The Outreach Committee
Many of First Christian's existing and on-going mission projects fall under the direction of the Outreach Committee:
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We prepare and deliver dinner on the third Saturday evening of each month for the Open Door of Hope Men's Shelter
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We volunteer weekly at the Serenity Center's food distribution center
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We pack backpacks once a month during the school year for the Shelby County backpack project
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Members of our congregation are regular volunteers at Operation Care
FCC is also a collection point for various other outreach organizations, such as the WaterStep Project , Men’s Shelter and the Christian Care Community in Louisville (a Christian Women’s Fellowship mission project). In addition, the committee supports the Disciples of Christ in Kentucky special offerings for Easter, Pentecost, Thanksgiving, Christmas, reconciliation ministry and Week of Compassion. These offerings provide funding for specific programs from new-start churches to seminaries and colleges to disaster relief to anti-racism.
The Outreach focus of FCC also includes the support of and involvement with many local and state organizations including Habitat for Humanity, Mission Behind Bars/Dierson Center worship service with New Life Christian Church in Louisville, Shelby County Human Trafficking Task Force, Salvation Army Angel Tree gifts, Food Basket distribution and the Salvation Army Red Kettle bell ringing during the Christmas season, Veterans Housing and Kentucky Refugee Ministries.
Our congregation has been blessed in recent years to have been the location of the Arriba Niños tutoring program for Hispanic elementary-aged children in Shelby County. Though the program ended in 2018, we are looking for ways to continue to reach out to our Hispanic neighbors.
We also were able to sponsor a family of eight refugees from Myanmar (Burma), under the direction of Kentucky Refugee Ministries in 2018. Members of the congregation continue to visit and be involved with the family as they thrive in their new Louisville home.
The Outreach Committee has taken on two new programs this fall. The congregation participated in the Ready Fest in August to help provide back-to-school supplies for Shelby County Public School students. FCC prepared pencil boxes and pencil pouches with eight high-grade pencils for 1,000 students. What was not given away at Ready Fest was divided among the Family Resource and Youth Services Centers at the schools in Shelby County so all children have access to the school supplies they need to be successful.
The second program is ‘Project SUDS.’ Each month, FCC is furnishing 20 small laundry baskets, detergent, dryer sheets and coins to run a load of laundry at two local laundromats for those in need of clean clothes who find themselves unable to provide that necessity.
In late July 2019, six volunteers took a mission trip to Appalachia for five days. No one knew what to expect but they all found an organized and amazing outreach program at the Christian Appalachian Project (CAP). Several FCC volunteers helped repair and rehab a trailer while the others put the finishing touches on a new construction home. The experience was so great that another mission trip to help with the Christian Appalachian Project is scheduled for September 20-25, 2020!
If your heart leads you to be involved with any one of the many ways we reach out in our community and beyond in Christian love and compassion to those in need, we welcome you to join our Outreach Committee.
The Outreach Committee meets the third Tuesday of each month at the church, at 7 PM. The committee is chaired by Chrissy Hudson.
Outreach opportunities in the community
Awake Ministries:
(includes Serenity Center, Open Door of Hope Men's Shelter & A Place to Sleep)
Habitat for Humanity:
Operation Care:
Shelby Touched Twice Clinic:
Denominational and Area Ministries
Christian Appalachian Project:
Christian Care Communities:
Disciples Mission Fund:
Kentucky Refugee Ministry:
Mission Behind Bars and Beyond:
Week of Compassion: