EQUIP YOUR TEAM
Equip your team with a vision for racial reconciliation, cross-cultural urban ministry, mercy and development ministry among the poor, and joy in worship in the heart of Chattanooga TN.
Join with Hope for the Inner City (HFIC), New City Fellowship and Mission to North America to assist in the evangelism and development of urban neighborhoods in Chattanooga. Our focus rests on the East Chattanooga corridor and targeted communities therein. These communities have witnessed disturbing trends over the last 20 years. Single parent families have become the norm. Unemployment has more than tripled. The majority of the children now live in poverty.
Our community is made up of several different neighborhoods, which can be divided into two distinct areas. The area from the front of Memorial Hospital to McCallie Avenue is characterized by older homeowners. The folks here are often fearful of the crime in their neighborhood and are worried about the future of their community. The residents located north and west of Memorial have lower incomes, are younger, and have more of the difficulties associated with life in the inner city. HFIC seeks to be a bridge to all of the residents and provides mercy and development opportunities for the future of the neighborhood.
"This vital ministry has been used by God to bring folks face to face with the struggles of the city while galvanizing youth and adults into Urban Ministry Teams. Short-term mission teams are squeezed by the pressure of living in a difference culture needing Christ, into the mold of faith. The urban poor of our city have felt the tangible caring of the short-term volunteers. They have blessed our children, blessed our poor, blessed our churches and blessed themselves. For all of this we bless the Lord."
-Randy Nabors, Former Senior Pastor, New City Fellowship
MINISTRY PURPOSE
Heart: See lessons lived out through sweat evangelism. Live in the community and labor to revitalize it. God will transform your own heart as you do so.
Head: To expose short term missionaries to community development, mercy ministry, justice issues and racial reconciliation.
Spirit: Participants will be filled through relevant daily devotionals, joy filled worship, and engaging speakers. Each participant will be required to share their faith through Bible clubs and at ministry day.
Goal: To assist in the evangelism and development of the Glenwood community and to give your team a vision for racial reconciliation, ministry to the poor, joy in worship and urban mercy ministry that your team can replicate once they return home.
COMMUNITY OVERVIEW
In recent decades, Glenwood has seen a steady increase in all the negative conditions described above: crime and poverty are growing, along with a steady drop in literacy and employment on a broad spectrum. Drug use has increased, children fall further and further behind in school, and the homeowners steadily increase in age while many of the younger residents remain trapped in substandard housing and poverty. Many of the younger citizens have grown increasingly disenchanted with the system while many older residents grow more fearful of crime. The steady drop in standard of living has created a climate of despair among many residents.
Hope for the Inner Chattanooga strives to meet this feeling of despair head on with the love of Christ demonstrated by practical acts of service and initiatives designed to help people move from crisis, to stability, to self-sufficiency. Through the power of Christ, HFIC offers crisis mercy assistance, provides educational enrichment opportunities, facilitates home ownership, and provides job training and placement to individuals and families. Through relationship evangelism, skill-building, and practical acts of service, we are changing lives and transforming communities
TEAM SIZE
Team size varies. We have facilitated teams of up to 100 members strong.
LEADERSHIP
Group leaders must be present with the group at all times. If young men and women are along, at least one male and one female leader must also accompany the group.
LODGING
Most teams will stay in our bunk house on the Hope for the Inner City campus. Toiletries, towels, pillows and blankets or sleeping bags are required.
MEALS
All meals are provided. Delicious urban food is prepared and served for dinner. Breakfast meals are self-serve. Mid-day meals are prepared in advance and taken to the work sites.
TRANSPORTATION
You need to have adequate transportation while in the city. Vans are recommended.
TYPICAL SCHEDULE
Arrive Saturday evening and leave the following Saturday morning – 7 days (this may be adjusted depending on specific group needs). Check-in and logistics orientation conducted Saturday evening. No meal provided on Saturday.
Sunday:
-
Worship at New City Fellowship. Lunch and ministry orientation.
Monday-Friday:
-
Morning Devotionals
-
Work Projects
-
Lunch on site
-
Clean-up time
-
Supper together
-
Evening ministry opportunities
-
Evening wrap up time/Daily debriefing.
-
Typically, Friday evening is available to see the sights of Chattanooga.
COST
$350 per participant
This includes resource materials, housing and lodging. Everything you will need while participating. Fees are paid directly to Hope for the Inner City. The fees you pay are for the sole purpose of covering costs for the ministry or church with whom you are serving; MNA receives no income or financial benefit from the fees you pay.
$350 non-refundable deposit
This is required to reserve a date for your team. Deposits are recommended as early as possible in the year to reserve dates.
WON'T YOU JOIN US?
“Our prayer is that every Urban Ministry Team (UMT) member will leave radicalized into a deeper relationship with God, a love for the poor and the city. We believe the UMT program will train and equip God’s people to be agents of mercy wherever God has called them to live.”
-Anthony Watkins, Executive Director, Hope for the Inner City