Teens in Baltimore face unique challenges, complicated by the fact that an overwhelming majority of them are growing up without fathers in their homes. Young Life in Baltimore City approaches ministry with a unique strategy to effectively minister to these young people. During the fall, Baltimore City Young Life hosts a couple of events per week with students. They want to provide snacks at both events so that kids can always leave with a full stomach.
PLAN is looking for tutors to be assigned to a student and to meet with him/her once a week. Meetings occur at a local church and involve games, devotionals and then one on one homework assistance. Tutors also work through an online tutoring program with their assigned student. No teaching or subject area expertise needed as curriculum is self explanatory and provided.
The 29th Street Community Center is looking for volunteers for its Reading Club for kids age 6-11 on Thursday nights.
The 29th Street Community Center is looking for volunteers to assist with their jumprope program, Jump 4 Joy, on Saturday mornings!
GEDCO’s North East Food Pantry serves individuals in crisis by connecting customers with emergency food relief that will enable movement towards self-sufficiency. North East Food Pantry is in need of some volunteers for daytime distribution.
The 29th Street Community Center has hired a group of youth workers to volunteer over the summer, many of them working their first job. They are in need of guidance. Particularly, a group of students are working to put together a Youth Edition of the Harwood Voice newsletter. There are a couple of volunteers that help out occasionally, but more coverage is needed. They need someone to sit with them, make sure they’re on task and assist them with the process of writing an article (i.e. research, editing, design, layout).
The 29th Street Community Center is looking for interested volunteers to be trained to assist with and lead an early childhood program called Mother Goose on the Loose. The 29th Street Community Center staff would provide the scheduling and organizational side of things, but they are looking for volunteers who are interested in stepping into a higher responsibility volunteer position on a weekly basis.
Guest blogger here, Alissa!
This past week my evenings were filled with games, singing, crafts and learning about the Bible! We had City Kids Evening Camp and it was a blast! Our nights went something like this...
FOCUS has been in Baltimore for over 35 years, providing independent school students a way to address important questions about life with mentors and peers. FOCUS sponsors activities and events for independent school students in the area with the intention of sharing the Gospel in a way that is relevant and exciting. Staff and volunteers also meet regularly with students on their campuses.
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes is a sports ministry with the vision of "seeing the world impacted for Jesus Christ through the influence of coaches and athletes.” The FCA Lacrosse ministry focuses specifically on those in the lacrosse community through teams, camps, clinics and discipleship. Through these mediums, FCA Lacrosse seeks to build relationships with coaches, athletes and families while leading them in to a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Life Counseling Center offers biblical counseling that is grounded in the foundational truth that because of the Gospel, lasting change is possible. Life Counseling Center holds to the principle that hope is never lost, no matter how difficult the situations in which we find ourselves may be. Many people travel long distances to meet with counselors at Life Counseling Center, and this new partnership will make it easier for Baltimore residents to benefit from their solid Biblical counseling.
Get to know the counselors!
Young Life Capernaum is a nonprofit outreach that helps high school students with disabilities experience the Gospel in a relevant and engaging way. Like every other high school student, those with disabilities are thirsty to discover their identity, the meaning of their lives and where they fit in. Often, they are running to the wrong places to find answers to those questions. Young Life Capernaum hopes to teach students with disabilities that they are created by a God who desires and deeply loves them.
Christ’s words to the Church in Laodicea speak directly to our cultural moment. We live in one of the wealthiest, busiest places in the entire world. It is often our self-sufficiency and security, not suffering or poverty, that prevents us from fully experiencing God’s blessings.
Kate Goehringer works for Young Life Capernaum, Young Life’s ministry to teens with disabilities. She has agreed to share about this ministry and some ways we can pray and get involved.
Several weeks ago we got the great opportunity to hear from Matt Emerson, Lacrosse Ministry Representative with Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). He wrote the following blog article so that we might have a better picture of how this organization reaches students with the Gospel and how we can get involved.
Ephesians 6:18 tells us that we are to pray on all occasions. James 5:16 tells us that, as believers made righteous through Christ, our prayers are powerful and effective. We are often quick to voice opinions and interpretations of the painful, complex situations going on in our world and our communities, but do we consistently approach the throne of God in the same manner? These past few days have been some of Baltimore’s darkest. Here are five ways to lift up our City to the one who gave His own life to reconcile man’s relationship with God and with one another.
We face all kinds of suffering. We suffer on a daily basis due to the nature of our fallen world. We are affected by disease, poverty, natural disaster. We also suffer as a result of our own sin and foolishness. But there is one kind of suffering that is a distinctive mark of what it really means to be a church, and that is suffering due to persecution of our faith.
On Sunday we heard about Jesus leading His disciples to a region called the Gerasenes and restoring a demon-possessed man (Luke 8:26-39). It’s a story that can startle us, especially if we tend to gravitate towards stories that display Jesus’ power over nature. This miracle, however, reminds us of Jesus’ power over death, sin and the enemy. It’s a story that points directly to what He would later do on the cross.
Last Sunday we got the opportunity to hear from Tim Foster, Area Director of FOCUS in Baltimore. This is a Christian ministry committed to exploring "with independent school students a life of faith that is real, adventurous, intellectually sound, and eminently practical.”
When Jesus fed the five thousand (John 6:1-15), His intent was not only to display the miraculous power of God in turning a meager lunch into a tumultuous feast. He was also revealing to us, as He does throughout Scripture, that He alone is the Bread of Life.