Mercy Ministries, Mercy Update | by Pastor Justin Keogh

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.

GOSPEL FRAMEWORK
As God’s inspired Word, the Bible 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.

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God,
who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry.

The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

Psalm 146:5-9

In Psalm 146, and throughout Scripture, we see God’s care for his people on the margins of society – the oppressed, the hungry, the prisoners, the blind, the sojourners, the widows, and the fatherless. While neglected and cast aside by society, God affirms their dignity and value by attending to their needs. This is a picture of our own condition: we are blind, slaves to our sinful nature, alienated from God, without help or hope, and spiritually dead apart from God’s gracious intervention in Christ (John 9; Rom 5:6-11, 6:15-23; Eph. 2:1-12). God’s caring heart is meant to be the example we follow, as we “go and do likewise” for others in their physical and spiritual needs (Luke 10:25-37).

It is this love and grace bestowed on us in Christ that animates our service toward others through our Mercy Ministries. These ministries serve those on the margins of our city, seeking to declare and demonstrate this good news. We do this through various partnerships, events, and Mercy Focus Areas – which provide a multitude of opportunities to do good to our neighbors in need. Read more below about our current focus areas and upcoming events to find out how you can join us in serving this season.

REFUGEES
Through our partnership with World Relief of Western Washington, we’re hoping to launch a “Good Neighbor Team” to care for a newly arriving family in the new year. Join us for an info session on Sunday, November 24 at 9am to learn more! Register here.

BLOOD DONATION DRIVE
We’re hosting our next blood donation drive with Bloodworks Northwest on Wednesday, December 4, between 9am-3pm. Blood donations are a simple, safe, and life-saving way to tangibly bless our neighbors. Donations are used for treating patients with trauma, cancer, or other serious conditions. Sign up to donate here.

HOMELESSNESS
As a church downtown with many homeless neighbors, we’ve partnered with Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission to address the great need in our city. It can be overwhelming at times to know how we can help, so we’re hosting UGM for a training on engaging homelessness on Sunday, December 8, at 12p following the gathering (lunch will be provided). Register here.

FAMILY ADVOCACY MINISTRY
We’ve combined our Life and Foster Care and Adoption focus areas into one Family Advocacy Ministry. We are working with youth in foster care this season by helping with the Washington State Department of Children, Youth and Families’ (DCYF) Christmas gift giveaway. We’ll be sorting gifts on Saturday afternoon, December 14. Register here.

STAY CONNECTED
These events are just a snapshot of the ways in which we serve throughout the year. You can learn more through our Mercy Ministries webpage, and consider joining our ongoing focus area groups in Church Center to hear more regular updates, events, and opportunities to serve:

• Mercy Focus: Family Advocacy
• Mercy Focus: Homelessness
• Mercy Focus: Refugees

For the Kingdom,
Pastor Justin

Missions | by Pastor Justin Keogh

Downtown Cornerstone,

As part of Jesus’ church, we are a family of disciples on mission here in Seattle and to the ends of the earth. Jesus instructed his disciples (and us!) about their mission in Acts 1:8:

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

We meet quarterly to discuss our mission opportunities, pray, and encourage one another in sharing the gospel both locally and globally, especially among the thousands of unreached people groups.

Last Sunday, Pastor Marco led our Global Missions meetup where we watched a missions video from Radius International, a partner organization that equips cross-cultural missionaries to establish healthy, indigenous, reproducing churches among unreached language groups.

Pastor Marco followed the video of Mark Dever and Brooks Buser from Radius with a discussion of the importance of planting healthy churches as the primary vehicle for spreading the gospel. That time followed with prayer for our current mission partners.

If you are curious about how our church engages in the great commission, if you’re considering whether the Lord is calling you to global missions, or you just want to learn more, we invite you to join us for future Global Missions Meetups.

Let’s be encouraged by the Lord’s work in us and through the mission field, and let’s continue proclaiming His greatness in our neighborhoods and to the nations. Read more below about our ongoing partnerships.

For the King and His Kingdom,
Pastor Justin

ACTS 29
Our church is a part of the Acts 29 church planting network, which provides a great structure and vetting to help us support a variety of church planting and pastoral training efforts around the world.

In addition to our Acts 29 partnership, we are also supporting the following individual churches/planters:

• Radiant Church Matsu Valley | Palmer, AK | Caleb Richardson
• Sufficient Grace Church | Puyallup, WA | Noah Winningham
• Soma Fuchu | Tokyo, Japan | Yoshito Noguchi
• Antalya Protestant Church / Reach Turkey | Antalya, Turkey | Kerem Koç
• Restore Brazil | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Jay Bauman

ACME
Our church also partners with ACME, a fellowship of like-minded churches that pools finances and provides grants to plant and revitalize churches, support international missionaries, and carry out other gospel ministry. See the list of ACME Member Churches across the country and the grants that have been provided through these churches this year.

DCC GLOBAL PARTNERS
We also equip and support our own members as our Global Partners in taking the gospel to the nations. Due to security reasons, we are unable to publicly list them here. However, if you are interested in learning more about our current Global Partners serving in Southeast Asia, or another currently in training at Radius International, email us at .

LEARN MORE AND GET INVOLVED
Have you considered how you can work towards the advance of the gospel, for the glory of God and the joy of all people? Here are a few ways to get involved:

• Pray: Start here. Pray for our individual and corporate mission, as well as our partners. Pray for the Lord to lead us in going and sending. Pray for eyes to see those in need around you now, and ask the Lord to empower your evangelism.
• Join our regular Global Missions Meetups: Our next meetup will be this Sunday, October 20, at 12 pm. Register here.
• Bring the Gospel to the Nations: We’ve developed a Global Missions Development Pipeline to help provide practical pathways and training for engagement in missions. Either by going or by sending, you can begin taking the next steps here.