Downtown Cornerstone Blog
Jan 31
2019

Mercy Ministry Update | January

Ethnic Harmony, Mercy Ministries, Mercy Update

The Mercy Ministry Updates are a regular snapshot of our Mercy Ministries in DCC, where we are working to serve and uphold the value and dignity of God’s most vulnerable image bearers in our city. Each update highlights one of our focus areas, as well as provide a listing of upcoming events, and current prayer requests across all of our focus areas.

Gospel Framework

The Bible, as God’s inspired word, displays God’s good design and our radical need for a savior, found only in Jesus, and calls us to live out our new identity in Christ as we engage the world around us.

“Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”Zechariah 7:9-10

God speaks through Scripture to his people, calling them to faithful action to care for the most vulnerable people around them. Often in these instructions, we see four populations listed – the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, the poor – as a description of those who were most vulnerable in their midst. And we also often see these instructions intermingled with instructions to care for brothers and sisters (“one another”), which is to say, the love that we have for those who are vulnerable is not some “out there” love but a “from here” love that starts in the family of God, rooted in God’s love for us. We love because he first loved us, and has given us the commandment to love others. (1 John 4:19,21). This is good news for us because it means we can put the love of others into practice right here in our church and in our city.

Mercy Focus Highlight: Understanding Disproportionality

As a church we support and partner with several mercy ministries and want to share and highlight their on-going work.

Racial Disproportionality, that is, the underrepresentation or overrepresentation of a racial or ethnic group compared to its percentage in the total population, is a reality in every one of our mercy focus areas (Life/Abortion, Foster Care/Adoption, Juvenile Detention, Sex Trafficking, Homelessness, and Refugees). This means that people, families, and communities of color are more affected than white people, families, and communities (in King County and nationally). So as we care for the most vulnerable populations in each of these areas, we should seek to understand this reality so that it can inform our care. Other types of disproportionality also exist in many of our mercy focus areas, such as the economic disproportionality of women seeking an abortion, and even some interdependencies between them, such as children in foster care and juvenile detention, or juvenile detention and sex trafficking. Similarly, those whom we seek to serve in these areas have, without question, experienced trauma, which likewise informs how we understand and care for them.

These factors lead us to understand the complexity and scope of sin’s impact on our world. In turn, this should also lead us toward increased empathy and informed care for those we serve and increasingly see the measure of Christ’s gift to us in our salvation. As we simultaneously see the depth of sinfulness and brokenness of the world around us and the height of God’s love for us in Christ, we will move toward others in love as he has loved us.

Upcoming Events

Not all events are sponsored or hosted by DCC, but serve those in our focus areas. See linked details for each.

Partner Prayer Requests

Please join us in praying for the people impacted and involved in each of these focus areas.

Refugees

  • Praise God for answering the prayers of World Relief and others, as the federal government announced that it will continue working with all of the organizations that work to resettle refugees in the U.S.
  • Pray for those seeking entry into the US, with the recent drop in federally allowed refugees, and elsewhere – that they would be provided for and cared for by the church globally.

 Foster Care & Adoption

  • Kids in extended foster care – if a child doesn’t have permanency at the age of 18 then they can apply to be in extended foster care, a program for 18-21 year-olds. Pray they would learn the skills they need for independence, and that they might not lose hope of having a family and a place to call home. 
  • Kids aging out of foster care – this is one of the most vulnerable populations of kids. They leave foster care without support and are susceptible to a variety of different dangers from sex trafficking to drug and alcohol abuse to homelessness. Please pray that God would move in the hearts of those families that He wants to adopt the children aging out of foster care.

Sex Trafficking & REST

  • By God’s grace, REST has seen their ministry grow significantly over the last few years, and with that has come to the need for new office space. Please pray with REST as they search for office space in Seattle for their administrative team so that they can continue to serve the survivors they work with as effectively as possible.
  • As we enter 2019, let’s also be praying for God to transform hearts throughout our city and area. Let’s pray that God will bring many people out of brokenness and into faith and relationship with Him, and let’s pray that He works in and through REST for His glory and the good of many!

Homelessness & UGM

  • In 2019 we want to double the number of mentors in our men’s recovery program, going from 20 to 40. Please pray that God would call the next cadre of mentors to the Mission.
  • Safety and protection of our homeless neighbors during the wind, rain, and cold of the winter months.  

Juvenile Detention

  • Please pray for God to comfort the children that are away and have been away from their families and loved ones during the holidays and who may be feeling particularly lonely and without hope. 
  • Please pray that God would open the eyes and hearts of these children to see the real hope they have in Christ despite the circumstances in front of them and for the Lord to put people in their lives that can encourage them to place their trust in Jesus and grow to be more like Him.

Life & CareNet

  • Continued favor in the Communities CareNet is serving – For open doors with the social services agencies and health facilities, that these agencies will see the benefits they offer to clients
  • New Mobile schedule in 2019 – For direction and provision as they expand their schedule to include DCC and more hours in current locations 

Stay Connected

Join the focus area city groups in order to hear more regular updates, events, and opportunities to serve.