Hello First Alliance Family,

I hope your week is off to a good start! As the FAC staff has gotten back together to tackle a new week of ministry, I wanted to reach out and offer some encouragement as we move “OUT” during this time. I realize that there are different levels of freedom and comfort to participate in some of these opportunities, but I want to share from my heart that all of these things matter greatly in this season. I believe that we will see the Church of Jesus Christ move in some marvelous and creative ways in the time of the Corona Virus and we will be able to celebrate new people that commit their hearts to the Lord during this time of social-distancing, lots of hand sanitizer, and quarantining. As I was able to share in our Sunday message, our current focus is equipping individuals for mission and caring for our local partners, medical professionals, and other C&MA churches.

Here are some ways we would love to partner with you this week as our church continues to move “OUT” in unique ways as most of us are staying in our homes…

Equipping for mission

Remember that “you are a missionary everywhere, all the time” even during this time of the corona virus. Here are some simple but effective ways and tools to utilize to be on mission during this time…

• Invite to watch our Sunday service…we’ve attached a simple invite to our Sundays that you can download and post or print out and drop off. Just click on the image below.

• Connect with others via text, email, phone call, or a note.
• Love your neighbor…utilize our attached neighbor note to engage a new friend that’s located below.

Loving Wellington Elementary and Booker T Washington Elementary

We have the opportunity to be part of the “crisis response” for approximately 60 families during this time. With unique challenges of limited transportation and other hindrances, not all of our partner’s kiddos can get their meals provided from their schools at this time so we are partnering with their Family Resource Coordinators to get meals packed and delivered to families. Your generosity to FAC general fund has given us freedom to purchase food but because some of the store’s restrictions, we would love to invite us to help…

• Check out our attached grocery shopping list and purchase listed items below.

• On Wednesday, March 25th, we will have a “Drive-by Drop Off” from noon until 6pm at FAC at the Gym/Ohio Valley District Office doors. You can just drive by, drop off your groceries for these families by the door, and one of our staff members who will be present will bring those groceries into our kitchen. We will get these items to these schools for distribution later in the week!

As we live on mission together, let’s remember…

• CDC guidelines- Please follow the suggested guidelines offered by the CDC. Social distancing serves all of us and if you find yourself in the population encouraged to stay home and isolated, utilize tools like phone calls and notes along with inviting to our Sunday gathering.
• Wisdom and the gift of honor- As Christ followers we have the Spirit of wisdom and have the opportunity to honor those in authority. Exercising wisdom and being a champion of Godly honor is an opportunity to show Christ to an on-looking world.
• This is a marathon, not a sprint- We realize there are many urgent needs in our community and we want to strategize with serve with pace and intentionality during this time. We don’t want to be a gospel “flash in the pan” but a faithful Gospel presence during this time.

Thank you for partnering with us during this time. Keep your eyes out for our daily encouragements, email posts (some specific information is coming for caring inside and out our church this week), and continue to join us on Sundays. The staff and I are so grateful for you all and are praying for our church family!

On mission with you,

Zach Meerkreebs
Pastor of Evangelism & Outreach