Toasted Ravioli, Cardinals Baseball, The Arch, The City Museum…Just a few of the many staples of St. Louis. I have lived here all my life, and while it may not have the sandy beaches of Florida or the soaring peaks of Colorado, St. Louis will always be my home. But even with all the great things St. Louis has to offer, sometimes we forget about the other side. With the murder rates, dilapidated buildings and poverty at sky-high levels in downtown and the surrounding areas, it almost seems to some of us like another city. There is the St. Louis we know and then there is the “other” St. Louis. We don’t venture much into that St. Louis. We rarely even think of it. Yet, there it sits. Day in and day out the “other” St. Louis calls for help… physically, emotionally and spiritually.
This is where New City Fellowship steps in. New City Fellowship is a church that stands right in the middle of the “other” St. Louis. But they are so much more than a place of prayer, fellowship and Biblical teaching. They offer tutoring services, English as a second language, work opportunities, and probably the coolest way that they serve is by physical assessing the needs of community and addressing them. House repairs, community garden maintenance, yard work, building projects, restoration and so on. New City Fellowship perfectly displays what it means to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
And that’s where you come in. Not only can you help through your prayers and by participating in one of the New City Fellowship workdays we have four times a year, but over Spring Break (March 12-18, 2016) you can send your student down to New City Fellowship to spend a week working directly in the city they call home. I hope you and your student will prayerfully consider having them serve with us. You can check out the website for more information or talk to me in person! Let us remember as Matthew 9:37 says, “The harvest is plenty but the workers are few!”