Jesus, who said that he is the light of the world, also described us, his friends and followers, as the light of the world. He goes on to tell us to let our light shine so that people will see our good works and glorify God. In another place in the Bible, Paul writes,
"For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10)
Jesus talked a lot about His love for those who are poor, hurting, broken and forgotten. Because Flatirons exists to bring the awesome life of Christ to a lost and broken world we choose to serve and love those in our community simply because God loves them.
Listed below are a few of our friends and partnerships that exist in our local community. If you would like to know more about opportunities to serve in our community as they develop please contact Andy Wineman.
Flatirons has a very close relationship with the Sister Carmen Community Center in Lafayette as they assist people in East Boulder County with food, utilities, rent/mortgage, transportation, clothing, case management and programs for helping to break the cycles of poverty.
For more information about the Sister Carmen Community Center and a list of their current needs visit sistercarmen.org or call 303-665-4342.
Friends of Sister Carmen Team
Flatirons Friends of Sister Carmen, exists to connect Flatirons folks with opportunities to serve and with each other. We enjoy getting together about every other month to enjoy a meal, share stories, celebrate our work together at Sister Carmen and hear about new service opportunities. There's always room for new friends interested in serving our community through Sister Carmen. For more information about current volunteer opportunities and our next gathering contact Tawnya Mitchell and see more on facebook.
Open Door Ministries
Open Door Ministries is an outreach of Open Door Fellowship Church in Denver. They embrace needy and broken people in urban Denver with the heart and hands of Jesus. ODM provides hope through a host of programs and residential facilities. They have transitional homes for young mothers and their children, as well as for single women. Open Door reaches out to people with disabilities through their TRYAD program and Cornerstone Home.
Flatirons Community Church is working with ODM to develop a job readiness training program with a support strategy that will enable participants to be successful in finding and maintaining meaningful employment.
Work for the Door is a two-pronged program providing classroom instruction for eight weeks covering important life and job related skills.
The second prong of WFD gives participants an opportunity to put the principles they are learning in the classroom into practice as they gain work experience in specific jobs throughout the Open Door Ministries organization .
Volunteer Opportunities
If you would like to help with this program there are several ways that you can engage:
Instructors – help teach and facilitate the Jobs for Life Curriculum in a caring way that sets the stage for learning in an atmosphere for student interaction and participation.
Mentors – walk beside students throughout the training course to model life principles and to track progress.
Potential Employers - men and women that are willing to invest in the lives of Work for the Door graduates by helping to train, provide internships or hire program graduates.
For more information about Open Door Ministries visit odmdenver.org.
Habitat For Humanity
Flatirons and Habitat for humanity are working to build decent and affordable housing. We are partnering with two local Habitat affiliates (Flatirons and St. Vrain) to help people that are working their way out of poverty. Go to our Habitat page and find out about our Habitat team, sign up for a build day and discover other ways to be involved.
Alicia Sanchez International School
Sanchez and Flatirons, both located in Lafayette, have been in partnership for many years. Sanchez continues to offer excellent educational opportunities for students and their parents and has a vision for community transformation and development.
Friends of Sanchez Team
The Friends of Sanchez team is made up of volunteers from flatirons with a passion for serving and being a part of community transformation. The Friends of Sanchez team meets once a month for planning and organizing around the needs of Sanchez Elementary. Email Jacque at jrmolenaar@yahoo.com to add your name to the Friends of Sanchez Team.
iEmpathize
iEmpathize is an Arts and Advocacy organization that creates opportunities for people to explore and engage in issues of injustice. iEmpathize is a pathway to connect people and resources to needs around the world. Their initial efforts are focused on ending child sex slavery.
flatirons has been involved with iEmpathize from their early days and through a growing cooperative effort among Boulder County churches working with partners in Mexico City to help end human trafficking there.
For information about iEmpathize and how to help, visit iempathize.org.
Find information about the May 2012 MERGE (college-age) short-term trip to Mexico here.
The Village
The Village is a community of Flatirons folks passionate about the various aspects, challenges and joys of adoption. From those curious about the idea of adoption, individuals in the midst of the adoption process and those experienced with their own adoption stories it’s a community of friends sharing life together as it relates to adoption. If you are interested in adoption, are in the process of adopting, or have already adopted, please feel free to contact Tony Harbour (tony.villageFCC@gmail.com), find The Village on facebook or signup to receive updates below.
