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Note: As described in the article “Short-Term Missions and Missional Youth Ministry,” here is the story of one church who applied to the 1k Challenge grant:

A group of two adults and four youth had participated on a trip to New York’s Adirondack Mountains in the summer of 2007.  They proposed a project to us at YouthWorks called “A Place at the Table”. Their idea was to collect older, child-sized wood chairs, paint them in “funky and creative” ways, and then sell the finished product for $60 each.  They would then donate the money from the sale of the chairs to a ministry that was working with children in poverty.  It has been running since receiving original funding in the fall of 2007.

Background

First Baptist is an American Baptist Church from Keene, New Hampshire.  This group had done two pre-trip awareness exercises; one was a group poverty simulation designed to build empathy within the youth group for those living in poverty, the other was a congregation-wide meal serving opportunity at a local soup kitchen.  Additionally, the group had awareness around issues of poverty, because of an initiative called Children in Poverty (CIP) led by National Ministries of the American Baptist Churches USA.  It encourages and equips American Baptists to respond to the needs of children in poverty through ministries of caring and prophetic justice.

How it happened

On some YouthWorks sites, our staff will facilitate poverty simulations that get groups thinking about causes of poverty, and develop a sense of empathy for those who are economically oppressed.  This group got into a discussion while reflecting on their poverty simulation.  The students asked how they could do something more about poverty, and how they could impact their community when they went home.  The group decided to focus on some type of project that would support work with children in poverty.  The idea to sell chairs came as an enterprising ministry, with the sales of the chairs to be donated to a ministry.

The group went home and started putting together a plan.  After applying for and receiving the 1K Challenge grant, they were able to go to their congregation to present their idea, and ask for assistance in beginning the project.  With secured financial support to pay for supplies, this group only needed volunteers to help paint and donate the chairs.  The congregation was overwhelmingly supportive and bought into the idea immediately.

The Congregational Response

• The congregation is involved in donating, painting and buying the chairs.
• The Pastor allowed them to display the chairs in the narthex of the building.  Both the congregation and community members could come in to view these chairs or buy one.
• A retired professional carpenter repairs the broken chairs that have been donated.
• A group of men in the congregation built a huge wooden chair that was placed in the front of the church as an advertisement for the ministry.
• The congregation has adopted the concept of “A seat at the table” as a new mission.  Their desire is to be a church where everyone is welcome.
• Adults and youth work together to make the chairs.
• The entire community has been supportive of the effort.
• There is even an eighty-year old woman from the congregation who helps by clear coating the chairs when they are completed.

Denomination Response

In the first year of the project, the group loaded ten finished chairs and one unfinished chair into their van and brought them to their Annual Regional Meeting in Vermont.  Three students set up a table to sell the chairs and to raise awareness about children in poverty.  They sold all ten chairs, and donated the one they had allowed the people at the conference to paint to the regional office of the American Baptist Church.  One of the chairs ended up in the office of the National Coordinator for the Children in Poverty initiative. When the team returned from this trip they found four donated chairs on the stairs of the church, which was an indication that they were supported by their own community.

Outcomes

• They are giving 100% of the sales from the chairs to ministries that work with Children in Poverty.  There is no overhead. The denomination provided another grant and their Church has provided everything else since the start up costs were covered by the YouthWorks grant.
• The youth decide where to donate the money from their project.  The decision process has engaged and empowered the students, who are excited about where the money goes.  They are also becoming more aware of the needs around them, because of the decision making process.  They have a “Joy in giving” and are extremely “thoughtful about how to give it, and where it should go”.  Their adult leader has reported that the youth have been very balanced between local and global ministry giving.
• Locally the group supports a community kitchen that prepares lunches for youth who qualify for free and reduced meals, but are out of school at the time (spring break and summer vacation).  This program provides meals for youth during those off times when they might not be able to eat.
• Globally-
  • They gave money to a member of their congregation who went on a missions trip to El Salvador, instructing her to donate it to a worthy cause.  She ended up giving the money to an orphanage where her team had served.
  • They are supporting an American Baptist missions initiative in Thailand to help young girls to get off the street and out of prostitution.
  • They are supporting a church plant in Baja, CA where the congregation is meeting under a tree and has attracted a large number of single mothers with small children who sit on the ground. They have sent a painted chair, and money for the plant to buy their own chairs as well.
  • The adult leader was enthusiastic about the increased awareness around children in poverty during the project.   As people are working on the chairs, they are also learning about the current issues faced by children in poverty.
  • The project has brought the congregation together and broken down generational walls.  The youth have been empowered to lead and to see themselves as a part of the church, not just kids hanging out.

©2009 Fuller Youth Institute