Seekers Church continues to support many missions and ministries in the United States and other countries. The amount budgeted for domestic giving this year is about 21% of what we expect to receive in offerings over the course of the year. Once our budget is approved each year and the overall amount available for domestic giving has been determined by the Stewards of Seekers Church, all members of the faith community are invited to request support for missions or ministries where they are personally involved.
For 2016 the community affirmed support for 22 domestic missions and ministries listed here. For easy access to more information, the name of each organization is linked to its website.
HOUSING
EDUCATION/CULTURE
Luce Center for Arts and Religion
CHURCH OF THE SAVIOUR
Christ House & Christ House Art Program
OTHER
Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County
ADVOCACY
World Orgnization for Resource Development and Education (WORDE)
Here are the domestic missions and ministries we are supporting this year. to visit their web sites, click on the name of the organization.
HOUSING
L’Arche of Greater Washington
L’Arche Greater Washington, D.C. is: a faith community; a licensed provider of professional services; an advocate with and for people who have intellectual disabilities; and a member of a worldwide federation of autonomous L’Arche communities.
Manna, Inc.
MANNA is a nonprofit developer of quality, affordable housing in the District of Columbia. Since 1982, MANNA has been involved in a wide range of housing projects, producing nearly 1200 units, mostly for-sale homes. The organization has developed townhouses, condominiums, cooperatives, rentals and the occasional single-family home. They currently develop more condominium projects than any other nonprofit developer in the District.
The mission of MANNA is not one of simply building and selling houses. They focus on revitalizing entire neighborhoods through homeownership. MANNA’s strategy also includes educating first-time homebuyers for the process of home purchase and for continued success as homeowners. They also train homeowners and their neighbors throughout the city to become community leaders and advocates.
N Street Village
N Street Village is a community of empowerment and recovery for homeless and low-income women in Washington, D.C. With comprehensive services addressing both emergency and long-term needs, N Street Village helps women achieve personal stability and make gains in their housing, income, employment, mental health, physical health, and addiction recovery.
Sarah’s Circle
Sarah’s Circle, a not-for-profit located in the Adams Morgan community of Washington, DC, is an award-winning affordable housing residence and Wellness Center providing comprehensive services for very low-income seniors.
Silver Spring Village
Silver Spring Village provides a wide variety of programs and services for seniors in Silver Spring. Their trained, screened, and insured volunteers help with things like household chores, errands, transportation, and medical appointments; they make friendly visits and phone calls, and implement a full calendar of social and educational activities. Village members make new friends, learn new things, and have easy access to needed help.
Center for Wisdom’s Women
In the middle of Lewiston, Maine lies one of the poorest census districts in the state, one of the poorest in the country. Forty percent of the residents live at or below the poverty line. Within that neighborhood there is a place, a safe and sacred space, called Wisdom”s Center. Run by and for women, it brings hope and joy, life and light into the lives of women who otherwise fall between the cracks of the social service system. They are forgotten mothers, daughters, sisters and wives, many of whom are the most wounded of our society and have no support system elsewhere. Wisdom”s Center for those guests, is a sanctuary of sorts.
EDUCATION/CULTURE
Common Ground on the Border
Common Ground on the Border is a two-day event, featuring classes in art, music and a variety of lectures. The US-Mexico Borderlands have always been a beautiful mix of culture, language, cuisine, economies and people. It has also been a place of struggle, high and low temperatures, a fragile environment, and the push and pull of immigration. Common Ground on the Border is a unique gathering where the deep artistic and cultural roots of the Borderlands are lifted up and conversation is created that brings us across borders and moves us to common ground.
First Book
First Book is a nonprofit social enterprise that provides new books, learning materials, and other essentials to children in need. Since their founding in 1992, First Book has distributed more than 160 million books and educational resources to programs and schools serving children from low-income families.
For Love of Children (FLOC)
For Love of Children (FLOC) provides educational services beyond the classroom to help students succeed from first grade through college and career. FLOC brings together students, volunteers, families, and community partners in proven programs that teach, empower, and transform.
InterPlay Race Exploration
InterPlay is an active, creative way to unlock the wisdom of the body; an easy, fun, and life changing practice. It is based in a series of incremental “forms” that lead participants to movement and stories, silence and song, ease and amusement. In the process, we discover the wisdom in ourselves and our communities. InterPlay integrates body, mind, heart and spirit. Life has become so fragmented. InterPlay helps to pull everything back together so we get more of what we want.
Luce Center for Arts and Religion
The Henry Luce III Center for Arts and Religion nurtures and guides students, churches, and artists exploring the intersection of the arts and theology. The Dadian Gallery serves as a meeting place for both contemplative reflection and communal celebration, playing host to compelling one-of-a-kind shows and spiritually themed exhibitions. A long standing Artist-in-Residence program offers seminary students hands-on-training in a variety of artistic traditions, while also providing artists with shared studio space and a spiritual home well suited to vital art making. By producing dramatic works, concerts, artist talks, poetry readings, dance workshops, symposia, and other special events, the Center for the Arts and Religion seeks to promote dialogue between artists and theologians, and to foster inspired creativity in all forms of ministry.
Muslim Women’s Coalition
In recent years, the world has awakened to a need to better understand Muslims and their faith. Many are only now realizing the contribution Islamic civilization has made to global society. For example, the principles of democracy, equality, justice, and communal welfare are inherently Islamic values introduced with the advent of the faith. Ultimately, these fundamental Islamic principles are designed to create harmony and balance in society. The Muslim Women’s Coalition (MWC) is dedicated to upholding these and other Islamic principles by uniting American Muslim women who seek to serve the worldwide community with compassion, love and goodwill.
The Greater Washington DC Area office is building positive and consistent relationships within the community, including all races, ethnicities and faith traditions. Their work is based on compassion and respect for all humanity. Their volunteers are committed to educating everyone about the beauty of Islam through the true Islamic principles of Ihsan: the perfection of one’s character.
Street Sense: Staging Hope
Street Sense has been changing the story of homelessness in our community since 2003. They offer economic opportunities to people experiencing homelessness through media that elevates voices and encourages debate on poverty and injustice. Their innovative approach harnesses the talents, aspirations and hard work of men and women who are homeless. At Street Sense, they define themselves through their work, talents and character, not through their housing situation. Street Sense began as a Washington, D.C.-based 16-page biweekly street newspaper. Its mission is to offer economic opportunities for people experiencing homelessness in our community by elevating voices and encouraging debate on poverty and injustice.
“Staging Hope” is a workshop directed by GWU professor Leslie Jacobson, with colleagues Elizabeth Kitsos-Kang and Roy Barber. Scenes, monologues, poetry, and songs are created and performed by members of Street Sense.
CHURCH OF THE SAVIOUR
Christ House and the Christ House Art Program
Christ House opened in December 1985 as the first 24-hour residential medical facility for homeless persons in the United States. Today, Christ House is still the only facility of its kind in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, where over 6,000 people experience homelessness every day. To the best of their knowledge, there are only 13 stand-alone residential medical facilities for the homeless like Christ House in all of the U.S. and Canada. Since their inception, they have had over 8,000 admissions. The art program gives Christ House patients another way to express themselves.
Discipleship Year
Discipleship Year is one of The Festival Center’s core programs. It is a year-long residential experience that actively engages volunteers with issues of social justice and servant leadership. During their year, the volunteers will:
• live in intentional community in a Christian setting
• enter into theological study and reflection through classes at the Servant Leadership School
• work in one of the Church of the Saviour ministries or a similar organization.
Joseph’s House
Opened in 1990 in response to the AIDS crisis in Washington, DC, Joseph’s House offers a welcoming community and comprehensive nursing and support services to homeless men and women with advanced HIV disease and terminal cancer.Their medical staff and trained caregivers work to create a home where the values of unreserved love and unconditional forgiveness are practiced. The house includes nine beds, and welcomes about 40 people each year.
Potter’s House
The Potter’s House is a nonprofit café, bookstore, and event space in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC. Since opening our doors in 1960 we have been a key place for deeper conversation, creative expression, and community transformation. In our rapidly changing city – one in which development so often means displacement – The Potter’s House is a deeply rooted space where we can build relationships across our differences, envision just alternatives, and grow the movements that will make them possible.
OTHER
Arlington THRIVE
Arlington Thrive delivers same-day emergency funds to our neighbors in crisis, so they can be secure in their jobs, health, and homes and thrive in a caring community.
Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County
In 1999, a group of Montgomery County citizens came together to create a nonprofit that would enable people having neighborhood or community disputes to talk it out rather than fight it out, without the need to go to court. The Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County (CRCMC) officially opened on July 1, 2001, in the Executive Director‘s home. Since then, CRCMC has grown to include programs in the public schools, the district court, local correctional facilities, and more. We continue to look for new opportunities to strengthen our communities peace by peace.
ADVOCACY
Center for Medicare Advocacy
The Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc., established in 1986, is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan law organization that provides education, advocacy and legal assistance to help older people and people with disabilities obtain fair access to Medicare and quality health care. The Center is headquartered in Connecticut and Washington, DC with offices throughout the country.
World Orgnization for Resource Development and Education (WORDE)
The World Organization for Resource Development and Education [WORDE] is a nonprofit, educational organization whose mission is to enhance communication and understanding between communities to mitigate social and political conflict. Utilizing a research-informed foundation for programming, they identify drivers of conflict and opportunities for building strong, resilient communities. WORDE believes that providing networks with the right resources to build community resilience against extremism is a requisite component to any long-term development strategy for building communities.
