make sure everyone is "in the loop." This may include a phone tree, email and regular meetings.

The basic structure of Support Circles is pretty straightforward. Different people agree to provide different services: housing, transportation, counseling, employment assistance, food, clothing etc. Members are encouraged to develop relationships with each other as well as with the displaced individual or family.

Victoria also emphasized that it is a good idea to develop a covenant that defines the overall aim of the Support Circles. Here is an example of such a covenant:

In this Covenant, we promise to share both the joys and challenges we face in working together. We promise to encourage an dforgive one another and to hold one another in our thoughts as we enter into this Partnership of Hope.

Roberta said she would like to attend the next meeting of the Body of Christ. In addition, those who have been supporting Katrina victims will be holding a retreat this Sunday to discuss lessons learned and to prepare to transition to helping others including the homeless.

Roberta said they hope to develop an Advisory Council to help address issues facing the homeless and might include representatives of the homeless community on the council.

We were also provided with updated lists of Wake County providers of many goods and services, including transportation, health care, shelters, thrift shops and others who are open to helping the homeless.

Body of Christ Introduction

Outreaches Combine Forces in Body of Christ

"Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?" Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. – John 6:9-13 (NIV)

On April 17th, 18 people representing what had been isolated ministries for the homeless, the poor and the needy in Wake County brought their loaves and fishes to a community table. What a blessing it was to share with our brothers and sisters in Christ our passion to reach out to the “least of these” around us.

It was clear as each person explained his or her mission that God had been blessing them, grooming them for the time they could come together as one body to be vessels for miracles only God could perform.

A devotional for April 18th (My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers) focused on how we need to be ready to see God and do His will – just as Moses was ready when he first saw the burning bush.

When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am."—Exodus 3:4 (NIV)

Chambers goes on to say, “Readiness for God means that we are ready to do the tiniest little thing or the great big thing, it makes no difference. We have no choice in whatwe want to do, whatever God's program may be, we are there, ready. When any duty presents itself, we hear God's voice as Our Lord heard His Father's voice, and we are ready for it with all the alertness of our love for Him. Jesus Christ expects to do with us as His Father did with Him. He can put us where He likes, in pleasant duties or in mean duties, because the union is that of the Father and Himself. "That they may be one, evenas We are one."

On hand were representatives of:

· Helping Hands, a group that provides food, furniture and appliances to about 90 families. This group has 23 volunteers, plenty of vehicles but is in need of a warehouse, free dental care for a Hispanic population and gas cards for volunteers.

· Sacred Heart Cathedral, which provides food for the homeless at Moore Square on the third and fourth Saturdays of every month. The group also provides clothing and emergency funds and is sponsoring one homeless person. They have people knowledgeable about advocacy for the homeless, housing issues and foster care issues. They have a meeting the last Thursday of each month to discuss various issues.

· Cary Church of God, which hosts Downtown Friends and Bread of Life. They have a cooking trailer to provide food and work with two other churches to provide prayer and other services. They hope to have transitional housing for up to six people starting in June.

· Pardoned by Christ, which works with medium-security prison inmates.

· Church in the Woods, which has nine outreaches across Wake County serving about 400 homeless people. This group needs more missionaries on the streets, including people to prayer walk the darkest areas. They have a new mobile unit to bring goods and services to the homeless. People interested in working with that unit are meeting April 24th at 7:30 p.m. Contact Alice McGee at churchinthewoods@earthlink.net for more information.

· Western Wake Crisis Ministry, which provides food, emergency funding, kerosene and other goods and services to homeless in Apex, Holly Springs, Friendship and Fuquay-Varina.

· Restoring Hope, affiliated with Hope Community Church, which has about 50 volunteers providing transitional help to the homeless including temporary housing, showers, food and transportation.

· Brown Bag Ministry, which provides bag lunches to the homeless. This ministry has a continuing need for lunch meat, cheese, bread and fruit.

· Hope Chest, which provides furniture, appliances, clothing and many other things to anyone in need. This ministry has 20 volunteers but needs vehicles to pick up and deliver items.

In addition, the group learned a Holly Spring Soup Kitchen is to be opened the first Saturday of every month for migrant workers and the elderly. St. Bernadette in Fuquay-Varina has migrant dinners on Sundays after 5 p.m. A group called Brazos de Cristo (Arms of Christ) is working with Hispanic immigrants, providing translation services, furniture, clothing, food and some financial assistance.

There is a weekly food pickup from Harris Teeter in Holly Springs that provides resources for many ministries. A woman would like to offer free haircuts to the homeless for three hours each month. An area church hopes to provide free counseling services starting in September. And there are groups including the Cary YMCA and First United Methodist Church that would like to provide volunteers for various ministries.

There are also opportunities to obtain buildings for such things as warehousing, transitional housing and other services.

Participants at Monday’s meeting were so excited at the way God and the Holy Spirit were working.

“I’m just amazed to see people coming together as the bride of Christ,” said Ben Wickel, a student at N.C. State University. “When you get a united bride of Christ, you get the real Jesus.”

Ben said he would like to put together a documentary video of all the outreaches “to show people this is where the heart of the Father is.”

Jeff Duffy of the Cary Church of God shared his passion for getting more and more churches and pastors involved.

“There’s no problem with the passion,” he said. “The problem is with initiative. If we can free the resources that are locked up in those churches, we’re talking about REVIVAL.”

Alice McGee, director of Church in the Woods, said she needs to keep working on the legal roadblocks to providing transitional housing to the homeless in residential areas. She said we don’t have to wait for Raleigh’s 10-year plan to end homelessness.

“I don’t think God needs 10 years,” she said. “God needs committed hearts.”

Amy Barfield, director of Hope Chest, agreed the real answer is to continue to rely on God.

“There is nothing too big and nothing too small that he won’t provide it,” she said.