EQUIPPING CHURCHES

We want to bring your church into our network of congregations providing training and opportunities to reach and serve the poor in our city. 

First Hope Christian Ministries takes each new partnering church through an on boarding process that includes basic community development training. In this training process people are exposed to principals of CCD and are called to action. We recruit men and women throughout the basic training process.  Our goal is to recruit hundreds of allies from churches all over the city that are equipped to walk life with the poor.

ALLY MINISTRY
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Equipping Allies

Allies are Christian men and women from our partner churches who are equipped to walk along side the poor. They work to connect them in Christian community, they assess the gifts, talents and passions of the poor, they work to help them identify obstacles and construct a development plan, and they help them to work through their development plan with a group of mentors from a local church.

Recruiting Allies

Once potential qualified allies are identified in the local church we schedule a day of ally training. This experience lasts a full day and is designed to help allies cross the racial, social and economic barriers that typically exist when building friendship with the poor.  Allies also learn specific ways to serve people coming into our ministry from various backgrounds and relief ministries. 

When Helping Hurts

First Hope Christian Ministries utilizes a variety of tools and resources to train local churches in community development. The resource that has influenced our thinking and practice the most is a book called: When Helping Hurts by Brian Fikkert.  This book and supporting resources developed by the Chalmers Center help guide and inform First Hope's training process. Click the button below to order the book or to see other resources from the Chalmers Center.

Please take a few minutes to watch this video of Dr. Fikkert sharing about ministry among the poor.

FIRST HOPE EQUIPPING MINISTRY

VISION CASTING

No-one commits to anything significant without a clear vision and plan. Our Executive Director is available to meet with your pastors, missions committee, deacon body, elders, ministry leader or church staff to share the vision of First Hope Christian Ministries, to answer questions and guide the church or ministry into our community development network.

TEAM TRAINING

The most effective way to expose your church staff, key leaders, elders or deacons to Christian community development concepts is to offer a Helping Without Hurting seminar. This seminar is video based and is taught by Brian Fikkert from the Chalmers Center. We've found a full day of learning is the best format for leaders. The learning experience includes 4 hours of video instruction divided into four parts, and 30 minutes of discussion between each session. The material could also be divided into two meetings.

CHURCH TRAINING

The most effective way to expose your church family to Christian community development concepts is to offer the When Helping Hurts small group curriculum in your Sunday school or small groups system. This is a six week curriculum that is designed to get your congregation talking. Each session opens with a 15 minute video and discussion is guided by the WHH small group discussion guide that can be purchased through the Chalmers Center website. We encourage all potential partner churches to use this material.

ASSET MAPPING

Asset mapping is a process of evaluating the church and community in preparation for launching a relief ministry or a development group. Through the process key leaders recognize the gifts and passions of people in the church and they discover the genuine needs of the community around their church. This process is lead by our executive director and typically requires several meetings and the completion of some assignments over the course of about a month. 

ALLY TRAINING & COACHING

Allies are men and women in our local partnering churches that are equipped build relationships and walk life with the materially poor. Ally Ministry is the most significant part of our ministry strategy because its through relationship between allies and the poor that genuine transformation is initiated in the church and among the poor. At the end of team training and church training people are called to commitment. Those who volunteer are to spend a day in ally training with our Executive Director and meet periodically for continuing education and coaching.

MINISTRY TRAINING

Many partnering churches choose to launch a relief ministry or a development group. Launching these ministries or groups requires additional ministry/group specific training. These trainings are provided by First Hope CM, by the Chalmers Center or by partnering churches and ministries.