Being the church, not just going to church.
On the last day of April each year, churches from across the city cancel Sunday morning services to go out and serve the community.
What would it look like for 10 churches to send out 360 volunteers in 50 teams all across a small city to do projects to help the community? That’s what happened this past Sunday in Jefferson City (JC). Ten churches closed the doors to their auditoriums and sent their members out into the streets to be the church.
MISSION JC is a morning of worship through service. On the last Sunday of April, churches join together to give back to our community through various service projects. There are a wide variety of projects for people to help with so everyone can find a way to serve our community. Mission JC began in 2013 with one church and has expanded to include 11 local churches and growing each year.
We started the day at the Special Olympics Training Center gym to rally with some inspirational coffee, donuts and words from our leaders. A band from one of the churches played BlueGrass Gospel, likely at the request of the project leader Mike Downing who loves that kind of music. A steady rain beat on the roof of the gym and dampened workers’ shirts but not our spirits as we left to go to our assignments.
Not one person was wearing a suit and tie. T-shirts with the project name emblazoned across the front, jeans and tennis shoes or boots were the uniform. All ages, too. I worked on a team at one of about 10 elementary school projects. Several parents with their elementary-school-aged kids helped us clean and disinfect classroom tables, desks and other surfaces where children learn each day. I’m old but there were plenty of older adults than me.
Projects benefited Boys & Girls Club, several elementary schools, Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army, a nursing home, several local parks, the community center, and many others. Projects ranged from cleaning desks inside and placing mulch at schools, assembling playground equipment, to cleaning trash along stretches of roads and along Wears Creek.
In 2019, nearly 700 adults and children served in 60 projects throughout our community. 2020 and 2021 were canceled due to COVID-19, but in 2022 we roared back to life with more than 500 volunteers and 11 churches participating.
This is the 12th year for MissionJC. It started with a group from First Baptist Church, 301 E. Capitol Avenue, in Jefferson City, Missouri, who gathered to talk about what it would look like if we were to do the things Jesus did in our own community. The leader of the group, pastor Melissa Hatfield, headed up the youth program and missions for the church at that time. Now she is Senior Pastor of First Church. The first year, First Church canceled services on April 28, 2013, and members did projects all across the city. Over the next couple of years, other churches joined them. I don’t know which came first, but the city sponsors a volunteer service day on the Saturday before. Either way, MissionJC has been contagious. Over the past decade, the event itself has grown, but so too has the involvement of our church and others in doing projects in our city and beyond.
Sunday, April 28, 2013 was our first Mission JC. We had nearly 300 participants and 24 projects – all from First Baptist Church, Jefferson City. Mission JC was a huge success. We purchased red t-shirts for everyone to wear and it made a huge visual impact throughout the community. The volunteers met at the First Baptist Activities Building at 8:00 a.m. for breakfast and a time of commissioning before going out to serve through various projects.
MissionJC leaders Mike and Donna Downing give last-minute instructions before sending out volunteers across Jefferson City, Missouri, for MissionJC April 28, 2024.
That's Totally Awesome! I wish there was something here near me where I could volunteer and go to services.
I'm not a church going person, but I do have Faith and believe.🙏✨♥️