Find Your Place: Matthew 25

We are starting to feature different CPC ministries with a Find Your Place Moment on some Sunday mornings, and we’ll follow that up with a blog post in case you missed some details. We hope this helps you think about where you might be interested in taking part as a member of our faith community and ‘find your place’ at CPC.

We’ll start with the Matthew 25 Team, which is a merger of two Community Partnerships Ministry sub-teams that often worked hand-in-hand: the Social Justice Ministry and the Racial Equity Team. Both of those support the PC(USA)’s Matthew 25 initiative goals to Build Congregational Vitality, Dismantle Structural Racism, and Eradicate Systemic Poverty. The new Matthew 25 Team meets about every other month.

In the past, the Social Justice Ministry sponsored programs around issues of social justice for the church and broader communities. The Racial Equity Team discussed relevant books, articles and podcasts, hosted speakers and “lunch and learns,” and traveled to historic sites in NC in an effort to help all of CPC become a more anti-racist community. Together as one Matthew 25 Team they continue to advocate for social justice and racial equity. They also coordinate volunteering with community agencies addressing these issues, such as NeighborUp, Habitat for Humanity, One Wake, and Oak City Cares.

For example, Oak City Cares, located in downtown Raleigh, is a hub for coordinated social services in one location for anyone experiencing or at risk of homelessness. We prepare a meal in the CPC kitchen and serve it at Oak City Cares on the 3rd Sunday of every month. There are lots of ways to help – cooking, serving, or baking muffins or brownies at home. Anyone can participate - once, occasionally, or every month.

NeighborUp is another example. The NeighborUp Food Pantry provides food assistance to residents of western Wake County who are facing financial difficulty. CPC staffs the pantry for one two-hour evening shift per month (the third Thursday), which allows families who cannot shop during the day to receive food. Volunteering requires an advance training session held regularly by NeighborUp, and we are looking for more volunteers for this ministry.

You can sign up to help with Oak City Cares and NeighborUp through links in the weekly E-Link or on the Signup Central page of our website, under ‘Connect' on the menu.  You can also contact the Community Partnership Ministry team leader to find out more or express an interest through the Community Partnerships Team Interest page.

Matthew 25: 40  “Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”