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Check out this video about our ministry. It was created by Austin Willard and shown in all of our church services in 2009. It tells the story of the friendship between a homeless man and one of our volunteers. Most of all, it is the story of how one life filled with hopelessness was turned around simply because of God's persistent love! We hope it inspires you. |
Where we've come from
This is about the remarkable journey of the Skid Row/Day Laborers' outreach ministry of Christian Assembly (CA)--one which only God Himself could have orchestrated! In 2005, a team of volunteers from the CA church went on an international missions outreach to the Philippines. Upon their return from their life-changing experiences, one of the team members (Greg MacDonald) felt compelled to maintain the passion that God had given him for “the least of these.” So, along with a small group from CA, Greg started going to Skid Row in downtown L.A. to love, serve and befriend the people down there.
At first, Greg and his friends would gather at a local supermarket, collect whatever money they had in their pockets, and go and buy healthy snacks, bananas and water bottles to put into individual food bags. They would then carpool down to Skid Row and pass them out into the streets . In reality, the bags were just a way to enter into meaningful conversations with the people. The team also hoped they would open up opportunities to pray for the people and hopefully build long-term friendships.
Every Sunday, rain or shine, this tiny band of volunteers were faithful to go to Skid Row--continually sharing the love of Jesus and imparting to everyone they met the power of the gospel to change lives. Greg started extending the invitation to others from CA to join the group and, like anything that is inspired by God, this small band grew in numbers simply by word of mouth. Eventually, the church leadership took notice of the team’s commitment to spread God's Word and began to offer resources to support this growing ministry. Today, it is officially one of Christian Assembly's local outreaches (as part of its "Kingdom" efforts) and one that is partially funded by the church. The ministry also partners with other organizations like M.E.N.D.,Valley Food Bank in Los Angeles and Trader Joe's which helps supply them with food that the ministry uses to create hundreds of hot meals every month, as well as, hundreds of food bags.
At first, Greg and his friends would gather at a local supermarket, collect whatever money they had in their pockets, and go and buy healthy snacks, bananas and water bottles to put into individual food bags. They would then carpool down to Skid Row and pass them out into the streets . In reality, the bags were just a way to enter into meaningful conversations with the people. The team also hoped they would open up opportunities to pray for the people and hopefully build long-term friendships.
Every Sunday, rain or shine, this tiny band of volunteers were faithful to go to Skid Row--continually sharing the love of Jesus and imparting to everyone they met the power of the gospel to change lives. Greg started extending the invitation to others from CA to join the group and, like anything that is inspired by God, this small band grew in numbers simply by word of mouth. Eventually, the church leadership took notice of the team’s commitment to spread God's Word and began to offer resources to support this growing ministry. Today, it is officially one of Christian Assembly's local outreaches (as part of its "Kingdom" efforts) and one that is partially funded by the church. The ministry also partners with other organizations like M.E.N.D.,Valley Food Bank in Los Angeles and Trader Joe's which helps supply them with food that the ministry uses to create hundreds of hot meals every month, as well as, hundreds of food bags.
Day laborers' outreach
At one point, Edith, one of Skid Row Outreach’s faithful members, shared her passion for the day laborers gathered at the Home Depot in Glendale. Not wanting to hold back something that God had put on Edith’s heart, Greg and the rest of the team encouraged her to start taking a team over to Home Depot to share the same love, hope, and grace that was being shared on Skid Row.
A lot has changed since the humble beginnings of the Skid Row/Day Laborer’s Outreach, including leadership, structure and number of volunteers; yet one thing remains at the heart of why these ministries exist…to share the love of Jesus and to share the hope and freedom found only in Him.
A lot has changed since the humble beginnings of the Skid Row/Day Laborer’s Outreach, including leadership, structure and number of volunteers; yet one thing remains at the heart of why these ministries exist…to share the love of Jesus and to share the hope and freedom found only in Him.
Inviting every person to know Jesus
As is implied in the history of these ministries, the purpose of the Skid Row/Day Laborer’s Outreach is to share the love of Jesus with the people of these communities while also sharing the hope and freedom found in Him. The ultimate goal of our ministries is the same as the mission of CA; that spiritually convinced and unconvinced people would come to complete commitment to Jesus Christ.
We are aware that there are many reasons why people find themselves on the streets of Skid Row and at Home Depot and so we approach our ministries from a holistic perspective; meaning that our goal is to address the various needs of a person in order for them to become “whole” (spiritually, physically, emotionally, etc.). That means that while our primary goal is to share the Good News of Jesus, we are also aware that people have physical and emotional needs that need to be addressed as well. We do not pretend to have all of the answers and so we partner with other organizations and like-minded groups in an effort to love and serve our friends.
Lastly, our vision is that every person whom we encounter would become whole in every aspect of their life and that they would become whole-hearted disciples of Jesus, inviting others into the same journey with God.
“If we intend to answer man’s greatest problem—his separation from the eternal God—with mere ‘physical handouts’, then we are just throwing a drowning man a board instead of helping him out of the water. A spiritual battle fought with spiritual weapons alone will produce eternal victories. This is why we insist upon restoring a right balance to Gospel outreach. The accent must first and always be on evangelism and discipleship.” - K.P. Yohannan, author of “Revolution in World Missions
We are aware that there are many reasons why people find themselves on the streets of Skid Row and at Home Depot and so we approach our ministries from a holistic perspective; meaning that our goal is to address the various needs of a person in order for them to become “whole” (spiritually, physically, emotionally, etc.). That means that while our primary goal is to share the Good News of Jesus, we are also aware that people have physical and emotional needs that need to be addressed as well. We do not pretend to have all of the answers and so we partner with other organizations and like-minded groups in an effort to love and serve our friends.
Lastly, our vision is that every person whom we encounter would become whole in every aspect of their life and that they would become whole-hearted disciples of Jesus, inviting others into the same journey with God.
“If we intend to answer man’s greatest problem—his separation from the eternal God—with mere ‘physical handouts’, then we are just throwing a drowning man a board instead of helping him out of the water. A spiritual battle fought with spiritual weapons alone will produce eternal victories. This is why we insist upon restoring a right balance to Gospel outreach. The accent must first and always be on evangelism and discipleship.” - K.P. Yohannan, author of “Revolution in World Missions
