One way churches can be a big help is to provide regular financial support through their local missions budgets. As our Chaplains are strictly unpaid volunteers, our needs are modest and small monthly or quarterly donations go a long way toward meeting our necessary direct ministry expenses. Those expenses include Christian literature for the kids, counseling materials and ministry supplies. For churches with an interest in a local outreach to the residents in the City of Richmond Juvenile Detention Center, we offer an opportunity to leverage your modest resources for maximum eternal impact in the lives of Richmond's incarcerated youth. We welcome the opportunity to share our ministry with your Pastor or Missions Committee at a time that is convenient for you.
LOCAL MISSIONS OPPORTUNITIES - Churches
Participate as a Church in Our Local Missions Opportunities to Richmond's Juvenile Offenders
Does your church have a women's mission group or a men's group that could provide the food and facilities to host an annual fundraising banquet for the Juvenile Detention Center ministry? If so, annual fundraising banquets are a great way to provide a great dinner to your congregation and guests from the community, prepared by the church members, with an evening of Gospel music, and, when they can be arranged, a keynote speaker, and possible testimonies from former juveniles who we've ministered to We suggest that annual fundraising banquets be provided free to the public, but that an opportunity to give be provided in the form of a free-will love offerings for support the Juvenile Detention Center ministry.
Cross and Bars partners with local churches to take the Gospel "behind the walls" to incarcerted kids in the City of Richmond Juvenile Detention Center. To God, local missions are every bit as important as foreign missions, as Acts 1:8 commisions all believers to be His witnesses in both our local communities and to the remotest part of the earth. Cross and Bars is pleased to provide opportunities to churches who wish to include a local outreach to juvenile offenders a number of ways to partner with us in this ministry. If your church would like to provide volunteer preachers or Bible study leaders, if you have local missions money you would like to go to support this ministry, or if you have a missions committee or a Sunday School class who would like to conduct a fundraiser to help this ministry, please contact Chaplain Craig Eastman. The following are some ways that churches can partner with us in our ministry at the City of Richmond Juvenile Detention Center:
On occasion, our teams may be permitted to provide special ministry events on a periodic basis or during holiday seasons. For example, juvenile institutions may permit us to hold a monthly Birthday Party Night to recognize birthdays during that month. During these events, a committed church group will bring in cake or cupcakes and ice cream, and soft-drinks for all the kids, and will have a special Gospel presentation afterward. This is a great way for the kids to be exposed to a church that loves them, and the kids enjoy the celebration and recognition. We have in the past heard comments like "I'm glad I'm here, because if I were home, nobody would be celebrating," and such comments help to drive home the reason why we do what we do in these events.
Other examples of special ministry events that may be permitted from time to time include occasional Pizza or Barbeque Nights, put on in juvenile detention by a committed church or civic organization, an occasional Gospel concert put on by local Christian musicians or bands, and special Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners provided for the juveniles. Again, these present opportunities to share the love of Christ for the kids in a tangible way, and to expose them to local churches as part of our evangelism and discipleship outreaches.
Missions Fair at Grove Avenue Baptist Church, with Board members Sam and Geri Hayes and Eric Macalma.
Chaplain Eastman sharing about Cross and Bars ministry at Sandston Baptist Church Missions Sunday.
"They only asked us to remember the poor - the very thing I also was eager to do." - Galatians 2:10
Missions Support
Another avenue that churches can support Cross + Bars ministry to Richmond's incarcerated juveniles is to hold special Juvenile Detention Ministry Services/ Concerts. By combining an evening of Gospel music presented by your choir, vocal ensemble or Gospel group, with a presentation of our ministry by one of our Chaplains and a voluntary love offering, your church can receive a report on our work with Richmond's youth, and have an opportunity to give if they so desire to the work of the ministry. Such services are a great way to involve your church in supporting real ministry to Richmond's in-crisis inner-city youth.
Local Missions Services and Concerts
If you would like to lead a Worship Service or a Bible Study on a regular weekly or bi-weekly basis in the City of Richmond Juvenile Detention Center, please go to our volunteers page under the Get Involved tab for more information. In addition, certain "in-kind" help is needed from time to time, so please contact us to today see how you can get involved.
Other Ways You Can Help
Church fundraisers have a direct connection to juveniles being saved, families being restored and many other blessings in our communities. Could your church, Sunday school class or small group host a Brunswick Stew Sale, a Bake Sale, a Fish Fry, a Yard Sale, an E-Bay sale, a Book Sale, a Raffle, a Jewelry Sale, or another type of fundraiser to raise funds for the Juvenile Detention Center Ministry? These types of fundraisers are limited only by the creativey and resourcefulness of your team, and directly translate into salvations, discipleship, Christian counseling and blessings in our communities. Please contact us if you have an interest in conducting a ministry fundraiser for Cross and Bars' Juvenile Detention Center Ministry.