Our children, youth and families have packed 1,944 meals for Cross-Lines Community Outreach to be distributed to families in the Kansas City area. If your family would like to sponsor and pack some meals, find out  how.

The Mueret family had so much fun, they went a second time!

This moment is a time of difficult decisions regarding the weeks and months ahead, and I write with a decision regarding our summer plans as a youth ministry. After much discernment and conversation with other church staff, our youth ministry team, and youth ministers colleagues, we have decided to  cancel both of our summer service-learning trips to Fort Worth and Oklahoma City. Our host organization Our partner organization Connect Fort Worth will not be accepting mission teams in June, and we do not want to take the risk of moving forward with out-of-state travel this summer. I'm grieving these lost memories and opportunities for growth and service.

However, this is not only a loss but also an opportunity. Instead of out-of-state service-learning trips, we will plan for a  service-learning week here in Kansas City for both middle and high schoolers from July 19 through 24. This week will offer us a chance to serve with our mission partners like Micah Ministry and Cross-Lines and to learn about their work, especially in response to the crisis of this year's pandemic. We will also partake in projects that benefit individuals and ministries within our church, like making gifts for or visiting homebound members. In doing so, we will be a prophetic witness of God's transformative love for our neighbors in need. This will be open to all current 6th through 12th graders, and friends not yet involved with CCCC are welcome and encouraged to join.

We'll have more information in upcoming weeks about the framework and details for opportunity. Depending on what's allowed and determined to be safe, we may aim for a full "staycation" service-learning week; youth will spend the entire day together and stay at the church overnight with a similar agenda to our out-of-town trips. At the least, we will organize service and learning opportunities across the city (and perhaps online) each day with proper respect to social distance. 

As a church, we are called to be both pastoral (to take care of other people) and prophetic (to speak on behalf of God), living in a way that prioritizes the healing and wholeness of all people. While it will be difficult to not go on our planned trips this summer, I am eager for this chance to say "yes" to God's invitation to be the church in a creative and faithful way. As we serve and learn together this summer, we will get to share in God's love and transformation along with our neighbors across Kansas City.

We will be planning socials and other service opportunities as the situation allows in upcoming weeks and throughout the summer. Stay tuned for more information about these and our service-learning week, and please reach out with any questions. For now, mark your calendars, tell a friend!