Mission 98 in action: resources, stories, tips
Engaging residents at an apartment community always start with prayer, but if praying for people you have never met before, sounds overwhelming (What should I pray for? Where do I start? How do you pray for people you don’t know?), don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.
Farmer’s Health: A Bad Tree Cannot Bear Good Fruit is a webinar that shifts the focus from just the work of our hands to the well-being of our whole selves which imperative for those engaging in multi-housing ministry.
I hugged the student who introduced this brave, new young woman and in turn, the new young woman hugged me, too.
Dave Ferguson, author of BLESS: 5 Everyday Ways to Love Your Neighbor and Chage the World and co-founder and lead visionary of New Thing has graciously given Mission 98 permission to turn the content of his book, BLESS into a micro course and with a specific focus on apartment ministry.
I wish people knew how much residents are searching for a community and how difficult it can be in an apartment complex. Many of our residents don’t leave their homes much or have little to no family in the area and are longing for a kind word, a smile, or even deep conversations.
As a young twenty something, I shared a wall in an apartment community with a woman named Loraine.
I was full of fire, and Loraine was full of Jesus. We were an unlikely yet perfect match, and we became the kind of friends who walked into each other’s apartments without knocking, drank our daily morning coffee together, and chatted in the evenings about the important and not so important details of our days.
What is one difficult aspect of serving in an apartment ministry? We find it difficult to see residents who we have developed relationships with move away.
As church attendance continues to decrease, the number of people living in multi-housing communities continues to increase.
The idea behind prayerwalking is to help create an awareness to those who live near or drive by apartments on their way to school, work and/or worship. Despite the high concentration of people in these communities, these are often forgotten or neglected mission fields.
What is something others may not know abut serving in an apartment community? We didn’t realize how welcoming residents would be and also how appreciative they would be for the events we put on. It was surprising to know there are so many people craving community. We are thankful that we get to offer that time of fellowship for many residents.
What scripture do you refer to when describing your apartment ministry? We like to reflect on Matthew 25, when Jesus said, “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Apartment complexes bring an assortment of people. It definitely brings people we wouldn’t typically interact with. However, The Lord gifts us with the ability to interact with various people and we often find these interactions bless our family in ways we never could have foreseen.
Churches should be paying attention because an apartment community is filled with unchurched/non-believers and when there is already a team in place it is an excellent and easy opportunity to visit, bless and maybe even pray with non-believers. Part of our role is to change people’s perspective about church and God and the more people who just want to love and bless others without an agenda attached, the more successful we will be.
