Community
We believe that, too often, The Church becomes an organization that is located within a community, but rarely has contact with it. As a church, Catalyst goes to great efforts to immerse ourselves in the community around us.
Why? So we can introduce people to the real Jesus - how he really lived and how he cared deeply for others - and to ensure that our church is a vital part of the community.
We live here. Our kids go to the schools here. And we care about the people here. We believe that we can't faithfully follow God by compartmentalizing our lives, so we don't compartmentalize our church either - it's not just on Sunday mornings.
How do we do this? Here are a few ways:
- We sponsor competitive softball and basketball teams - and encourage folks from outside of our congregation to play with us…not in church leagues, but city leagues.
- If you attended a Northwest Guilford High School football game this year, you undoubtedly met some of our volunteers at the concession stand there.
- We have partnered with a local elementary school to make sure that every child is well fed and receives loving afterschool care.
- Hwy 150 in Oak Ridge and the campus of Northwest Guilford High School are both a bit cleaner, thanks to our clean-up crews.
- We provide transportation to local homeless families, in conjunction with the Guilford Inter-Faith Hospitality Network.
- FREE ICE CREAM! We own an ice cream truck, which we take to neighborhoods, community events, and baseball games. It's all free - we just want to put smiles on faces!
The biggest way to impact a community is one person at a time - neighbor to neighbor, co-worker to co-worker. Our hope is that, as our people love God and love others, that they will naturally impact the communities in which they already exist!
