Outreach          

Christ Church serves our community through a variety of programs, including:

                                   

PEACE GARDEN  Christ Church's Peace Garden is lush with the fresh vegetables, herbs, and fruit many of us enjoy at home, lovingly tended for those who don't presently have the resources to bring such a bounty to their own table - all lovingly tended by a faith community with an amazing call to witness and to serve.  

 

OUR DAILY BREAD  A nondenominational program that providing food assistance to the needy in the local area.  About four times a year we collect, sort and deliver food to 30-60 families who have been verified by the county as qualifying for assistance.  Members of the congregation contribute food, sort and package the food on a Saturday morning, and deliver the packages after services the next day.

FAIRFAX AREA CHRISTIAN EMERGENCY & TRANSITIONAL SERVICES (FACETS)  Our Commercial Kitchen

provides evening meals to the poor who are temporarily housed in motels along the Route 50 corridor. More than 25 churches in the area prepare, deliver, and serve food to 100+ children and adults every day of the year.  Christ Church is responsible for the second Wednesday of each month for meals prepared in our commercial kitchen, shown at right.

HOMELESS SHELTER CASSEROLES  Christ Church prepares and delivers casseroles and desserts for Bethany House women's shelter in the

District of Columbia and Bailey's Crossroads men's shelter in northern Virginia

on a monthly basis.

EASTER, THANKSGIVING, AND CHRISTMAS FAMILIES  We sponsor six Homestretch families each holiday and provide them with the ingredients for a complete holiday meal.  At Christmas time, gifts are also provided for each member of the family.

HOMESTRETCH   A nonprofit transitional housing program, Homestretch provides housing and other support to low-income homeless families with children under age 18 in Fairfax County and the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church.  The objective of the program is to make the families self-sufficient and self-sustaining.  Along with other churches, we provide other services such as mentoring, transportation, food, clothing, and furniture when requested by Homestretch.

LAMB CENTER  This is a local ecumenically sponsored daytime shelter and support effort which provides a number of services to the homeless and poor in our community.  We currently provide our church van and drivers to transport children residing in local area motels to the center and here to Christ Church for afternoon mentoring sessions on certain weekdays.  We host a Christmas party and 4th of July picnic for the community that is served by the Lamb Center.

HABITAT FOR HUMANITY   Volunteers from Christ Church participate in this program to build affordable housing for low income families.  Currently we are teamed with eleven other area Lutheran Churches to build a townhouse neighborhood.

REBUILDING TOGETHER (formerly Christmas in April)  This is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping low-income families stay in their homes, especially by making needed repairs to the home that the residents cannot afford.  Once a year, Christ Church volunteers team up to repair a home.

                                     

NOVACO  The Northern Virginia Coalition, under the aegis of Lutheran Social Services, provides housing, living expenses, training and counseling for abused families.  This congregation supports a NOVACO family with our Christ House as their home, with mentoring, and with other needs.