Dinner Church: Christmas Outreach Serving Underprivileged Kids
Do you ever wonder why so much of our Lord’s ministry took place around meals? “The Table” is one of the most important places of human connection. People don’t want to be projects. They want their humanity to be recognized and their potential to be valued. The table is a place for shared community, reconciliation, grace enacted, and dignity restored. That’s the backdrop to our “Dinner Church” ministry.
Read more about the Dinner Church ministry…
One of our Christmas outreach initiatives is to partner with local churches to provide “Dinner Church” experiences that bless disadvantaged children and under resourced families in our communities. Partner churches serve as hosts for the dinner parties and adopt children for gift giving.
These festive holiday celebrations foster a community-atmosphere where all guests are welcomed as equals. This ministry model, fashioned after the example of how Jesus did ministry in the Gospels, aims to blur the lines between those serving and those being served, as to counter an “us vs. them” approach to outreach. This concept is a dignity restoring “shared life” together as opposed to a “hit-and-run” charitable handout. Because these dinner parties are incredibly flexible, they can be scaled up for larger churches or even scaled down for smaller congregations, life groups and community groups, or social distancing measures.
Want to make a huge impact in your community this holiday season? Contact us for more information about how to initiate the dinner church model in your community.
Christmas Outreach: Children affected by homelessness and violence
If you arrived at this page because you are seeking help for relationship abuse, please contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline today at 1-800-799-7233. They are available 24/7/365.
1 in 30 Children Affected by Homelessness
One of the major causes of homelessness for children in the U.S. includes experiences of trauma, especially in the area of domestic violence. According to The National Center on Family Homelessness, there are 2.5 million homeless children in America—one in every 30 children—who go to sleep without a home of their own each year.
Breakaway Outreach partners with churches, agencies, and community volunteers around the U.S. to help provide Christmas shoebox gifts for children affected by domestic violence, homelessness, and transitional living. If you are interested in packing shoebox gifts for kids in your region, CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO.
More Info About Children Affected by Domestic Violence
The U.S. government’s Child Welfare Information Gateway provides a review of some research about the effects of domestic violence on children. Studies indicate that child witnesses, on average, are more aggressive and fearful and more often suffer from anxiety, depression and other trauma-related symptoms when compared to children who have not witnessed abuse or been abused. Children growing up in violent homes often feel they are responsibile for the abuse and may feel guilty because they think they caused it or because they are unable to stop it. They live with constant anxiety that another beating will occur or that they will be abandoned. They may feel guilty or confused for loving the abuser or getting mad at the victim. Children may be at a higher risk of alcohol or drug abuse, experience cognitive problems or stress-related ailments (headaches, rashes), and have difficulties in school. The Family Violence Prevention Fund offers a good overview of facts related to how children can be affected by domestic violence, and provides many additional resources.
Domestic Violence Statistics
- Every 9 seconds a woman is battered in the United States and one in four women experience domestic violence in their lifetime.
- About four in ten female victims of intimate partner violence lived in households with children under age 12.
- Forty percent of teenage girls age 14 to 17 report knowing someone their age who has been hit or beaten by a boyfriend.
- One in three adolescents in the U.S. is a victim of physical, sexual, emotional or verbal abuse from a dating partner, a figure that far exceeds rates of other types of youth violence.
- Young women between the ages of 16-24 in dating relationships experience the highest rate of domestic violence and sexual assault.
- 15.5 million children in the United States live in families in which partner violence occurred at least once in the past year. Seven million children live in families in which severe partner violence occurred.
- In homes where partner abuse occurs, children are 1,500 times more likely to be abused.
- Boys who witness domestic violence in their own home are three times more likely to become batterers.
- Domestic violence is the number one reason for homelessness among women.
Christmas Hope: Thank You for Making a Difference!
Thank you partners!
It’s been a joy seeing the way God’s people have demonstrated such contagious generosity in serving the less fortunate in our communities this Christmas season = 560+ kids served with shoebox gifts in homeless and domestic violence shelters. 400+ juvenile inmates experiencing the gospel in word and deed. 100+ children of prisoners sponsored for gifts. 40+ Chattanooga area low-income families adopted for Christmas gifts. Dominican orphans and Haitian refugees experiencing God’s love in abundance. Thankful for all the volunteers and partners who make it possible. To God be all the glory and may many come to know the Prince of Peace through these indelible expressions of His love & kindness.
Jesus reminded His disciples: “As you did it to one of the least of these… you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40)
Chattanooga State Gifts Books to Children of Inmates
Now in its fourth year, Chattanooga State’s Donald F. Andrews College Reading and Writing Center partnered with Breakaway Outreach to sponsor Operation Christmas Hope during the recent holiday season.
Ninety-six books were gifted during a party for the children and their caregivers on Dec. 10 at Ooltewah United Methodist Church.
Operation Christmas Hope gives children who have a parent in prison an opportunity to not only get toys and clothes for Christmas, but also to get the gift of learning with books.
“As a parent who always gave my kids books, and read to my children daily, I feel it is important to pass this lifelong learning to other children that don’t necessarily have the same advantages as my children did,” said Event Coordinator Michele Hough, manager of the Reading and Writing Center.
According to Ms. Hough, every child on the list received books that were purchased by faculty and staff at Chattanooga State Community College.
For more information about Chattanooga State’s Donald F. Andrews College Reading and Writing Center, contact Michele Hough at 423-697-2506 or email michele.hough@chattanoogastate.edu.
Source: The Chattanoogan.com
Somebody’s Angel: Christmas Outreach
Christmas outreach to prisoners’ kids, inner-city children, under-served communities, and juvenile detention centers.
“Somebody’s Angel” lyrics
They say this is the best time of the year
And for most of us that’s probably how it feels
But what about the ones left alone
And all the people hurting,
Looking for a glimpse of hope
We could be that shining light
To show the heart of Christmas time
People need love
And we all are able
So take some time and start today
To give some joy and hope away
‘Cause you might be
You might be
Somebody’s angel
We run and run
We fill our schedules up
The gifts, the rush
Consume us all so much
Salvation army Santa’s ringing his bell
Giving us a little reminder
There’s a world that needs our help
We could be that shining light
To show the heart of Christmas time
People need love
And we all are able
So take some time and start today
To give some joy and hope away
‘Cause you might be
You might be
Somebody’s angel
This Christmas
Don’t miss it
The chance to love someone right where they are
Don’t miss it
Don’t miss it
We could be that shining light
To show the heart of Christmas time
People need love
And we all are able
So take some time and start today
To give some joy and hope away
‘Cause you might be
You might be
Somebody’s angel
‘Cause you might be, somebody’s
Christmas angel
Somebody’s Christmas angel