Colonial At Work in the World

Mission 1 ---- That They May All Be One

One united church on a shared mission for 11 powerful days to feed the hungry and confront food related injustice.

  • For the first 11 days in November (11-1-11 to 11-11-11) the United Church of Christ will collect more than 1 million items of healthy food and other household items for local food banks and outreach services.  Colonial has set a goal of 1,111 food items.  (We will be counting everything donated from October 2 to November 11.)
  • In 11 days the United Church of Christ will make an extra-special push to gather online contributions of more than $11,111 for  Neighbors in Need, offerings that will be shared for hunger-action purposes with agencies and compassion throughout the United States.
  • In 11 days the United Church of Christ will offer more than 11,111 letters to Congress asking our legislators to reform U.S. assistance in a way that more effectively benefits hungry and poor people worldwide, helping to provide a major final push to Bread for the World's 2011 Offering of Letters campaign.  Colonial has set a goal of 111 letters.

Watch for more information about how Colonial Church will be joining other churches around the country in our shared mission.

Service Sunday at Turnstyles

Service Sundays

Service Sunday is an on-going experiment that is scheduled when appropriate. When we have a service Sunday, we gather in the sanctuary for a brief opening at the 10:00 a.m. service and then move our worship into action as we make sack lunches for Cross-Lines, clean the stream and church grounds, pick up trash in Prairie Village parks, help sort clothing at a local thrift store, and make gifts for nursing homes. We gather at 11:30 a.m. to close our worship time.

Arts in Prison

Arts in Prison, Inc.'s mission is to facilitate personal growth through the arts for the incarcerated and their families. Colonial supports Arts in Prison financially and through volunteer participation in the East Hill Singers, an inmate chorus that meets each week to rehearse choral music and is joined once a month by volunteer singers from the Kansas City area. Colonial's own Kirk Carson is the director of the East Hill Singers. Visit http://www.artsinprison.org for more information.

Cross-Lines Christmas Store

As part of the efforts of Cross-Lines, which serves the greater Kansas City area, Colonial stocks and mans the housewares department of the store created each December to allow qualified low income families to "shop" for household goods and personal gifts. Colonial collects toiletries, detergent, and items for small gifts as well as blankets, sheets, etc., for the families to select from. The store operates the first week of December. Visit http://www.cross-lines.org/ for more information.

Mission Trip to Esperanza

Esperanza International

Esperanza is a non-profit, non-sectarian, charitable corporation, dedicated to empowering the poor of Tijuana, Mexico to help themselves by bridging existing needs with available resources and bring about lasting change. The Kansas-Oklahoma Conference of the UCC organizes an annual trip providing older youth the opportunity to travel to Tijuana for service, cultural orientation, and Mexican-flavored recreation. It opens their eyes to the wider world and gives them the opportunity to do service for others. Our youth have participated in this program for 10 years and the congregation works to usher at theater productions throughout the year to enable us to help pay the costs for the youth to participate. Contact Cindy Lafferty (cindy@colonialucc.org) for more information.

Steppingstone

Through the auspices of the UCC, Steppingstone provides a home for troubled youth. Several Colonial members are active in the home's Auxiliary, helping to finance special projects.

Colonial Quiltmakers

Quiltmakers

This service and social group meets the first and third Friday morning of each month in the social hall to make quilts which are donated to charity.

Salvation Army Lodge

Colonial is responsible for providing an evening meal for the residents on the fifith Sunday of any month. Volunteers prepare the food and serve it while visiting with the residents at the temporary lodging, located in Olathe. We also provide supplies as needed such as bedding, and paper goods.

Interfaith Hospitality Network

The Interfaith Hospitality Network is a consortium of 28 churches in Johnson County that are organized together to provide food and shelter for homeless families. Half of the churches involved are "host" churches. Their responsibility is to house the guests for a one-week rotation. The rest of the churches involved are "support" churches. Colonial Church and the Alden Guild serve as the support church to Knox Presbyterian Church. Three meals a day are provided. Evening activities along with playing games and tutoring are included as well. Two volunteers must spend the night with the guests, with one volunteer remaining awake at all times. The goal is to assist each guest in finding employment if they are unemployed and to find affordable housing for each family.

Trip to El Filon

El Filón

Tthrough Colonial donations of time and money, a school in the small village of El Filón in Honduras is able to hire a teacher. Periodically individuals from Colonial travel to the village to provide free dental care, medical care, and to check on the status of the school.

Ten Thousand Villages

Ten Thousand Villages, another one of our missionary endeavors, provides vital, fair income to Third World people by marketing their handicrafts and telling their stories in North America. Ten Thousand Villages has over 100 stores throughout the United States: as far east as Massachusetts and as far west as California; as far north as Minnesota and as far south as Texas. The nearest location to us is on Santa Fe Drive in Overland Park.