SHARING IN LOCAL MISSION

We believe that every follower of Jesus Christ is invited to enjoy God and is sent to bear witness to the risen Christ as we participate with God in making His Kingdom tangible to all. We commit to this way of life as everyday people living in everyday places looking to demonstrate gracious hospitality and mercy in everyday ways. This means that as a Church we are not focused on programming as much as promoting a discipled-way of life. As we actively participate in God's mission and His work all around us, we join Him in bringing renewal and restoration to our community and world--we become “joined in God's pursuit of restoring lives.”


Our focus is to encourage mission through our Missional Communities. However, here are a few ways we organize for mission on broader levels.


Little Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi (Lwanga Community): A group of people that have been asked to leave many local congregations. We invite these beautiful people in and do what we can to help them, as well as their organization, and the Nigerian and Kenyan nuns who care for them. These events of service are generally organized through our Missional Communities.


Winter Sheltering Program (in partnership with Community of Faith Mission): Each Winter WCC partners with many other congregations in the faith community to make the church building available to men, women and children living through homelessness during the winter months. We serve as hosts for one week during the month of December. This effort is led and coordinated by Community of Faith Mission (C.O.F.M.), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. 


Host National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day: Since 1990, the National Coalition for the Homeless has sponsored National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day on the first day of winter to bring attention to the tragedy of homelessness and to remember our neighbors who lost their lives due its effects.  We host the candlelight vigil and memorial outside on our front lawn. Together we will join community groups, faith communities, service providers, and individuals in more than 175 cities across the United States who are holding their own gatherings on December 21, the first day of winter and the longest night of the year. Our goal is to do nothing less than honor the lives of the mothers or fathers, sons or daughters, brothers or sisters, who died on our streets, in the woods, on the train tracks or in shelters from illness or conditions directly related to their homelessness.  The inaugural memorial for greater Williamsburg happened December 21, 2017. 


Advent Tree: This ministry was formed to meet the needs of WCC families in need as well as families in our community that have fallen on hard times during the Christmas holiday season.


Compassion Ministries (see separate page for all the ministries): The journey toward faithfulness is filled with brokenness ushered into our lives by the reign of sin and death. As we surrender to the Lordship of Jesus, we begin experiencing the shalom (wholeness) of God as His children and citizens of His kingdom. Our hearts, minds, souls, bodies and relationships to be formed by God’s Spirit working within, among and between us. We are always maturing and growing as God’s Spirit works to recover what has been broken by the reign of sin and death as we submit to the transformative power of our Father’s love through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Compassion Ministries

The journey toward faithfulness is filled with brokenness ushered into our lives by the reign of sin and death. As we surrender to the Lordship of Jesus, we begin experiencing the shalom (wholeness) of God as His children and citizens of His kingdom. Our hearts, minds, souls, bodies and relationships to be formed by God’s Spirit working within, among and between us. We are always maturing and growing as God’s Spirit works to recover what has been broken by the reign of sin and death as we submit to the transformative power of our Father’s love through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

3e Restoration Ministry: This is our highly relational ministry that seeks to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty through gracious hospitality one friend or family at a time. The 3e Restoration Process© encourages equips and empowers "neighbors in-need" to move from homelessness/extreme poverty to holistic sufficiency within the context of community and God's sufficiency, and addresses the whole person. Therefore it is not considered a “program,” but is a process rooted in a unique friendship. The relational framework of the 3e Restoration Ministry invites any one in WCC to serve as All-In Friends, people willing to walk in a variety of ways side-by-side our friends/families in Need. It also includes Servant Leader Coordinators (SLC’s), people willing to walk with the friend as the “primary” relationship. The SLC meets weekly with our friends in need and utilizes a flexible curriculum called the "3e Restoration Floor Plan©" that teaches life-reorientation tools called, "Growth Symbols©.” These tools serve to equip and empower our friends with the necessary skills to reorient their life from survivability to sustainability and transition from poverty or homelessness, to holistic-sufficiency. SLC’s have received over 16 hours of formal training with our partner 3e Restoration Incorporated, an incredible 501(c)3 non-profit company that works to equip, encourage and empower our congregation in this mission.


You can see what this looks like by watching our story with Frank here.


Through this highly relational experience we want to demonstrate the love of Jesus through tangible acts of mercy and compassion by simply being friends who listen to their stories, and offer help as needed--no matter the need--while modeling the love of God in King Jesus. We also serve to equip them in practical ways to live with greater self-sustainability by addressing life-skills such as computer literacy, basic money management, housekeeping, cooking, resume building, etc. This only happens if everyone in WCC makes their lives available to others, including their giftedness, skills and life experiences, to our friends who find themselves in a difficult and often desperate time of need. 


In the 3e Restoration Process, we formally partner closely with many professional/business men/women and various organizations and agencies within Williamsburg, James City/York counties to offer an array of "Wrap-Around Services." We call these partners "Coaches" as they serve to equip and empower our Friends/families in Need in a number of ways, such as financial planning skills, interviewing skills, occupational therapy exercises, dental care, nutrition awareness, mental health care, etc. We also partner with other local churches and social services agencies such as the Community of Faith Mission (C.O.F.M.), Williamsburg Community Chapel's Agape Ministry, Greater Williamsburg Outreach Mission (G.W.O.M.), and both local and county Social Services and Human Services departments. 

Foster Love Ministry: Foster Love’s goal is to care for our vulnerable kids by supporting all aspects of the foster care community. This could look like becoming a foster or respite parent and providing a loving environment for kids from hard places, becoming a foster family ally where you encourage a local foster family in the good work they’re doing, becoming a coach for young adults who have or are about to age out of the foster care system and need a trusted guide to help them transition into adulthood, or committing to pray for a specific foster family, foster youth, or social worker. We also care for our friends in the Social Services offices of our local municipalities.

Buy-Two, Give One Away Culture: For every toiletry/hygiene item we buy, purchase two and give one to the homes housing our friends living through mental illness and intellectual disabilities, led by the Little Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi. We also give to 3e Restoration Inc’s Restoration Place, an emergency shelter for people recently experiencing homelessness. Also, for every school supply we buy, we purchase two and give one to students in need as we partner with the Community Action Agency’s Head Start Program.

The Village Initiative Early Learning & Literacy Program Book Drop-Off Site: The Village Initiative also believes that every child deserves free and open access to the tools they need to learn and succeed. We also know that many families in WJCC do not have the financial means to buy books. Since 2021, the Village has collected hundreds of donated books from community members and placed them in our book boxes, which can be found in many public spaces across Williamsburg and James City County. We want to donate books and receive donations from the community on their behalf.

WCC/W&M Trauma-Informed Connections: connecting William & Mary Students deprived of basic family support and/or facing homelessness (due to poverty, familial prejudice, violence, and/or abuse) with a local family for possible lodging support, a sense of belonging, and a safe space, when needed.