World and community
Outreach
Loving our neighbors means being part of the community around us. Throughout the year, FCCJeff partners with local schools, churches, and organizations to respond to needs in Jeffersonville and Southern Indiana. Some opportunities happen every week; others are part of the rhythms of the school year and holiday seasons.
Serving Together
Ways we seek to love
These partnerships are some of the ways we seek to love our neighbors and participate in the well-being of the community we call home. Opportunities to donate, pack, prepare, shop, and serve are shared throughout the year, giving people of all ages different ways to participate.
Little Free Pantry
At the entrance to our parking lot on Middle Road, our Little Free Pantry provides food that neighbors can access whenever they need it. We collect non-perishable food throughout the year to keep the pantry stocked, and anyone is welcome to take what they need or contribute food for others.
Center for Lay Ministries
FCCJeff is a longtime supporter of the Center for Lay Ministries (CLM), a Jeffersonville organization serving vulnerable members of our community through its Food Pantry and Bliss House residential recovery program. Our congregation makes regular donations to CLM and holds special food collections throughout the year, including during Vacation Bible School and around Thanksgiving.
Loaves & Fishes
Loaves & Fishes is a weekly community meal hosted at St. Luke’s United Church of Christ in partnership with local congregations. Several times throughout the year, FCCJeff takes responsibility for the Saturday meal, with volunteers preparing and serving food for neighbors who might not otherwise have a hot meal that day. More than providing a meal, Loaves & Fishes creates a place of community and welcome around the table.
When FCCJeff serves, volunteers can help with meal preparation from 9:00–11:00 a.m. or with serving and clean-up from 11:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
Backpack Ministry
Each week during the school year, volunteers pack 50 bags of food for children experiencing food insecurity. The bags are distributed through Riverside Elementary School and provide food for students to take home for the weekend.
Clothe-a-Child
Throughout the year, FCCJeff raises funds to help local children begin the school year with new clothing. Families identified through the school district receive $75 gift cards to help purchase school clothes for their children.
Christmas Giving
During the Christmas season, our congregation helps provide gifts for children and families in our community. Through our Angel Tree, we collect funds for gift cards for local families, and each November we also collect toys for Toys for Tots.
Global outreach
Our connection to the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) allows FCCJeff to participate in ministries far beyond our own community.
Through our support of Week of Compassion, we join with Disciples congregations across the United States and Canada to respond to human need around the world.
Week of Compassion is the relief, refugee, and development mission fund of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Through our gifts, we help provide disaster relief and recovery, support refugees and displaced people, and partner with communities working toward long-term development and sustainability.
Each year, FCCJeff participates in the denomination-wide Week of Compassion offering, while also responding to special appeals when disasters and other needs arise.
For us, global outreach is an extension of the same call that shapes our ministry here at home: to love our neighbors, respond with compassion, and work alongside others toward healing, justice, and wholeness.