OUTREACH
After washing His disciples' feet Jesus tells them "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:34-35 NIV). In His High Priestly prayer He says: "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world" (John 17:15-18 NIV).
John further tells us "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth" (1 John 3:16-18 NIV).
At His ascension Jesus instructs us "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). And Paul writes "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:17-20 NIV).
Mt Olive Lutheran Church is a congregation that strives to live beyond the walls of the church,
"loving people to Jesus." The central question becomes "Does whatever we are doing help us to live as God's people and His ambassadors beyond the walls of our building?"
Our Mission Statement is "Loving Peope to Jesus" and our motto is "Each One Reach One." We encourage our members to daily pick up the cross of servanthood and to share their faith and God's love through their words and through acts of love (Luke 9:23). We also seek to provide opportunities through the church to give witness to God's love through word and deed.
Carpenter's Place-- On the third Monday of each month we bring and serve lunch for the clients at Carpenter's Place (a place that works with the homeless). On the second Wednesday of each month we lead chapel at Carpenter's Place. We also weekly have people helping to inventory donations, and our youth regularly do drives for donations.
Habitat for Humanity-- In months with five Saturdays on the fifth Saturday we work at Habitat helping either to build homes or helping at Habitat's Restore Store or both.
Love INC -- Through Love INC (Love in the Name of Christ) we offer Image Classes on our campus and led by our staff for people referred by Love INC. These classes have a two-fold purpose. The first purpose is to help people gain a greater sense and appreciation of God's image of them and love for them. The second purpose is to help people gain some tools for setting and achieving goals that will enable them to improve their lives. Also through Love INC we provide food baskets for needy families at Thanksgiving and Christmas. (We are always in need of more table facilitator to help participants process their goals and plans for achieving those goals.)
Rockford Rescue Mission-- Members volunteer their time and talents in a variety of ways at Rockford Rescue Mission.
Servant Mission Trips -- We have annual servant mission trips for both adults and high school and college age youth. We are looking to make our servant trip to
Stratton, Virginia in the Appalachian Mountians an annual event.
